Almost 18 months ago, a certain someone said:
"I prioritise exercise in the morning but I'll open for the rest of this week as long as you don't get too impatient or expect an intelligent analysis."
Well it wasn't just one week and here we are 325 pre open threads opened later, Cleo is now off on a new adventure and we wish her all the best.
A really big thanks for all you did, from opening the threads, to encouraging us to eat better and shuffle our feet a bit so we don't get the "daytrader body". I know I am glad you have been on our team @Cleo.
If you missed Friday, you can read Cleo's touching posts here and here.
Also thanks to the irrepressible @Quantum Torus, whom has passed on the AM lounge with @ttward taking over on Friday.
Onto the news:
The Australian share market wasn't able to sustain its four-day rally despite strong retail sales figures, with banks and miners weighing on the bourse.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 20.7 points, or 0.36 per cent, to close at 5774.6 at 1615 on Friday. That's still a gain of 2.8 per cent for the week and 6.8 per cent since the index's Christmas Eve low. The broader All Ordinaries was down 19.1 points, or 0.33 per cent, to close at 5834.8.
"There's not a great deal of commitment in the market," said Michael McCarthy, chief market analyst with CMC Markets. The ASX has hit a key resistance point of 5800, he said.
While the market has now made up all of its losses during its bleak month of December, McCarthy said it's still too soon to tell whether there's been a genuine turnaround.
"It does seem like the panic we were seeing weeks ago is continuing to recede," he said.
Utilities, telecom stocks and property trusts were higher while the financial sector and the miners were lower.
Australians spent $26.12 billion on retail sales in November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics data. The 0.4 per cent rise beat market expectations.
The news sent most retailers higher - Adairs gained 5.97 per cent, to $1.775; Lovisa Holdings was up 4.01 per cent, to $6.75; Accent Group gained 4.18 per cent, to $1.245; and JB Hi-Fi moved 2.57 per cent higher, to $21.58.
But Premier Investments, which owns speciality retailers such as children's stationery brand Smiggle, sleepwear designer brand Peter Alexander and Just Jeans, lost 1.55 per cent, to $13.98.
The company is trading near its 10-month lows, weighed by news that US retailer Macy's had sluggish sales in November and December, McCarthy said.
Treasury Wine Estates jumped 4.25 per cent higher, reversing most of Thursday's losses, after the Melbourne winemaker said its first-half earnings would beat consensus estimates.
It closed at $14.85, up 60.5 cents, up 5.9 per cent for the week.
Costa Group traded up 13 cents, or 2.88 per cent, to $4.64 after a crash on Thursday put Australia's largest fruit and vegetable grower on the radar screen of bargain hunters.
On Thursday Costa shares plummeted 38.81 per cent - from $7.37 to $4.51 - after the company cut its half-year forecast following weaker demand for produce.
Among the miners, BHP was down 1.06 per cent to $32.79 and Rio Tinto slipped 0.6 per cent to $79.65. South32 dropped 0.87 per cent to $3.40.
Fortescue Metals was up, gaining 0.22 per cent to $4.58, but the gold miners weighed heavily as precious metal prices sagged against a stronger US dollar.
Northern Star dropped 2.4 per cent to $9.36 and Evolution was 2.34 per cent lower at $3.75.
It was a better day for telecom stocks, with Telstra gaining 1.38 per cent to $2.93 and Vocus Group up 0.94 per cent to $3.22.
The big banks were all lower, led by Commonwealth, which traded down 1.09 per cent to $71.66.
Qantas was down 2.64 per cent to $5.91.
The Australian sharemarket is tipped to rise slightly at its open, reversing Friday's losses on the back of firm performance on Wall Street and in Europe.
The ASX200 futures saw a 20-point decline on Friday ahead of an expected weakness on Wall Street that never really eventuated, AMP Capital's chief economist Shane Oliver told AAP on Sunday.
Eurozone shares and the Dow Jones both dropped slightly - but did not tumble as far as expectations while the S&P500 had virtually no movement on Friday.
"We had a 20-point drop but I expect we'll see a small rise at the open by about 15 points, not a lot to get too excited about," Dr Oliver said.
The Australian dollar has pushed slightly higher to 72 cents, largely because the US Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold which has seen other global currencies including the Euro creep up against it.
Dr Oliver expects to see a fall in consumer confidence when Westpac releases its January figures on Wednesday. He's tipping the same for November's housing finance figures on Thursday. "They're expected to show a fall of 1.5 per cent, consistent with ongoing weakness in the housing sector," he said.
Chinese export and import numbers, a strong indicator of the global economy, are expected to show slight softening as well.
This week's US data is expected to be "mixed" with retail figures for December showing a slight rise but housing figures will be soft.
The US federal government shutdown, which is now the longest in history, has likely had no impact on investors as yet, Dr Oliver says, but it could if the stalemate continues. "If it ends now it'll have zilch impact on investors," he said. "But if it keeps going for weeks you'll see government agencies shutting." Worse still, Dr Olvier says, it signals the US government is too dysfunctional to easily raise the debt limit - an issue it must face some time after March.
Brexit continues to dominate the UK with a parliamentary vote scheduled for Tuesday expected to fail to gain support. For now the uncertainty caused by the "Brexit mess" is expected to drag on.
Wall Street dipped slightly on Friday, breaking a five-session rally, as energy shares declined and investors looked ahead to earnings season, which kicks off next week with Citigroup, JPMorgan and other big banks.
Underpinned by optimism over China-U.S. trade talks and expectations of a slow pace of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, the stock market's winning streak through Thursday added 6 percent to the S&P 500 and left it up about 10 percent from the 20-month low it hit around Christmas.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI ended down 0.02 percent at 23,995.95 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.21 percent to 6,971.48. The S&P 500 .SPX ended down 0.38 points at 2,596.26.
For the week, the S&P 500 rose 2.5 percent, the Dow added 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq picked up 3.4 percent. Read more.
For the first time in more than two years, companies in Australia’s gigantic services sector have shed staff members. And if you think that news doesn’t affect you, think again. The services sector is the nation’s biggest employer, with around 70 per cent of Aussie workers filling roles within that industry.
Read moreNovember turned out to be an "above average" month for retailers, as shoppers brought forward their Christmas spending. Retail sales rose 0.4 per cent to $27.1 billion during the month, seasonally adjusted, which coincides with the much-hyped Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Read more
As the major banks rein in their lending patterns because of the fallout from the Royal Commission inquiry, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been looking for alternative ways to keep their businesses running. While there are plenty of new options available, regulators have not vetted them all in the same way, and now insolvency companies are warning that there could be more than meets the eye. Read more
Australia's network of free trade agreements with the United States and China should help protect local exporters, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham believes while cautioning a full trade war between the world's two largest economies would still cause trouble at home. Following last week's meeting between Chinese and American officials aimed at heading off a trade battle, Senator Birmingham said there were positive signs that the two nations were finding common ground.
Read more
The recent bull run of Australia’s mid-tier gold miners could continue well into the new year as the precious metal regains its safe haven status and stars align for the sector, analysts believe. Shares in the nation’s gold miners have enjoyed a stellar run in the past month on the back of a resurgent gold price and a benign Australian dollar.
Read more
The partial shutdown of the US government has become the longest ever, with no end in sight to the political standoff. On Saturday it reached its 22nd day, overtaking the previous record - the 21-day shutdown in 1995-96 under then-President Bill Clinton. Read more
Please include stock codes in your posts out of respect for other posters please (or use the OT tag for non-stock related posts).
And if you have any suggestion/wishes for what you'd like to see in the premarket, let me know and I'll try to add it in if it's not too much trouble.
