Trump to impose tariffs: Aus shares to tumble

The Australian share market looks set to tumble this morning following a selloff on Wall Street as US President Donald Trump said he would put tariffs on steel and aluminum exports from Brazil and Argentina, claiming the two countries have been devaluing their currencies. Stocks have had a rocky start to the month of December, with the biggest decline in nearly two months after ISM manufacturing data missed estimates. Shares of Facebook and Amazon dropped at least 1%, Netflix closed nearly 1.5% lower and Roku, which has been one of the hottest stocks of 2019, plummeted more than 15%.

Jack Dorsey’s planned move to Africa has divided Square and Twitter investors. The CEO of both company’s announced plans to move to Africa for up to six months next year and analysts have doubts about who will run the companies in his absence. Yale’s Jeff Sonnenfeld said a six-month leave would be “reckless” on the CEO’s part and allowing it would be “irresponsible and negligent” on the part of the board.

Local Economic News

Reserve Bank Board meeting – no change in rates is expected.

Balance of Payments (September quarter)

To the figures from around the globe

Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed almost 1 per cent lower at 27,783, the S&P 500 dropped 0.9 per cent to 3114 and the NASDAQ fell 1.1 per cent to 8568.

European markets closed lower: London’s FTSE lost 0.8 per cent, Paris dropped over 2 per cent and Frankfurt also dipped over 2 per cent.

Asian markets

Tokyo’s Nikkei added over 1 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.1 per cent higher.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to a 1.3 per cent fall.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 16 points or 0.2 per cent higher at 6862.

Company news

Hannah Hamling will join the Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) board from 1 February 2020. The environmental and sustainable development expert fills the vacancy created by the retirement of former Chair Joan Withers. Auckland-based Ms Hamling is President of the Asia Pacific Region for Golder, a global ground engineering and environmental science company with over 6,500 personnel worldwide. She has more than 30 years consulting experience, and 20 years in management and board roles. Shares in Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) closed 2.1 per cent lower at $4.59 yesterday.

Ex-Dividends:

Collins Foods Ltd (ASX:CKF) is paying 9.5 cents fully franked
Pendal Group Ltd (ASX:PDL) is paying 25 cents 10 per cent franked

Turning to currencies

One Australian Dollar at 8:20 AM was buying 68.20 US cents, 52.70 Pence Sterling, 74.32 Yen and 61.57 Euro cents.

To Commodities

Iron Ore has added 1.1 per cent to US$88.45.
Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.2 per cent rise.
Gold has dropped $4.00 to US$1469 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.13 to US$16.98 an ounce.
Oil has gained $0.79 to US$55.96 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network