Last day of my Las Vegas gig here. It's been a blast. May make a comeback tour around Christmas if @highlandlad needs a break.
Australian shares have clawed back some of yesterday's heavy losses, as Wall Street rebounded on hopes of the United States passing another trillion-dollar stimulus package.
The ASX 200 closed 1 per cent higher at 5,873 points.
The benchmark index had jumped as much as 1.7 per cent, before losing some of its steam in afternoon trade.
Some of the best performers were Reliance Worldwide Corporation (+10.5pc), buy now, pay later company Zip Co (+7pc), rare earths miner Lynas Corporation (+5.2pc) and Whitehaven Coal (+4.3pc).
On the flip side, litigation funder Omni Bridgeway (-3.1pc), aerial imaging firm Nearmap (-2.5pc), and healthcare companies Pro Medicus (-2.3pc) and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals (-2pc) suffered the steepest falls on the ASX 200.
Mining giants drove the market higher, including BHP (+1.9pc), Rio Tinto (+1.2pc) and Fortescue Metals (+2.3pc), along with major banks ANZ (+1pc) and Commonwealth Bank (+0.7pc), although all retreated from stronger earlier gains over the late afternoon.
Investors have shrugged off Wednesday's chaotic presidential debate, where US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden talked over each other and traded insults as they sparred over the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare and the economy.
The benchmark index has ended the month down 4 per cent and declined 1.4 per cent for the September quarter.
"The only point worth mentioning is that the debate may have increased expectations for a contested election result," said UBS chief economist Paul Donovan.
The Australian dollar rose strongly over the past 24 hours to 71.95 US cents.
Commonwealth Bank currency strategist Joseph Capurso provided some forecasts for the local currency, depending on the US election's outcome.
"We consider the Australian dollar can decrease by 4 per cent over one month if President Trump wins," Mr Capurso said.
He also forecast the local currency could fall 2-3 per cent if Mr Biden wins and Democrats take control of the US Senate — but may rise 2-3 per cent if Republicans retain the Senate.
"We expect the effect of the US election on the Australian dollar will fade after a few months," he said.
"And the US dollar can trend lower because of the widening US current account deficit and lower US terms of trade."
Wall Street see-sawed on Thursday as investors juggled optimism over progress on stimulus talks Washington with signs of waning momentum of economic recovery from the pandemic recession, now entering its ninth month.
The S&P 500 was modestly higher and the Nasdaq more solidly in the black. The blue-chip Dow was lower, with all three indexes losing steam in mid-afternoon trading.
A spate of data, including jobless claims and consumer spending, suggested that the plodding economic recovery could be losing steam.
But in the latest development in negotiations for a new pandemic relief deal, the White House countered House Democrats’ $2.2 trillion package with a $1.5 trillion-plus proposal, to include a $20 billion aid extension for airlines.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned that Democrats and the White House remained locked in a debate over dollars an values, but expressed optimism that a deal could be reached.
“The market is viewing the stimulus as a lubricant for the economy, to take the market to the next level and to keep the consumer strong,” said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts.
“One of the encouraging things is the Speaker and the Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) have kept an open mind, which leads to the adage ‘hope springs eternal.’” Keator added.
The major stock indexes started the fourth quarter with gains driven again by market leaders such as Amazon.com AMZN.O, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O.
With the books closed on the third quarter, market participants await earnings season, set to get underway in about two weeks.
Analysts currently see S&P 500 earnings, in aggregate, falling by 21.4% year-on-year according to Refinitiv.0.3
Source - Reuters
Here are the current stats -
Champagne breakkie today - because you deserve it.
