In another slower trade day in Week 16, Australian shares are being tipped to open 0.4% lower as Oz traders settle back into quarterlies, half-yearlies, and the simmering China-U.S. trade war lazily bubbles away on the stove.
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A recent monthly Bank of America survey suggested investors “haven’t been this bearish in three decades” – and today’s doldrums do seem to agree.
The S&P 500 closed down 0.2%; the Dow Jones lost 0.4%. The Nasdaq was basically flat.
Conversely, Shanghai advanced +0.15%, while the STOXX added a lofty 1.6%.
It’s probably welcome too – not every week can herald historic swings and collapses.
The China-U.S. trade war could prove a shock to the system sometime this week; the White House most recently told Beijing the “ball is in [its] court” and that they were waiting to hear more about deals with the Red Dragon.
Reporting from Bloomberg hints at China’s ambivalence to that: Beijing reportedly ordered Chinese airlines not to buy more Boeing jets as we ticked mid-week.
Away from the slow-moving trade war, Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) is returning to live trading today after sitting in suspension for some weeks. The casino operator has lost more than $300 million in the past six months.
When it returns, the Star will be 11cps; that may change quite quickly though.
HotCopper forum users will be watching Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI) this morning after the miner landed a strong maiden resource estimate for the Bara do Pacu licence at its Caldeira project. (Meteoric already jumped 29% yesterday.)
Another top trender early on Wednesday has been Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL), which just locked in a $4.6M strategic placement with Sumitomo Metal Mining.
Iluka (ASX:ILU), Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR), and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) are among the ASX companies sharing quarterly reports through this morning.
The Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) will report its half-yearlies early today too.
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Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 63.3 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has kept ticking up this week, to $98.75 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $64.76,
Gold is trading at $3,237 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $3.30 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – let’s get trading today.
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