Originally published by Rivkin Securities
A flat day for US equities saw the Dow Jones hover around unchanged for the day although a small rally in the last hour of trading allowed it to close 0.2% higher. The FTSE 100, on the other hand, fell by 0.8%, possibly in response to the downward move in oil prices. ASX 200 futures are down 12 points this morning pointing to a continuation of the declines from yesterday.
Oil prices were one of the big movers for the session, falling US$3 per barrel on the news that the US may release oil from its strategic reserve to keep a lid on prices. The oil market has been volatile recently as traders struggle to come to grips with all of the opposing forces moving the market. Supply disruptions out of Libya and collapsing infrastructure in Venezuela have been offset by rapidly rising production out of the US although Libyan exports are now set to resume and US production growth has slowed as a result of pipeline bottlenecks. President Trump is determined to reduce oil prices to get gasoline prices to a level that doesn’t overly burden the American consumer. While the trend of oil prices may be uncertain at the moment, it is likely that the volatility will continue.
US retail sales came in close to expectations for the month of June although the big surprise was a large upward revision in the May numbers. Core retail sales for May was revised up from 0.9% to 1.4%. Today the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia will be released.
Data Releases:
- RBA Meeting Minutes 11:30pm AEST