Originally published by Rivkin Securities
The ASX is looking for a solid start today despite a poor run last week that saw the ASX 200 close 1% lower. The ASX 200 futures market was up 26 points at the close on Friday after a reasonable session on Wall Street where fears about an escalation of Donald Trump’s trade war with China failed to have an impact.
Profit reporting starts this week for the June 30 financial year, starting with Amcor (AX:AMC) today which has also announced a company-transforming acquisition. The big name to report this week will be Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (AX:CBA), with the other three big banks on a different accounting year end.
The US economy saw a slight slowing in jobs growth in July - 157,000 new positions created, well under the expected 190,000 or so – while the jobless rate again eased to 3.9%, but wage growth was stuck at an annual 2.7% for yet another month, with some economists expecting the Fed’s expected rate rises might end for a while after the expected rise in late September.
The trade war with China will continue this week with China threatening to impose new tariffs on $US60bn of US exports - ranging from small - and medium-sized aircraft and liquefied natural gas to soybeans, oil and auto parts - after Donald Trump threatened to lift tariffs on $US250bn of Chinese imports to 25%.
Global oil prices suffered another weekly loss, extending its string of weekly losses to four out of the past five - the most for a year. The drop came after another surprise gain in US crude stocks, with stockpiles rising 3.8m barrels on rising imports. US crude prices have also been rattled by the simmering trade tensions between the US and China.
Data Releases:
- No Significant Data