A shaky session on equity markets overnight, as ructions over Greece debt talks continued and impatience hounds the markets and the masters of Europe.
Most markets were flat or down slightly, here in detail:
The UK FTSE finished weakly down 8 points or 0.1% to 5892 points, still well above its resistance level at 5700 points with the German DAX also flat at 6764 points, still eyeing off the pre-correction support level (now resistance) at 7000.
The Euro (EUR/USD) slipped below 1.32 against the USD even reaching 1.30 in overnight trade, but is currently trading at 1.3126, as the USD Index gained slightly to remain above 79, still below support at the 79.6/80 point zone. This is an interesting development as USD strength is remaining in the face of bullish breakouts in bourses around the globe.
The ever resilient AUD slipped below 1.07 against the USD temporarily before coming back, even with an almost certain rate cut to be announced later today by the RBA. The commodity proxy is currently trading at 1.0725, whilst Aussie 10 year bonds were steady, yields at 3.83%, still below the cash rate.
US markets were also flat, with the S&P500 Index stubbornly refusing to go above its 50 year price/earnings ratio average of 16.4 times (P/E Ratio) since May of 2010, even though most companies have so far beaten earnings projections and a “recovery” is underway. The current P/E is 14 (compared to around 12 for the ASX200 for those keeping score).
The broader index finished flat at 1344 points, whilst the narrower Dow Jones lost 17 points or 0.1% to 12845 points. Finally, the tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was also flat at 2902 points, losing just 3 points.
To commodities, WTI crude slipped again, falling to just above $97USD a barrel. Let’s hope for US consumers that it stays that way.
Gold fell off the wagon once more, falling over $6USD an ounce overnight to $17252USD, where it remains, now waiting for the open of the Asian session.
Silver took a dive in the early London session before regaining, finishing where it started at $33.68USD per ounce on the spot markets. Metal commodities had a mixed day on the London metals market (LME), with aluminium losing just over 1%, copper also slipping nearly 1%, nickel up just 1.3%, and tin up slightly.
As such, the Aussie SPI Futures are pointing to a higher open for the S&P/ASX200 index, probably up 15 points around the 4305 points level, on these mixed leads.
Trading Day will cover the Asian market session and the “ASX8” stocks after the close in the afternoon.
Also note that Earnings Season starts in earnest today, with Bradken (BKN), Cochlear (COH) and Transurban (TBA) all reporting, alongside Macquarie (MQG) and National Australia Bank (NAB) providing trading updates.