Market snapshot
- ASX 200 futures: flat at 8,237 points
- Australian dollar: +0.3% 66.20 US cents
- S&P 500 (Friday): flat at 5,808 points
- Nasdaq (Friday): +0.6% to 20,352 points
- FTSE (Friday): -0.3% to 8,249 points
- EuroStoxx (Friday): flat at 519 points
- Spot gold: +0.2% to $US2,743/ounce
- Brent crude: +2.3% to $US76.05/barrel
- Iron ore (Friday): +1.0% to $US101.10/tonne
- Bitcoin: +1.5% to $US67,730
Prices current at around 7:30am AEDT
Wall St closes flat, ASX set to follow suit
Wall Street had an indecisive end to the week – mega cap tech stocks up, staid blue chips down and the S&P 500 ended up overall going nowhere in particular.
While the market looked becalmed, there was volatility beneath the surface in the lead-up to a nail-bitingly close presidential election and the release of pivotal jobs data this week.
The measure of volatility, the so-called “fear index” the Vix Index, jumped almost 7% to 20 points — not an alarming level, but certainly not sanguine either.
The tech-centric Nasdaq rose 0.6% on Friday, driven by Tesla up another 3.4% after a 22% rally on the back of the company’s recent EV sales forecast, while Nvidia (+0.8%), Amazon, Apple and Microsoft also gained.
The banks’ recent rally, inspired by good results and the so-called Trump Trade, ended abruptly dragging down the Dow Jones (-0.6%).
The sour taste in investors’ mouths from the McDonald’s (-3%) mass food poisoning didn’t help the Dow either.
The S&P 500 steered the middle course, ending flat. Over the week it lost 1%.
ASX 200 futures point to a flat opening here. Over the past week it lost 0.9%.
Europe was flat and UK’s FTSE lost ground.
US Treasury bond yields edged higher, as did the US dollar.
Gold rose 0.3% to be sitting just below record highs.
Brent crude gained 2.3% on Friday, and 4% over the week.
Good morning
Good morning and welcome to another week on the ABC markets and finance blog.
Stephen Letts from ABC business team limbering up for a blow-by-blow coverage of the day’s events, where every post is hopefully a winner, but none should be construed as financial advice.
In brief, the market looks to be equivocating this morning.
After Wall Street had a flat final session on Friday, ASX 200 futures traders don’t have any greater insights of their own and have priced in a flat opening too.
The game’s afoot, so let’s get blogging
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