Happy Friday traders. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the aftermarket loungers. US markets went on a bit of a tear after more dovish comments from the Fed Reserve, nothing mixed about todays action, with the Dow up .84%, S&P500 up 1.11%, and the Nasdaq up 1.42%.

ASX Market Report

Australian shares closed up a whisker following a late afternoon rally after spending most of the day in the red during a busy day for economic indicators.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index bounced up 28 points in the final 40 minutes of trade to close up 1.9 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 6,167.2 points at 1615 AEDT on Thursday. The broader All Ordinaries was up 1.7 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 6,253.5.

Miners were the biggest gainers, up collectively 0.97 per cent, with BHP gaining 1.29 per cent to $37.68 and Rio Tinto up 1.53 per cent to $93.50.

Tech shares led decliners, down 0.6 per cent, with Xero falling 1.3 per cent to $49.35 and Afterpay Touch dropping 1.25 per cent to $20.50.

The US Federal Reserve began the day by suggesting that no interest rate hikes were likely this year because US economic activity had slowed, a reversal of the Fed's forecast from December. "This certainly was more dovish than the market was expecting," said Nick Twidale, chief operating officer with Rakuten Securities. But curiously, world markets didn't respond by rallying - perhaps because US President Donald Trump also suggested on Thursday that US tariffs on China could linger - or perhaps because the market has reached a turning point, Mr Twidale said. "To me it could be the start of a topping out in the stock market rally we've seen for the first few months of 2019."

However the Aussie dollar showed its strength, shooting up 0.42 per cent after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the unemployment rate fell to 0.1 points to 4.9 per cent. But employment only rose by 4,600 in February, less than the 15,000 jobs economists had expected. CommSec senior economist Ryan Felsman called the results mixed. "While the headline job numbers disappointed, the Aussie jobless rate has a '4' handle in front of it. The unemployment rate is the equal lowest in a decade," he said in a note.

The big banks were mixed, with CBA up 0.48 per cent to $71.13, ANZ up 0.38 per cent to $26.45, Westpac down 0.04 per cent to $26.33 and NAB down 0.44 per cent to $24.96.

Macquarie Group was down 1.5 per cent to $126.83, while Telstra was up 0.61 per cent to $3.28.

Energy stocks were up after US oil prices hit a four-month high overnight, with Woodside Petroleum up 0.48 per cent and Oil Search up 1.37 per cent.

Brickworks was up 0.88 per cent, to $18.28, after the building products supplier reported its first-half profit rose 18.1 per cent to $114.6 million.

Washington H Soul Pattinson was up 0.73 per cent after the investment company said first-half profit grew 22.6 per cent.

Sigma Healthcare was down 0.91 per cent after the owner of the Amcal and Guardian pharmacy brands said its profit dropped 33.7 per cent, to $36.5 million. It also said it would close drug distribution centres in Shepparton, Victoria; Newcastle, NSW and Launceston, Tasmania later this year and lay off 300 employees and let go 200 agency staff.

The Aussie dollar is buying 71.46 US cents, from 70.76 US cents on Wednesday.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 1.9 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 6,167 points at 1630 AEDT on Thursday.

* The All Ordinaries was down 1.7 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 6,253.5.

* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down seven points at 6155.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 71.46 US cents, from 70.76 US on Tuesday

* 78.98 Japanese yen, from 78.94

* 62.58 euro cents, from 62.36

* 54.10 British pence, from 53.51

* 103.28 NZ cents, from 103.53

In Asia

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 percent.

Chinese blue-chips, which spent the morning swinging between small losses and gains, were up 0.4 percent in afternoon trade, while Seoul’s Kospi also added 0.4 percent as regulators announced plans to cut the stock transaction tax this year. Australian shares ended flat after see-sawing throughout the day. A drop in the jobless rate tempered market expectations of a rate cut. Markets in Japan were closed for a public holiday.

Gains in the broad Asian index followed a wobbly session on Wall Street, after a move toward risk taking sparked by the Fed’s dovish shift was overtaken by growth and trade concerns.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned that Washington may leave tariffs on Chinese goods for a “substantial period” to ensure Beijing’s compliance with any trade deal. China-U.S. trade talks are set to resume next week.

Global growth worries extended to commodity markets, where oil prices, which had jumped Wednesday on supply concerns, retreated.

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In Europe

European stock markets slipped for a second day on Thursday, weighed down by financial stocks and a sharp drop in French-Italian glasses company EssilorLuxottica.

Frankfurt, Madrid, Dublin and Paris all racked up losses, but in London, a surge in energy shares and a weaker pound drove the FTSE 100 up 0.9 percent to a more than five-month high.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended just 0.04 percent lower, with banks weaker after Wednesday’s shift in U.S. central bank policy and a warning from Switzerland’s UBS about investment banking revenues.

Tensions between the French and Italian factions at the top of EssilorLuxottica knocked its shares, while chemicals group Bayer slid further after a second U.S. court ruling against Roundup weedkiller.

“Today is a bit of a messy session with the dovishness of Fed from last night, U.S.-China trade doubts and compelling Brexit developments over the last 24 hours,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

“The FTSE is definitely benefiting from the pound’s rather severe slump, especially against the dollar and the fact that major commodity stocks have outperformed,” Campbell said.

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In the United States

A tech rally led by Apple Inc pushed Wall Street’s main indexes higher on Thursday, offseting losses in U.S. lenders after the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates this year.

In a big shift to their outlook, policymakers said the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate was likely to remain at current levels at least through this year and flagged an expected slowdown in the economy.

Interest rate sensitive banking stocks fell 1.54 percent, while the broader financial sector slipped 0.49 percent and was the only S&P sector trading lower.

“After the initial reaction on the Fed’s growth outlook and that being a reason why they’re not going to raise interest rates, the markets believe that with the Fed on hold the economy will start to show improvement,” said Carin Pai, executive vice president at Fiduciary Trust Company International based in New York City. “It’s a broad market rally, but the performance of the market is still being led by the cyclical areas, which suggests there is a risk on sentiment.”

Technology stocks rose 1.68 percent on the back of gains in Apple Inc and chipmakers. The iPhone maker’s shares jumped 3.2 percent after analysts said they expected the company’s video service, which launches on Monday, to make a material impact on its future earnings.

Micron Technology Inc jumped 7.9 percent after the company said it sees a recovery in memory chips, driving a 2.84 percent gain in the Philadelphia chip index.

Expectations of a largely dovish Fed and hopes of the United States and China reaching a trade resolution have spurred a rally in stocks this year, with the S&P 500 now just 3.3 percent away from its record closing high in September. Investors will now keep a close watch on trade talks as top U.S. officials travel to Beijing next week to resume negotiations.

At 12:38 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 136.40 points, or 0.53 percent, at 25,882.07. The S&P 500 was up 18.35 points, or 0.65 percent, at 2,842.58 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 64.71 points, or 0.84 percent, at 7,793.68.

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Australian News

The national unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in almost eight years but there are signs the jobs market may be easing, with large increases in jobless rates in NSW and Victoria. The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday reported the unemployment rate edged down to 4.9 per cent in February, from 5 per cent.
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Premier Mark McGowan’s 150,000 WA jobs promise on shaky ground as employment market stalls. Not a single extra West Australian is in a job compared to nine months ago.
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Home builders start laying off workers as they face sharp downturn
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Business leader 'fears for future' as policies push manufacturing offshore. Australia's manufacturing industry, suffering from the Coalition's inaction on sky-high energy prices, is facing the prospect of further pain if federal Labor wins the election and hands more power to unions, says the head of the nation's largest brick maker.
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Australia's banking regulator has told banks and insurers that climate change is a "material, foreseeable and actionable" risk it expects them to manage. "Uncertainty over long-term impacts or policy direction is not an excuse for doing nothing," said Australian Prudential Regulation Authority executive board member Geoff Summerhayes in a statement on Wednesday.
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A lot of bling: Industry shocked at $36 million bonus allegation. A bonus worth up to $36 million for an executive at an industry super fund-backed investment vehicle has sparked fury in the sector over concerns the arrangement is excessive and could expose unions to accusations of hypocrisy.
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Why Australia's top super fund buys stocks as others run for the exit. Australia's best-performing superannuation fund is going against the grain by avoiding cash and bonds, betting the 30-year investment horizon of its youthful members means it can ride out looming economic shocks.
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Global News

America imported no oil from Venezuela last week. Here's why that's a big deal
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'They've had a lot of problems living by certain deals': Trump takes shot at China as trade talks continue. President Donald Trump said he'll keep tariffs on China until he's sure Beijing is complying with any trade deal, refuting expectations that the two nations will agree to roll back duties as part of a lasting truce to their trade war.
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Beneath Fed's positive spin, an embrace of a tepid future
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The Federal Reserve’s decisive statement this week that interest rates are unlikely to rise this year sends a signal to U.S. households: keep buying stuff. The Fed tries to guide the U.S. economy by controlling the interest rate banks charge one another for overnight loans. Moving this rate up lifts other rates in the economy, making it costlier for people to use their credit cards or to buy homes and cars.
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Justice Department issues subpoenas in criminal investigation of Boeing.
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Peloton's ride just got a little bumpier. The boutique fitness brand is now facing a $150 million lawsuit over alleged copyright violations for its use of over 1,000 songs in its workout videos.
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Biogen announced Thursday it would cancel a promising drug trial it hoped could treat Alzheimer's disease. The company's stock fell more than 28%. Shares of Biogen are on track for their worst day since February 2005.
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How do you insure a driverless car? Technology giants and automakers are investing billions of dollars to develop driverless cars that promise to make roads safer. But who will pay when a crash does happen?
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Tesla Inc filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a former engineer at the company, claiming he copied the source code for its Autopilot technology before joining a Chinese self-driving car startup in January.
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Facebook revealed on Thursday it didn't properly mask the passwords of hundreds of millions of its users and stored them in an internal database that could be accessed by its staff. The company said it discovered the passwords during a security review in January and launched an investigation. Facebook did not say for how long they had been storing passwords in this way.
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How Europe is forcing Google to change. Europe has gone after Google with tough new regulations, court battles and massive antitrust fines, forcing the company to change how it does business in the lucrative market. The latest hit came Wednesday, when EU regulators fined Google €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) for abusing its dominant position in online search advertising.
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British and European Union market regulators should look beyond public sparring this week over share trading to the “bigger picture” of future relations after Brexit, a senior British regulator said on Thursday.
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The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold amid continued uncertainty over Brexit. All nine members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep rates at 0.75%, where they have been since August last year.
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Stock News

White Cliff Minerals Ltd’s (ASX:WCN) substantial shareholder, New Zealand-based Denman Income Limited, has increased its stake to 10.71% voting power. Denman bought about 35.19 million shares worth $175,937 on March 13 2019 by participating in White Cliff’s rights issue and shortfall placement. The investor now holds a total of about 50.38 million White Cliff shares.
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BlackEarth Minerals sets exploration target at Ianapera Graphite Project in Madagascar
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Peninsula Energy shares surge on securing Permit to Mine amendment approval for Lance Projects
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A key investor in coal company New Hope Corp has blamed an overreaction from minority shareholders spooked by news of Chinese push-back on Australian coal for wiping $1 billion off the miner's value. New Hope’s market value has plummeted $1 billion since Monday, as its share price has fallen from $4.40 to $3.20 at the close on Thursday.
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Galan Lithium Ltd (ASX:GLN) director Terry Gardinerhas demonstrated his faith in the company’s emerging lithium strategy by purchasing shares on-market. The non-executive director has today paid more than $22,000 for a further 100,000 shares in the company which is focused on projects in a prolific lithium region of Argentina.
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Red Sky Energy completes transfer of Innamincka oil & gas licences from Beach. The share purchase agreement (SPA) includes all existing production infrastructure, storage tanks, yards and camp facilities.
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King River Resources enters trading halt. The company is advancing its Speewah Specialty Metals Project in Western Australia.
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Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group joins self-driving car technology race with research and test centre in Karratha. Google and Tesla are no longer the only big players in the race towards a self-driving car future, with mining billionaire Andrew Forrest today unveiling plans for a research centre in WA’s North West. Fortescue Metals Group will establish a research and development centre based in Karratha “to explore opportunities for the application of autonomous mobility technology in an urban environment”.
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Global education provider Navitas has accepted a sweetened $2.3 billion takeover bid from private equity player BGH Consortium. The Perth-based company this afternoon announced its directors unanimously recommended the $5.825-a-share all-cash offer.
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Emerge Gaming and iCandy Interactive to join forces on esports and gaming. Emerge’s share price rocketed up to 24% during intraday trading while iCandy added up to 14%.
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ATO ramps up its focus on rental properties and hosts on platforms such as Airbnb. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is ramping up its enforcement activities and will undertake 4,500 audits of taxpayers it considers are "high risk" because they overclaim or don't declare income relating to rental properties.
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Covata Ltd (ASX:CVT) has received $150,000 deposit for the $5 million sale via option exercise of Cocoon Data Holdings Pty Limited. Cocoon holds the SafeShare intellectual property (IP) and also 100% of Covata Australia Pty Limited (CVA).
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Tech companies really surging, which means… we will now be jumping on the bandwagon and putting all of these breakfasts on instragam. Follow @ bugs_broke_so_gotta_monetise_breakfast.