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Australian shares are set to open higher as Wall Street closes at another fresh record.
Markets at 7:10am (AEST):
- ASX SPI 200 futures +0.2pc at 5,692, ASX 200 (Tuesday close) -0.5pc at 5,701
- AUD: 78.36 US cents, 59.17 British pence, 66.68 euro cents, 88.44 Japanese yen, NZ$1.09
- US: Dow Jones +0.4 at 22,642, S&P 500 +0.2 at 2,535, Nasdaq +0.2pc at 6,532
- Europe: FTSE +0.4pc at 7,468, DAX (closed for public holiday), Euro Stoxx 50 +0.3pc at 3,606
- Commodities: Brent crude -0.3pc at $US55.94/barrel, spot gold flat at $US1,271/ounce, iron ore flat at $US62.05/tonne
What happened on Wall Street?
The US market was lifted by shares in technology companies like Apple and Intel.
The tech sector has rebounded from last week's sharp sell-off — and it has risen about 25 per cent over the year to date.
Vehicle manufacturers, including Ford and General Motors (GM), also gave Wall Street a boost — their share prices jumping by 2-3 per cent.
The latest car sales figures showed that they posted better-than-expected sales in September, as consumers affected by the recent hurricanes (particularly in Houston) rushed to replace their damaged cars.
It is estimated that up to 500,000 cars were damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Harvey.
Ford's and GM's vehicle sales rose 8.7 and 12 per cent last month.
There were also strong results from Toyota and Nissan — their sales rose 15 and 9.5 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, Fiat Chrysler reported a 10 per cent decline in sales in September, due to 41 per cent drop in lower-margin fleet sales.
NAB's head of foreign exchange strategy Ray Attrill said the next big financial event in the US might be a speech one one of the people being touted as a possible next Fed chair.
"More interesting tomorrow might be further comments from Fed governor Jerome Powell in so far as he is reportedly one of the candidates to have been interviewed by Donald Trump to potentially be the next Fed chair (a question he neatly side-stepped overnight)," he wrote in a note.
"The predictit.org betting site currently has Powell as second favourite after Kevin Warsh, with Janet Yellen running a distant third."
Financial markets bets on a US rate rise in December remain around 70 per cent.
Australian market
There is no major local economic data being released today.
The Australian dollar fell below the 78 US cent mark yesterday, after the Reserve Bank decided to keep interest rates on hold at a record-low 1.5 per cent for the 14th straight month.
But the local currency has since rebounded and is now buying 78.3 US cents.
Topics: company-news, economic-trends, stockmarket, currency, australia
First posted