US consumer confidence falters: Aus shares to open lower
The US markets finished lower, setting the Australian share market for a slow start this morning.
On the commodities front, gold is seeing gains.
US economic news:
The drop in Wall Street reflected faltering US consumer confidence which fell more than expected in July amid rising Covid cases.
The US consumer confidence index dropped to 92.6 this month from 98.3 in June, which was worse than expected, indicating that consumers are not positive about the economy over the next six months.
This comes as millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose a weekly jobless benefit supplement by the weekend, and as the number of people claiming unemployment benefits continue to increase.
The housing market, on the other hand, has maintained resilience against the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the $1 trillion stimulus package proposal to fight the impacts of Covid is still in discussion in Washington.
Local economic news:
The Consumer Price Index for the June quarter will be released by the ABS today.
Consumer confidence is down due to Covid, and retailers are called to put energy into online sales.
To the figures from around the globe:
Wall Street closed lower yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.8 per cent to close at 26,379, the S&P 500 lost 0.7 per cent to close at 3,218 and the NASDAQ lost 1.3 per cent to close at 10,402.
European markets closed mixed: London’s FTSE gained 0.4 per cent, Paris lost 0.2 per cent and Frankfurt lost 0.03 per cent.
Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite also gained 0.7 per cent.
The ASX futures are pointing to a fall of 26 points. Yesterday the Australian share market closed 24 points lower, or 0.4 per cent lower, at 6,021 points.
Company news
Fintech company Wisr (ASX:WZR) reported a strong quarter, with record growth across a number of key metrics, despite tighter credit policies and the downturn from the pandemic. Its quarterly revenue increased by 50 per cent. The company also reports a nine per cent increase in new quarterly loan originations of $42.2 million for the March quarter, which is a 92 per cent increase compared to the June 2019 quarter.Shares in Wisr (ASX:WZR) last traded 2 per cent lower at $0.25.
Currencies
One Australian Dollar at 7:45AM was buying 71.56 US cents, 55.35 Pence Sterling, 75.20 Yen and 61.06 Euro cents.
Commodities
Iron Ore futures suggest a 0.5 per cent rise.
Gold has gained $8.50 to US$1,964 an ounce.
Silver has lost $0.20 to US$24.30 an ounce.
Oil has fallen by $0.56 to US$41.04 a barrel.
Copyright 2020 – Finance News Network
Source: Finance News Network
