US Shares rose overnight driven by technology stocks while shares in Apple rose in afterhours trading following better than expected results.
United States
Apple shares gained as much as 7% in after-hours as investors welcomed a smaller slowdown than expected in Chinese sales, while management forecast a return to sales growth and a $110b buy-back announcement. In addition, there was also a modest increase in the quarterly dividend to 25c from 24c previously.
The S&P 500 increased 0.91% and the Nasdaq 1.51% overnight which follows less hawkish than expected Fed on Wednesday. In economic data, the initial jobless claims for the week ending April 27th were lower than expected at 208k as opposed to 212k. In focus tonight is the latest non-farm payroll report for April expected to show 243k jobs were added in the month, while the unemployment rate is expected to be unchanged at 3.8%.
Europe
European stocks were generally lower on Thursday following losses on Wall Street. The Euro Stoxx 600 was -0.22% lower along with the DAX -0.2% and CAC -0.88% while the FTSE100 rose 0.63%. There was little economic data to guide investors, with sentiment driven by losses on Wall Street on Wednesday. Tonight will bring the latest unemployment rate for the Eurozone expected to remain steady at 6.5%.
Australia
The ASX is expected to rise this morning with ASX200 futures up 35 points or 0.46% to 7,636. The index rose 0.22% on Thursday with financials accounting for nearly all the gains with the sector, that has a 30% weight in the index, up 0.72%. NAB led gains, rising 1.45% after reporting better than expected cash profit for the six months to March 31st of $3.55b. Elsewhere, shares in Woolworths fell -4.2% after half-year profit was lower than expected and flagged rising costs. Bapcor, the owner of Autobarn was a notable underperformer down -24% after downgrading profit guidance citing customer reluctance to spend on cars amid the cost of living.
Commodities
Oil prices edged up with both WTI and Brent crude 0.23% and 0.28% higher respectively. Iron ore futures in Singapore rose 1.91% on Thursday although are -0.56% lower this morning at US$117 while copper is -1.29% lower. Gold declined -0.68% overnight to US$2,303 an oz, silver edged up 0.12% while Bitcoin rebounded 2.53% after three sessions of consecutive losses.
Economic Calendar
Eurozone Unemployment (MoM Mar) 19:00
US Non-farm Payrolls (MoM Apr) 22:30
US ISM Services PMI (MoM Apr)
This article was written by James Woods, Portfolio Manager, Rivkin Securities Pty Ltd. Enquiries can be made via [email protected] or by phoning +612 8302 3632.
