Originally published by Rivkin Securities
Tech stocks bucked the trend of a weaker stock market overnight with the Nasdaq 100 up 0.37% while the S&P 500 was slightly down and the Dow Jones fell 0.34%. Talks between the US and China are resuming which is giving markets hope that a full trade war will be averted. The local market will continue to be dominated by earnings reports with Qantas (AX:QAN), Santos (AX:STO) and South32 (AX:S32) set to report today.
The minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting were released which showed that voting member still expect “further gradual increases” in interest rates which is taken to mean that a rate hike in September is very likely and another one in December is a possibility. In fact, market pricing suggests a 96% chance of a hike at the September meeting and a 62% chance of another one at the December meeting.
Oil prices jumped overnight as inventories drew down more than expected. News has now come out of Saudi Arabia that the initial public offering of Aramco shares is being put on hold indefinitely. This isn’t a big surprise to most people at this point as rumours saying the same have been circulating for some time although it is now more ‘official’ as reports emerge that the financial advisors to the IPO have been disbanded. This doesn’t rule out an eventual IPO but it has been suggested that Saudi Arabia wasn’t comfortable with the degree of transparency (both financial and related to its oil reserves) that would be required for an international listing of the company.
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