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Wall Street finished mostly positive, and the ASX is set to open higher. (Chip East: Reuters)
The Australian share market is set to open higher, following a mostly positive lead from Wall Street.
Market snapshot at 8:50am AEST:
- ASX SPI 200 futures +0.6pc to 5,670
- AUD: 76.56 US cents, 59.13 British pence, 67.35 euro cents, 86.8 Japanese yen, $NZ1.05
- US: Dow Jones +0.6pc to 21,479, S&P 500 +0.2pc to 2,429, Nasdaq -0.5pc to 6,110
- Europe: FTSE +0.9pc to 7,377, DAX +1.2pc to 12,475, Eurostoxx 600 +1.1pc at 383
- Commodities: Brent crude +1.7pc to $US49.60/barrel, spot gold +0.1pc at $US1,222/ounce, iron ore -1pc to $US64.29/tonne
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes were lifted by financial and energy stocks.
In particular, the energy sector was boosted by a strong rebound in oil prices overnight - after taking a heavy beating in the last couple of weeks.
Technology shares were, however, the worst performing US stocks, which dragged down the tech-heavy Nasdaq index.
China manufacturing going strong for now
China's manufacturing industry roared back into growth mode last month - expanding at its fastest pace in three months.
New orders and production rose in a sign of a modest recovery according to a private survey, the Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI).
The Caixin PMI rose to 50.4 points in June.
This is better than what analysts (surveyed by Reuters) were expecting - which was Chinese manufacturing falling to 49.5 points (which was its weak result in May).
A reading above 50 means the industry is growing - whereas it would be contracting if it fell below that number.
The Caixin readings - which focus on smaller firms - were echoed by last Friday's official PMI figures, which were much more bullish in comparison.
However, "slowing credit growth and tighter monetary policy are still clouding the outlook", warned Julian Evans-Pritchard, the China Economist of Capital Economics.
"Looking ahead, today's better-than-expected PMI reading doesn't change our view that the economy is set to slow further over the coming quarters.
"It can take time for policy tightening and slower credit creation to fully feed through into weaker activity but past cycles suggest that it eventually will."
Trump to promote US gas exports in Warsaw
US President Donald Trump is expected to use fast-growing supplies of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a political tool at his Thursday meeting in Warsaw, Poland.
The President will attend the "Three Seas" summit and meet with leaders of a dozen countries that rely on Russia for their energy needs.
The summit goes by that name because member countries - including the land-locked Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - are surrounded the three seas (the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas).
Moscow has, in recent years, cut off gas shipments during pricing disputes with neighbouring countries in winter months.
US gas exports may help lessen their dependence on Russia.
President Trump will visit Warsaw the day before he is due to arrive at the G20 summit in Hamburg, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time.
Today's economic news
The Reserve Bank board will meet today to discuss interest rates.
The official cash rate will most likely stay at 1.5 per cent this month - and it has at that record low since August 2016 - almost a year ago.
Most economists are predicting it will that way for the rest of the year due to slow wage growth and weak economic growth.
Core inflation is currently below 2 per cent, which fails to meet the RBA's target range of 2-3 per cent growth.
The Bureau of Statistics will release retail sales data for the month of May - and the market expectation is that it will grow by a small 0.3 per cent.
The April retail figures were surprisingly strong - up by 1 per cent - and that strength is unlikely to be replicated in today's figures.
Topics: markets, stockmarket, currency, business-economics-and-finance, economic-trends, money-and-monetary-policy, donald-trump, australia