Originally published by Rivkin Securities
US stocks have managed to put together back to back gains with the Dow Jones climbing 0.97% overnight. Tech stocks outperformed with the Nasdaq 100 climbing 2.3% as big names like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) climbed 4.4% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 3.8%. The ASX 200 chopped between gains and losses yesterday although futures this morning are pointing to a higher open, currently up 26 points.
Yesterday, Australian CPI data came out largely as expected with quarterly growth at 0.4%. This brought the annual change to 1.9% which is just below the low end of the RBA’s 2-3% target range. Cost increases were subdued partly as a result of a fall in childcare costs while housing cost increases were lower than for the prior quarter. Today Australia’s trade balance data will be released which is expected to show yet another surplus of around $1.71bn.
The Bank of England will meet later tonight to decide interest rates. Expectations are for a unanimous decision to keep rates on hold at 0.75%. Continued uncertainty around Brexit has contributed to the very gradual path of rate hikes in England with market pricing suggesting another hike may not occur until late 2019 at the earliest. The BOE has already hiked twice off the lows from 2017 but rates are still near record low levels.
Data Releases:
- Australia Trade Balance 10:30 am AEST
- UK Interest Rate Decision 10:00 pm AEST