Overseas Market Report – U.S. Stocks Slump as Buying Appetite Sours
U.S. stocks closed lower after intense selling on Wednesday, as investors unloaded consumer-discretionary, financial and health-care stocks.
A renewed slump in crude-oil prices added to the negative investor sentiment.
The S&P 500 closed down 2.5%, the Dow fell 2.2% and the NASDAQ slid 3.4%.
For Australian ADRs listed on the NYSE, BHP Billiton slipped 26 cents (1.26%) to $20.38, ResMed lost 2 cents (0.04%) to $53.10, Telstra Corporation lost 18 cents (0.96%) to $18.63, Spark New Zealand slipped 8 cents (0.76%) to $10.50 and Westpac declined 26 cents (1.20%) to $21.47.
At 7:45 AM (AEDT), the 10-year Treasury note yield was 2.06% and the 5-year yield was 1.51%.
European markets managed to close mostly higher.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% and the French CAC 40 was up 0.3%, while Germany's DAX dropped 0.2%.
Asian shares closed mostly higher as the yuan appeared to stabilise. However, the Shanghai Composite sank 2.4%.
The Nikkei 225 jumped 2.9% and the Hang Seng rose 1.1%. India's Sensex lifted 0.7%.
Australian Market Report – Local Market Expected To Open Lower
Ahead of the local open, SPI futures were 91 points lower at 4,846.
Wednesday 13 January – close. The Australian market snapped an eight-day losing streak today, encouraged by positive results from the US market overnight. Major gains from the big four banks and supermarket retailers ensured the upward move continued throughout the day, offsetting falls by the mining sector. Most sectors posted positive results, with the exception of materials. The Australian dollar appreciated against most major currencies.
The All Ordinaries added 59.40 points to 5,041.60 while the S&P/ASX 200 rose 62.30 points to 4,987.40.
In This Issue
DuluxGroup (DLX)
DuluxGroup announced that it has been advised by United Voice that union-represented employees at the Company business' Rocklea site in Qld have voted to take indefinite strike action, beginning on 13 January 2016. The Rocklea site includes the Company's principal Australian decorative paint manufacturing site and the Company's Qld state distribution centre. It has been negotiating a new enterprise agreement for the Rocklea site for some months and has offered no adverse changes to existing conditions plus a 3% per annum pay rise. It firmly believes that its offer is fair and reasonable. Whilst there will be 40 job losses at Rocklea when it opens a new factory in Melbourne in late 2017, more than 70% of Rocklea's 150 operating staff will retain their jobs and 60 new jobs will be created in Melbourne. DLX lifted 7 cents to $6.29.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Empire Oil & Gas (EGO), Millennium Minerals (MOY), Geopacific Resources (GPR), Saracen (SAR), Agrimin (AMN), Salt Lake Potash (SO4), Reward Minerals (RWD), Transerv Energy (TSV), Carnarvon Petroleum (CVN), Success Resources (SGU), High Peak Royalties (HPR), Heron Resources (HRR), OBJ (OBJ), Goldfields Money (GMY), Hazer (HZR), MZI Resources (MZI)
Please read Argonaut's Important Disclaimers & disclosures
Log in to the client area below to download the full Morning Note PDF
