US markets stronger on energy: US housing market resilient

 

US equities finished higher in uneventful Thursday trading, though off best levels. More data released Thursday provided clues into the state of both the jobs and housing markets. Initial jobless claims fell to 250,000 for the week ended Aug. 13, while existing home sales dropped nearly 6 per cent in July.

A glimmer of hope form Fed Reserve minutes suggested the central bank said it remains committed to fighting inflation, but indicated it could adjust its pace of tightening based on market conditions.

Overnight the S&P 500 rose 0.23 per cent, while the Nasdaq inched 0.21 per cent .The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.06 per cent.

Retail earnings highlighted a still fairly resilient consumer and some progress on inventory and supply chain issues, though margin headwinds are expected to linger.

Shares of Cisco popped more than 6 per cent after the company beat estimates for its fiscal fourth quarter.

While Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond fell 26 per cent on Thursday morning as investors reacted to activist investor Ryan Cohen’s filing that he intends to sell his entire stake in the meme stock. The stock a recent favourite of the reddit crowd has now fallen 40 per cent in after market trading

Energy was the best performer sector on crude strength – Oil prices gained about 4 per cent on Thursday as positive US economic data and robust US fuel consumption offset concerns that slowing economic growth in other countries could undercut demand.

Oil and gas stocks alongside coal, copper and aluminium stocks outperformed

The real estate sector was weak with Federal Reserve officials predicting a slowdown in the housing market. Whilst rising mortgage rates are putting pressure on the consumer there hasn’t been anywhere near the excess of lending that there was in the 2000s.

A report from Fitch this week said that the Fed’s interest-rate moves had indeed made housing prices more likely to fall, and put the largest plausible drop at 15 percent. That would be a loss of around $60,000 for the average American homeowner, which is significant, but less than the nearly $120,000 that the average US home gained in value over the past two years.

In bitcoin news it looked like crypto would be a staple of TV commercials along with insurance, beer, and cars. But then crypto prices crashed with major firms in the sector spending just $36,000 on TV ads in July, down from a peak of $84 million in February (the month of the Super Bowl), Matt Damon’s infamous “fortune favors the brave” ad campaign, which cost an estimated $65 million, hasn’t aired since the Super Bowl

Currencies

US Dollar index was up 0.8 per cent, firmer on the major crosses. Including the Australian dollar which has weakened compared to the US dollar yesterday, buying 69.18 US cents  (Thu: 69.37 US cents), 57.99 Pence Sterling, 94.01 Yen and 68.59 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 0.6 per cent fall.

Gold lost $5.50 or 0.3 per cent to US$1771 an ounce.

Silver was down $0.28 or 1.4 per cent to US$19.57 an ounce.

Copper was up $4.60 or 1.3 per cent to US$363.60 a pound.

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.3 per cent gain.

Ex-dividends

There are three companies set to trade without the right to a dividend.

GWA Group (ASX:GWA) is paying 8 cents fully franked
Ryder Capital (ASX:RYD) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Zimplats Holding (ASX:ZIM) is paying 156.5362 cents unfranked

Dividends payable

There are five companies set to pay eligible shareholders today.

Advanced Share Registry (ASX:ASW)
BWP Trust (ASX:BWP)
CD Pvt Equity Fund III (ASX:CD3)
Cromwell Property Group (ASX:CMW)
New Energy Solar (ASX:NEW)

Figures around the globe

Across the Atlantic, European markets closed higher. Paris added 0.5 per cent, Frankfurt gained 0.5 per cent and London’s FTSE closed 0.4 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei dropped almost 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.5 per cent lower.

Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket lost 0.2 per cent to 7113.

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
Copyright 2022 – Finance News Network

Source: Finance News Network