08/05/18 Afternoon Trading

Thanks @Oscar09,@Cleo, & all the morning contributors.

Australia: S&P/ASX 200 6,107.20 (+22.70 +0.37%), ASX All Ordinaries 6,197.40 (+21.80 +0.35%), S&P/ASX Emerging Companies 1,498.00 (+4.00 +0.27%), AUD/USD 0.7506 (-0.0009 -0.12%)

Asia: Hang Seng 30,317.50 (+323.24 +1.08%), Nikkei 225 22,535.00(+67.84 +0.30%), Shanghai Composite 3,152.57 (+15.93 +0.51%), KOSPI 2,473.56 (+12.18 +0.49%), NZX 50 Index 8577.06 (-10.88 -0.1%)

USA: S&P 500 2,672.63 (+9.21 +0.35%), S&P 500 Futures recently sitting at 2,669.50 (-0.50 -0.02%)

Brent Crude Futures 75.53 (-0.64 -0.84%), Crude Oil WTI Futures, 69.97 (-0.76 -1.07%), Gold Futures 1,314.10 (0.00 0.00%)

The ASX holding pretty consistent this morning up 0.4%. The ASX sectors a real mixed bag today, Healthcare and financials the leading sectors today, with Energy and Telecommunications down a similar amount.

Australia's government is expected to deliver in today's Federal Budget; Personal incomes tax cuts in the last budget before the next federal election, A wind back of tax benefits for the research and development scheme, No rise in the Medicare levy, a big aged care support package, & Big spending infrastructure projects.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is set to introduce stricter guidelines for local cryptocurrency exchange platforms to prevent another crypto hack, reports suggested.

China trade figures top the agenda in Asia today. U.K. markets reopen after the long weekend. In the U.S., Trump will announce his decision on the Iran nuclear deal Tuesday at the White House.

U.S. stocks extended their gains as the dollar resumed its rally and Faang (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet Inc.’s Google) shares rebounded. WTI crude topped $70 a barrel early in the day and then paring gains as markets weighed a coming U.S. decision on the Iran nuclear accord.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet that he’ll announce whether the U.S. will remain in the Iran nuclear accord on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. in Washington. Germany, France and the U.K. have lobbied Trump and his top aides to stay in the deal, which the president has harshly criticized.

Elon Musk bought about $US9.85 million worth of Tesla shares on Monday, his biggest purchase since March 2017, according to a regulatory filing. His stake is now approaching 20 per cent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The purchase comes just days after Musk taunted Tesla short sellers in a series of tweets about his combative earnings call last week.

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