A less than convincing end to global share markets last week thanks to softer outlooks from central banks, companies and other forecasters, weak economic data and continuing trade uncertainty.
US shares rose 0.1%, Eurozone shares fell 1.2% and Japanese shares lost 2.2%. Australian shares jumped 3.6% thanks to the rally in bank stocks after the royal commission report and rising chances for a rate cut later this year.
Bond yields generally fell on the back of soft data. While the oil price fell, the iron ore price continued to surge on the back of production cuts due to Vale’s problems.
And the $A fell below $US0.71 on the prospect of that RBA rate cuts and as the $US rebounded solidly, despite hints that any deal in the US-China trade war was some time away.
The Dow fell 63.20 points, or 0.3%, to 25,106.33 on Friday, adding 0.2% for the week (its 7th weekly rise in a row).
The S&P 500 index rose 1.83 points to 2,707.88 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 9.85 points, or 0.1%, to 7,298.20. For the week, the S&P 500 edged up 0.1% and the Nasdaq advanced 0.5%.
The rises were, in fact, a bit better than expected as the wider market spent most of the day deep in the red with falls of around 0.9%
A last-minute surge for tech stocks helped drag the S&P 500 into positive territory on Frida to help avoid a three-day losing streak and take the benchmark positive for the week.
US Treasuries rallied, with the yield on the benchmark US 10-year down 2 basis points on Friday afternoon at 2.6339%. That on the more policy-sensitive two-year was down 1.2 basis points at 2.4671%.
The US dollar rose on Friday for a seventh consecutive session, its longest winning streak since February 2017.
The Aussie dollar ended at 70.88 US cents, down from 72.50 US cents a week earlier.
