Originally published by Rivkin Securities
The rally in stocks continues as the major US indices all rose overnight. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed both the Dow Jones and S&P 500, rallying 1.47%, with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) leading the way with a 5.17% gain. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares, however, are down 6.6% in after hours trading which will have a significant impact on the Dow Jones index if it opens that way in the next trading session. Apple reported earnings and iPhone sales were lower than expected even as earnings per share and revenue beat expectations.
A fall in the US dollar seemed to confirm that the ‘risk on’ sentiment is back. The US Dollar index fell 0.83% from an 18-month high which pushed the Australian dollar back up to US$0.72. The weak US dollar caused precious metals to climb with gold rising 1.73% to US$1,233 per ounce and silver gaining 3.5% to US$14.72 per ounce. This brings gold prices back to a three-month high.
Oil suffered a large fall overnight as OPEC production for October was reported to increase to a new two year high, a 430,000 barrel of oil per day increase over September. With oil inventories building over the past several weeks, the bearish factors driving oil appear to be winning the tug of war against bullish catalysts such as sanctions on Iran and declining Venezuelan output. In fact, the OPEC data showed that Venezuelan output actually stabilised in October and even increased slightly over September output.
Today Australian retail sales data for September will be released which is expected to grow by a similar amount to the prior month at 0.3%. Tonight, the US will release its employment data with the unemployment rate expected to remain steady at 3.7%.
Data Releases:
- Australia Retail Sales 10:30am AEST
- US Employment Data 10:30pm AEST