Wall Street trades with caution, ahead of US-North Korea summit
Posted
Australian shares are expected to open higher, ahead of this morning's historic summit between the US President and North Korean leader in Singapore.
Markets at 7:00am (AEST):
- ASX SPI 200 futures +0.4pc to 6,054, ASX 200 (Friday close) -0.2pc at 6,045
- AUD: 76.04 US cents, 56.81 British pence, 64.52 Euro cents, 83.68 Japanese yen, $NZ1.08
- US: Dow Jones flat at 25,322, S&P 500 +0.1pc at 2,782, Nasdaq +0.2pc at 7,660
- Europe: FTSE +0.7pc at 7,737, DAX +0.6pc at 12,843, Euro Stoxx 50 +1.1pc at 3,483
- Commodities: Brent crude flat at $US76.42/barrel, spot gold +0.1pc at $US1,299.74/ounce
US markets closed with cautious gains, as the market shrugged off concerns about the weekend's contentious G7 meeting, during which President Donald Trump lashed out at America's allies.
The Dow Jones index ended its day flat at 25,322 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent, with most sectors finishing in positive territory.
The Nasdaq lifted 0.2 per cent — driven by a jump in Google's and Facebook's share prices, up 0.7 and 1.3 per cent respectively.
Also prompting caution on Wall Street were three key central bank decisions coming up this week — by the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan.
The US Fed is widely expected to lift interest rates by 0.25 per cent on Thursday morning (AEST), while the ECB is likely to announce plans to taper down its bond-buying program.
Business conditions and housing in focus
The Australian dollar rose slightly to 76 US cents, 56.8 British pence and 83.7 Japanese yen, but slipped to 64.6 Euro cents.
National Australia Bank will release its latest monthly report on business conditions and business confidence.
In addition, the Bureau of Statistics will release its April housing finance figures. Reuters-polled economists are predicting the level of new home loans to have fallen by 1.9 per cent.
More to come.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, company-news, markets, stockmarket, australia, united-states
