Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.
Market wrap:
Stocks look set to open modestly lower after iron ore suffered its biggest fall in a year and US traders took to the sidelines ahead of Greece's Sunday referendum and the Independence Day long weekend.
The September SPI200 futures contract dropped 19 points or 0.4% to 5524 as US stocks gave up early gains.
The S&P 500 rose as much as eight points following broadly positive June jobs figures before easing to a loss of 0.03% or less than a point as traders closed positions ahead of tonight's public holiday in the US. The Dow shed 28 points or 0.16% and the Nasdaq four points or 0.08%.
“Who wants to go home long stocks when the Greeks have the ball?” John Manley, chief equity strategist for Wells Fargo Funds Management in the US, told
Bloomberg. “It’s the Greek issue, the long weekend and the natural scepticism that’s still in place.”
Greeks are due to go to the polls on Sunday to vote for or against the last bailout offer from the government's troika of lenders, a process that some European leaders have described as a referendum on whether Greece stays in the euro-zone. Overnight, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared he will have a deal within 48 hours of the vote. Polling yesterday showed the pro-austerity "Yes" vote narrowly ahead of the government-backed "No" option at 47%- 43%.
Read more here.
European markets faded with Wall Street, paring strong Wednesday gains. The Stoxx Europe 600 eased 0.42%, Germany's DAX 0.73%, France's CAC 0.98%. Britain's FTSE bucked the trend with a rise of 0.33%.
The latest US jobs figures threw some doubt over the likelihood of a September rate rise. Although the unemployment rate fell to a seven-year low of 5.3% from 5.5%, the June increase in hiring was smaller than economists expected and figures for May and April were revised downwards. The economy added 223,000 new jobs last month, versus a Reuters prediction of 230,000. The April gain was revised from 221,000 to 187,000 and May from 280,000 to 254,000.
"People had expected a stronger report after the very strong report in May. Instead what we're seeing is still just grinding higher," Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones, told
CNBC. "It's strong enough to support stock prices, it's strong enough for the Fed to say they're considering raising interest rates in the fall, and that's where we stay."
Iron ore plunged to its biggest percentage loss in a year after data yesterday showed shipments from Port Hedland at an all-time high last month. Ore with 62% content delivered to Qingdao dived 6% cent to $US55.63 a ton. Spot iron ore fell $3.10 or 5.6% to US$55.80 a dry ton.
Read more here. Despite the falls, BHP and Rio Tinto rebounded from multi-month lows in the US. BHP rallied 1.98% and Rio Tinto 0.76%.
The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index bounced 2.11% even as gold slipped to a three-month low. Gold for August delivery settled $5.80 or 0.5% lower at US$1,163.50 an ounce.
Oil stabilised after a week where it fell 4.5%. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery settled three cents lower at at US$56.93 a barrel.
Weakness in the US dollar and short covering helped copper rise in London. Copper gained 0.3%, lead 0.4% and nickel 1.46%. Aluminium gave up 0.2%, tin 0.6% and zinc 1.2%. US copper for July delivery was recently up 0.1% at US$2.64 a pound.
The dollar was this morning buying 76.36 US cents.
TRADING THEMES TODAY
REDUCING RISK: The ASX has staged an impressive rebound over the last three sessions, but got a bit over-exuberant yesterday and so may have to give some back today. The index closed near the top of its current trading channel, where you would expect traders to consider taking profits. Add the fact that it's Friday, Greeks go to the polls on Sunday, Wall Street is closed tonight and iron ore tanked and there appear to be good reasons for caution. My favourite quote about Greece overnight was from JJ Kinahan, chief strategist at TD Ameritrade in the US: "The whole Greece situation, even if we know how the vote comes out, is we don't know what to make of the whole situation." In other words, the mess doesn't end on Sunday, whichever way the Greeks vote. Either result raises plenty of questions. On a positive note, there was evidence of bargain hunting among beaten-up resource stocks in the US - goldies, BHP, Rio.
ECONOMIC NEWS: The AIG Services Index is due at 9.30am EST, followed by retail sales at 11.30am. HSBC releases a Chinese services PMI at 11.45am. Wall Street is closed tonight for the Independence Day public holiday.
Good luck to all.
