The Australian market will be looking for the rebound to continue today after ASX 200 futures gained 16 points or 0.3% overnight Friday.
A reasonable start of that size would add to last week’s 1% gain in the local market.
That was despite mixed results from the banks in the wake of the National Australia Bank’s 6,000 job slash and the second weak monthly retail sales report in row, this time for September and the quarter which showed little growth at all.
Friday night’s US jobs report was also solid, and with good gains in revisions for weak September and then August – but a surprise slide in wages growth (2.4% annual in September down from 2.8% in August) will see investors take a cautious approach from today.
Tomorrow’s Reserve Bank meeting won’t see a rate change here, nor will Thursday’s decision from its NZ counterpart on Thursday. That’s despite the US jobs report for October confirming a rate rise will emerge from the Fed next month.
Eurozone shares gained 0.1% on Friday and the US S&P 500 rose 0.3% on the back of more strong earnings results – especially from Apple which briefly topped the $US 900 billion valuation mark in intra day trading before retreating to end at a record level and valuation of $US891 billion.
While Chinese shares fell 0.7% over the last week, US shares rose 0.3%, Eurozone shares were up another 1.1%, Japanese shares surged 2.4% and Australian shares rose by that 1%.
The ASX 200 and the Australian All Ords index both managed to push above the 6000 level for the first time since early 2008.
Bond yields fell helped by President Trump’s nomination of Jerome Powell to succeed Janet Yellen as Fed Chair and a fall in Eurozone inflation (as well as the weak US core inflation and the slower than expected US jobs growth)..
Oil and copper prices rose but the iron ore price fell slightly on Friday and over the week.
The $US was flat against a basket of currencies but the $A was hit by very weak retail sales data and ended around 76.60 US cents, down slightly from the week before.
The Australian 10 year bond closed at 2.57% according to Bloomberg, down 8 points on the day and a quarter of a per cent in the past month.
Wall Street meantime saw the Dow rise 22.93 points, or 0.1%, to 23,539.19, the S&P 500 added 7.99 points, or 0.3%, to 2,587.84, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 49.49 points, or 0.7%, to 6,764.44.
All three hit all-time intraday highs during the session and closed at records. Both the Dow and the S&P posted their fourth straight daily rise. The Nasdaq marked its 63rd record close of 2017, setting a new record for the number of all-time-high finishes in a calendar year.
For the week, the Dow added 0.5%, the S&P was up 0.3% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.9%.
FactSet pointed out that last week marked the eight straight weekly gain for both the Dow and the S&P, the longest such streak for both since November 2013. The Nasdaq closed out its sixth positive week in a row, matching a streak that ended in early March.
The October payroll report showed 261,000 jobs were added last month. While well below the forecast 325,000, the unemployment rate dipping to 4.1% from 4.2%, the September report was revised from a loss to a gain, and the August payroll tally was also lifted with more than 60,000 new jobs being added for those month.
But annual wages growth slowed to 2.4% from 2.8%.
So far in 2017, the Nasdaq has far outperformed the rest of the market – rising nearly 26% so far , compared with a gain of nearly 16% for the S&P 500 index and 19% for the Dow.
