Market Update & Important Indicators:
The S&P 500 eked out a slight gain Friday, but posted its first weekly decline since Donald Trump was elected president. Investors have pulled out of long-dated government bonds and put money into financial and industrial shares since Election Day, helping push major U.S. indexes to record highs. But the rally stalled this week. Gains in energy shares–spurred by soaring oil prices–weren't enough to offset declines elsewhere, particularly in technology shares. U.S. stocks were mixed after Friday's jobs report, which showed unemployment falling to its lowest level in nine years in November, doing little to alter major indexes' overall performance for the week. Meanwhile, the rout in U.S. government bonds eased. Some analysts said weakness in average hourly wages suggested the Federal Reserve would remain on a slow path of interest-rate increases, but that the jobs report contained enough signs of labour-market strength to keep the central bank on course to raise rates this month as expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21.51 points, or 0.1%, to 19170.42 Friday but held onto a 0.1% gain for the week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index, however, posted weekly declines for the first time since the week ended Nov. 4.
Stocks in Europe were swept lower Friday, rounding off a losing week for blue-chips as investors braced for Italy's constitutional-reform referendum that could trigger a fresh wave of Eurozone jitters. The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.4% to end at 339.36, closing at the lowest level in more than two weeks. Italians head to the polls on Sunday to vote on a proposal for constitutional reforms. The ballot is widely viewed as a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, with the risk a "no" vote could lead to the dissolution of Italy's government. After the vote, investors will be looking to the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday for any extension of the bank's quantitative easing program.
Asian shares were broadly lower Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as equity markets indicated the "Trump trade" could be overdone. The Nikkei Stock Average closed down 0.5%, with a firmer yen pulling the index back from Thursday's year-to-date high. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 1.4%, and Korea's Kospi finished 0.7% lower. Meanwhile, tech stocks slipped across the region, in line with earlier U.S. declines that continue a recent trend of dumping tech stocks on fears that Mr. Trump's stance on immigration could hurt the industry, which relies in part on foreign programmers and engineers. Elsewhere, the Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.9%, while the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 1.7%. Investors are awaiting the opening of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, a trading link connecting the two bourses, which will launch on Monday.
Australian shares slumped Friday in a broad pullback as investors turned more cautious. Ending near the lows of the day, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 56.2 points, or 1%, at 5444.0. That left the index down 1.2% for the week, eroding almost half the previous week's rally. The local market joined European and U.S. shares in a bit of consolidation this week after surging with Donald Trump's U.S. election win.
Copper for delivery in three months was down 0.5% at $5,760/t on the London Metal Exchange. Aluminium prices fell 0.3% to $1,715/t, lead prices fell 1.9% to 2,256/t, zinc fell 2.3% at $2,651/t, and tin closed down 0.3% at $21,255/t. Nickel bucked the trend rising 2.2% at 11,405/t.
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Noxopharm Limited (NOX), Emerald Resources NL (EMR), Metals of Africa Ltd (MTA), Stavely Minerals Ltd (SVY), Australis Oil & Gas Ltd (ATS), Davenport Resources Ltd (DAV), TFS Corporation Limited (TFC), Emmerson Resources Ltd (ERM), Syntonic Ltd (SYT), MZI Resources Ltd (MZI), Resolute Mining Ltd (RSG), Capricorn Metals Ltd (CMM), Eve Investments Ltd (EVE) , Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Heron Resources Ltd (HRR), St George Mining Ltd (SGQ), Threat Protect Australia Ltd (TPS), Paringa Resources Ltd (PNL), The Gruden Group Ltd (GGL), Primary Gold Ltd (PGO), Vault Intelligence Ltd (VLT), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT) Orthocell Ltd (OCC)
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