Overnight: More Records, Trillions And Blue Sky

More all-time records were broken on Wall Street last night with Alphabet’s (Google) market cap rising above US$1trn?

Greg Peel is still on holidays. In the meantime, Jessica Amir from Bell Direct is providing a snapshot of insights and developments from overseas markets overnight.

By Jessica Amir, Bell Direct

US equites closed at brand new record highs overnight on stronger than expected jobs data, on top of better than expected earnings from Morgan Stanley. Base metal commodities also had a strong night too, all which is why the Aussie share market futures are suggesting a 0.4%/25 point rise at the open taking us further into brand new record skies.

Yesterday the local bourse passed the 7,000 point milestone for the first time in history after the ASX200 rose 0.67%/47 points to 7,042 points.

Morgan Stanley’s shares jumped 7% in the session after it revealed all three of its divisions, investment management, wealth and trading all produced more revenue than expected. The big banks shares followed, moving higher.

Morgan Stanley is the last of the six largest US banks to report and is one of four of the majors that beat analysts expectations, with Citigroup, J.P Morgan and Bank of America reporting earlier this week with profits beating expectations and surging bond trading results.

Also overnight, Microsoft shares hit record levels and Google’s parent Alphabet’s market cap hit $1 trillion for the first time. What a night hey?

On Thursday the benchmark S&P500 rose 0.8% breaking above 3,300 points for the first time, while Nasdaq advanced 1.1% and the blue-chip Dow Jones surged 0.9%/267 points.

Across the Atlantic Ocean 

European stocks closed mostly higher with investor reacting to the partial trade deal being signed. The Stoxx 600 rose 0.2%, UK’s FTSE fell -0.4%, The French CAC rose 0.1% and the Germany DAX closed -0.01% lower.

Gold slipped -0.05%/US$0.90 to US$1,552 an ounce.

Oil gained 1.1%/US$0.60 to US$58.41 a barrel.

Iron ore -0.25% lower at US$94.83 a tonne.

Australian dollar slipped -0.12% to 68.99 US as traders weigh up our competitiveness in the wake of the US China trade deal.

What else to watch today?

Yesterday the second largest company on the ASX, CSL cleared the $300 mark for the first time after Credit Suisse upped its price target to $320, as it expects 11% earnings growth this financial year and 22% next. Credit Suisse says although some consider its valuation is stretched as it’s trading at a 90% premium to Australian industrial stocks, its “valuation is justified given CSL’s strong market leading position in a niche industry that has robust fundamentals”.