US oil and gold take a hit: ASX poised to open steady

Following a rally from US markets, the Australian share market looks set to open steady this morning. The International Monetary Fund says the global economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year, before growing by 5.8% next year. It’s reported the Global economy may not fully recover from the coronavirus crisis by 2021. Federal Treasury forecast unemployment would rise to 10 per cent in the June quarter. Meanwhile, the Queensland Government is offering $200 million to help rescue Virgin Australia, but that will not be enough to keep the airline afloat. The airline has asked for a $1.4 billion loan from the Commonwealth to help it through the coronavirus pandemic, but it has so far been offered a share of $165 million. The Aussie dollar continues to rise against the US dollar. Gold dropped around $33 and oil is down.

Markets

Wall Street closed higher on Friday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.99 per cent to close at 24,242, the S&P 500 added 2.7 per cent to close at 2875 and the NASDAQ gained 1.4 per cent to 8650.

European markets closed higher on Friday: London’s FTSE added 2.8 per cent, Paris gained 3.4 per cent and Frankfurt closed 3.2 per cent higher.

Asian markets closed higher on Friday: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 3.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.7 per cent.

Taking all of this into equation, the SPI futures are pointing to flat start, up 1 point. On Friday, the Australian share market closed 71.26 points (1.32 per cent) higher at 5488

Local economic news

Monday

ABS

“Household Impact of COVID-19” survey.

Tuesday

CBA releases its March Household Spending Intentions (HSI) report – detailing trends in consumer spending using Google data.
Also, the ABS provides a timely update on developments in the labour market.
And Roy Morgan and ANZ will also release the weekly reading of consumer sentiment.
Also on Tuesday The minutes of the April 7 Board meeting are issued at 11.30am AEST. In its Statement, policymakers reaffirmed the 0.25 per cent cash rate and 3-year government bond yield targets.

Wednesday,

ABS

Skilled internet job vacancies and preliminary retail trade for March are both issued.

Thursday

‘Purchasing manager indexes (PMIs) for April are released by the CBA and IHS-Markit.

ABS provides updates on regional labour markets and preliminary international trade for March.

Company news

The Chairman of Fonterra Co-operative Group (ASX:FSF) has written to the over 10 thousand farmers in their co=operative to say they are managing to keep milk flowing into key export markets despite the COVID-19 impact. He says the China economy is slowly returning to a new normal with Chinese bidders returning to the last GlobalDairyTrade auction. They are starting to see key foodservice outlets such as Starbucks and McDonald’s re-open their doors in China. He says milk supply in Latin America, the UK and EU is expected to be up on last year, with good growing conditions for UK and EU farmers as they went into their spring peak. Fonterra Co-operative Group (ASX:FSF) is a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative. Shares in Fonterra Co-operative Group (ASX:FSF) closed 4.11 per cent lower at $3.50 on Friday.

Currencies

One Australian Dollar at 7:45 AM was buying 63.68 US cents, 50.96 Pence Sterling, 68.45 Yen and 58.56 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron Ore has gained 0.1 per cent to US$86.17
Iron Ore futures suggest a 1.3 per cent gain.
Gold dropped $33 to US$1699 an ounce.
Silver was down $0.32 cents to US$15.45 an ounce.
Oil has lost $1.60 to US$18.27 a barrel.

Source: Finance News Network