Originally published by Rivkin Securities
Large cap stocks continue to outperform while tech slides as the Nasdaq 100 lost another 0.93% last night and the Dow Jones closed virtually flat. Twitter's (NYSE:TWTR) share price had a large decline for the second day in a row, falling 5.9% which brings it to a four-month low. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares held steady last night despite the news that a group of shorts are suing the company and its CEO Elon Musk for stock manipulation as a result of his tweet about having funding secured to take the company private. The tweet subsequently proved not to be true.
Australia’s trade balance data was released yesterday which showed a bigger surplus than expected and included a small upward revision to last month’s surplus. Notwithstanding the positive surprise, this month’s figure was still lower than the prior month as the value of exports dropped while imports rose. LNG exports have risen substantially but this was offset by lower iron ore shipments.
Oil prices have continued to slide as the market remains uncertain whether surplus or deficit is likely for the future. Oil inventory data released last night showed a larger than expected draw in crude inventories although gasoline and distillates inventories both rose substantially. The US summer driving season has proven to be a lacklustre one in terms of gasoline demand as higher prices may have deterred people from driving as much.
The ASX 200 had a rough day yesterday, falling 1.1% and futures are down 25 points this morning.
Data Releases:
- US Employment Data 10:30pm AEST