Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Negative following three weeks of gains for the ASX 200 and a mixed end to last week on Wall Street.
ASX futures: down 15 points or 0.19%
Friday themes:
US stocks finished mixed but mostly higher despite evidence that Americans have grown increasingly gloomy about the outlook for inflation.
The Dow rallied 0.32% to an eighth straight win, its longest positive streak since December. The advance sealed the average's best week this year.
The S&P 500 also logged a third straight winning week with a Friday rise of 0.16%. The Nasdaq dipped 0.03%.
Last week's rally stuttered after a report on Friday showed consumer sentiment slumped to a six-month low as the rising cost of living dented confidence and unemployment ticked higher. The University of Michigan's preliminary sentiment index fell to 67.4 from 77.2 in April. The result was the weakest since November and fell significantly short of the 76 expected by economists. Inflation expectations increased. The week ahead brings updates on consumer and wholesale inflation in the US.
“People think things are worse than the economy and they’re going to stay worse, and they’re worried about inflation. And that’s not a happy formula for stocks or bonds” - Brian Nick, senior investment strategist at the Macro Institute (per CNBC).
Goldman Sachs hit an all-time high. Shares in the investment bank have risen 17% across the last four weeks and have been a major contributor to the Dow's recent strength.
Consumer staples and tech were the best of the sectors in a mixed market. Consumer staples gained 0.64%, tech 0.48% and financials 0.46%. At the other end, consumer discretionary lost 0.61%, energy 0.55% and real estate 0.4%.
Iron ore slid to a two-week low before recovering. Benchmark prices on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange finished 0.3% ahead after briefly losing 1.6%. Prices have risen 16% this quarter, recouping much of a 20% decline through the first three months of the year.
Oil ended a downbeat week at its lowest level since mid-March as traders continued to discount the threat of disruption to Middle East supplies from the Israel-Hamas conflict. Brent crude declined 1.3% to US$82.70 a barrel for a weekly loss of 0.2%.
Gold rallied almost 1.5% to its highest in nearly three weeks. Metal for June delivery advanced US$34.70 or 1.48% to US$2,375 an ounce. US gold miners failed to respond: the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index closed flat as ASX-listed Newmont shed 0.82%.
Key events this week:
Business confidence - 11.30 am AEST
Federal budget - Tuesday
US wholesale inflation (PPI) - Tuesday
Speech by US Federal Reserve Chair Powell - Tuesday
Wage price index - Wednesday
US consumer inflation (CPI) - Wednesday
US retail sales - Wednesday
April employment report - Thursday
China industrial production, retail sales - Friday
S&P 500: up 9 points or 0.16%
Dow: up 125 points or 0.32%
Nasdaq: down 5 points or 0.03%
Dollar: down 0.24% to 66.04 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): up 0.3% to US$123.19
Brent crude: down US$1.09 or 1.3% to US$82.79
Gold: up US$34.70 or 1.48% to US$2,375
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 0.01%
Bitcoin: up 1.25% to US$61,386
Copper (LME): up 1% to US$10,004
Nickel (LME): down 0.43% to US$18,952
Uranium (spot price): down 3.05% to US$91
Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.29% to US$15,387
