Day Trading Pre Open - 12 January 2018

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

Five straight days of trading this week. Hope you're all still on board.

Widespread selling sent the share market to a second consecutive fall, while stronger than expected retail sales growth lifted the Australian dollar.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index dropped 0.5 per cent to 6,067.6 points, and the local currency hit a high of 78.86 US cents, its best level since October.

CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said the main weight on the share market was the financial sector, though there was no key driver behind its fall.

Retail sales rose 1.2 per cent in November, beating expectations of a rise of 0.4 per cent, driven by the release of the iPhone X and promotions such as Black Friday.
"Retail stocks are the standout, in particular JB Hi-Fi, partly off the back of a broker upgrade and a much stronger than expected lift in retail spending,"Mr Daghlian said.

An upbeat Morgan Stanley report had JB Hi-Fi shares higher before the release of the sales numbers, and they ended the session 4.4 per cent higher at an 11 month high of $27.99.
Harvey Norman gained 1.4 per cent to $4.38 and auto and sports retailer Super Retail Group added 3.5 per cent to an eight month high of $8.77.

The supermarket giants were mixed, with Woolworths up 0.4 per cent and Coles owner Wesfarmers down 0.5 per cent.

The Australian dollar jumped one third of a cent when the retail figures were released, and surged again to its intra-day high late in the afternoon.

Among the big four banks, ANZ shed 0.2 per cent, Westpac dropped 0.5 per cent and Commonwealth Bank fell 0.4 per cent, while National Australia Bank gained 0.1 per cent.

Rio Tinto was steady, while BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals each dropped 0.4 per cent.
Gold miners were boosted by a stronger price for the precious metal, with Newcrest Mining up 0.7 per cent at $22.81 and Evolution Mining up 1.2 per cent at $2.52.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was down 29.1 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 6,067.6 points at 1630 AEDT.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was down 29.7 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 6,176.2 points
* The SPI200 futures contract was down 32 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 6,014 points
* National turnover was 3.8 billion securities traded worth $5.8 billion.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 78.74 US cents, from 78.14 US cents on Wednesday
* 88.04 Japanese yen, from 87.50 yen
* 65.87 euro cents, from 65.51 euro cents
* 58.33 British pence, from 57.80 pence
* 109.41 NZ cents, from 109.10 NZ cents

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEDT was $US1,317.78 per fine ounce, from $US1,309.78 per fine ounce on Wednesday.

BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 2.0335pct, from 2.0114pct on Wednesday
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.6814pct, from 2.6683pct

Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* March 2018 10-year bond futures contract at 97.265 (implying a yield of 2.735pct), from 97.28 (2.72pct) on Wednesday
* March 2018 3-year bond futures contract at 97.825 (2.175pct), from 97.85 (2.15pct).
(*Bond market closes taken at 1630 AEDT previous local session; currency closes taken from 1700 AEDT previous local session)

Wall Street surged to fresh highs on Thursday as rising oil prices lifted energy stocks and upbeat forecast from No. 2 U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines drove airline stocks higher.

Brent crude LCOc1 rose above $70 a barrel and U.S. crude CLc1 rose 1.57 percent to $64.58 per barrel, its highest since December 2014, boosted by a surprise drop in U.S. production and lower crude inventories. [O/R]

Chevron (CVX.N) rose 3.2 percent and Exxon (XOM.N) 1.5 percent, helping the S&P energy index .SPNY gain 2.24 percent and putting it on track for its best percentage gain in more than seven months.

Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) rose about 2 percent after reporting upbeat quarterly profit as well as forecast, helped by higher business fares in a busy holiday season.
That helped the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines index .DJUSAR up 2.25 percent.

“You see this continued rotation into stocks that will accelerate with the economy,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.

“Energy is in a good space with crude above 64 bucks and you have industrials being driven by airlines stocks.”
At 12:20 p.m. ET (1720 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 119.54 points, or 0.47 percent, at 25,488.67 and the S&P 500 .SPX was up 10.06 points, or 0.37 percent, at 2,758.29.

The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 28.63 points, or 0.4 percent, at 7,182.20.

Wall Street snapped its six days of gains for the first time in 2018 on Wednesday over speculations that China would slow U.S. government bond purchases and a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would end a key trade agreement.

Investor focus returned to quarterly earnings, which will start in full swing on Friday, with the big U.S. lenders JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N).

Earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to increase by 11.8 percent on an average, with the biggest contribution from the energy sector, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“Expect some irregularities with respect to earnings in the quarter, but investors are looking beyond the impact of tax and how it hits the bottom line,” said Massud Ghaussy, director at Nasdaq Advisory Services.

Wal-Mart (WMT.N) edged up 0.34 percent after the world’s largest retailer decided to raise entry-level wages for hourly employees to $11 an hour in February as a result of corporate tax cuts.

Xerox shares (XRX.N) jumped 4.22 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the copier maker was in deal talks with Japanese camera maker Fujifilm Holdings (4901.T) that could include a change in control of Xerox.

Investors shrugged off data that showed U.S. producer prices fell for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years in December and weekly jobless claims increased for the fourth straight week to more than a three-month high.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,103 to 762. On the Nasdaq, 2,140 issues rose and 771 fell.


Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

End of week brekkie is Goat's Cheese, Spinach and Tomato Omelette and a Mango, Kiwi and Spinach Smoothie. Double dose of spinach to make you strong.



Happy trading, play nicely and make informed decisions. Missing the Friday Funnies.