Good morning, thanks for your company. Well,
Global equities push the pause button on
Friday concerned of the Coronavirus
economic impact and it comes as China's
National Health Commission confirmed
over 31,000 people have caught the
pneumonia like virus with over 600
deaths. Meantime, the World Health
Organization hailed
China for its great discipline in
attacking the virus with almost 3,000
people fully recovered and in the US,
better than expected economic news
came through jobs numbers better than
expected, 225,000 jobs added in January
almost 70,000 more than expected. In fact,
wages saw an uptick of 3.1%
year-on-year also betting forecasts as
well. However, the fresh coronavirus
numbers being confirmed meet investors
locked in recent profits on Friday which
is why we saw US equities fall from
their fresh record highs after
previously rising for four straight days.
However, despite Friday's negativity some
sectors did push ahead. Consumer staples
Telcos and property also rose. Over the
week as well the Dow, the S&P 500
finished with a gain of 3% and
the Nasdaq finished with a profit of 4%.
As for us today, the Aussie share market
futures are currently suggesting a rise
of 0.1% or a lift of 7
points and it follows Friday's close
after we fell 0.4% or 27 points
closing at 7,023
points. Reporting the season
continues, GPT
Group, Charter Hall Long WALE Reit and Aurizon Holdings first out of
the gate this morning reporting so you
can sink your teeth into those results
JB Hi-Fi results out later today and
Suncorp reporting tomorrow, the first of
the banks. What else to watch today, well
a quiet day locally in terms of economic
news however China inflation is out for
January and home lending is out tomorrow
for December and business confidence for
January both readings tip to be positive.
Let's have a look at how markets wrapped
up on Friday, well in the US, the Dow
Jones fell the most 0.9%,
the S&P 500 and the Dow finished
0.5% lower. European markets also
closed
lower, Germans DAX and UK's FTSE
down the most 0.5% with the
broader Stoxx 600 losing 0.3%, the French CAC slipping
slightly 0.1%. Asian stocks close mix
though China's Shanghai can't buck the
trend rising 0.3%
continuing its claw back while Hong
Kong's Hang Seng made an equal fall in
the opposite direction 0.3%
lower and China's and Japan's
Nikkei was unchanged. Gold trades at
$1,573 an ounce losing over 1%
last week as investors poured
money back into equities and oil has
backtracked it's now $50.30 a barrel losing over 2% last
week as demand concerns linger and the
iron ore price has clawed back it's now
at $81.65 rising almost
1% in the Australian dollar.
Lastly,  the Aussie dollar is buying 66.65 US cents have a great day and happy
trading.
