The Australian equity market is pointing to a slightly higher open today after US equities finished the overnight session up in choppy trading conditions on the back of strong economic data.
The Dow finished 143.08 points higher to close the session at 11153.98 in a volatile session while the S&P500 index added 9.34 points finish at 1160.40.
The Labour Department reported that the number of initial jobless claims in the US fell sharply although the real surprise was the improvement in the US employment. The second report showed that gross domestic product grew at an inflation adjusted annual rate of 1.3 per cent from April to June, analysts surveyed that it would grow at 1.2 per cent.
EURUSD had a choppy overnight session trading down form highs of 1.3683 to lows of 1.3551 after German lawmakers approved new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility, as did Estonia. That vote came on the heels of Finland’s approval a day before, with Austria to decide on Friday. All 17 members of the currency bloc must approve changes to the EFSF before they can be implemented.
The Canadian dollar traded at almost a one year low against the greenback as investors look to the safe haven dollar to cut risk exposure. USDCAD (see above chart) traded up from lows of 1.0259 to as high as 1.0405, at time of writing this report it was sitting at 1.0370.
WTI crude traded up from yesterday lows of 79.58 to highs of 83.99 after government reported that the economy grew faster than previously estimated in the second quarter.
INDICES
Last Traded
SPI 200 future 4027
S&P500 Index 1160.40
Dow Jones 11153.98
FTSE 100 Index 5196.84
COMMODITIES
Last Traded
Gold 1614.75
Oil (Nymex) 83.12
CURRENCIES
Last Traded
AUDUSD 0.9777
EURUSD 1.3592
GBPUSD 1.5625
USDJPY 76.77
Source
Bloomberg, Dow Jones News