Originally published by Rivkin Securities
The US Bureau of Economic Analysis last night released the final reading for first quarter GDP which had previously been estimated at 1.2%. Although still a weak number, the good news is that this was revised upwards to 1.4%. Notwithstanding the upward revision, the Federal Reserve will still be looking for a bounce in the second quarter which is looking good with the Atlanta Fed GDP Now tracker currently at 2.9%.
Overseas markets were weak for yesterday’s session with both the US and European markets declining. The Dow Jones closed down 0.78% although it did close some way off the lows of the session. The German stock market, measured by the DAX, was one of the worst performers, closing down 1.83% although the Nasdaq 100 wasn’t far behind. It has been a tough week for the FANG (Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)) stocks with their prices falling between 3% and 6% since Monday.
The ASX had another strong day yesterday with the S&P/ASX 200 closing up over 1%. The rally was led by materials as the ASX 200 Materials index closed 2.2% higher, partly as a result of the iron ore price continuing to surge. Unfortunately, some of the gains are expected to be undone today with futures currently down 1.1%.
Data releases:
- China Manufacturing & Non-Manufacturing PMIs 11:00am AEST
- UK Final GDP Q1 6:30pm AEST
- UK Current Account 6:30pm AEST
- US Personal Spending 10:30pm AEST
- US Chicago PMI 11:45pm AEST