RunningMoney

The ASX 200 is down 3 points in late-morning trade despite strong o/n leads. Banks strong again, Gold and Healthcare drags. Light news day. Big week ahead with employment data, Chinese GDP, US results and reduced trading #ausbiz

TODAY

• Ex-dividend – Plato Income Maximiser (PL8) 0.5c, TPG Telecom (TPM) 2.0c

TONIGHT

• US economic data – Empire State Manufacturing, Net Long-Term TIC Flows
• US earnings – Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS)
• Fed Speak – Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren

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LAST WEEK

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THIS WEEK

It’s a shorter trading week due to Easter.

• Domestically – Employment data, RBA meeting minutes, Westpac leading index,
• China – GDP, retail sales, industrial production, fixed asset investment
• Japanese – inflation
• UK – employment data, inflation, retail sales
• European – Trade data, inflation, Markit PMIs
• US – industrial production, housing starts and building permits, retails sales and leading indicators

US Earnings

• Monday 15 April – Citigroup (c), Goldman Sachs (GS)
• Tuesday 16 April – Bank of America (BAC), BlackRock (BLK), Charles Schwab (SCHW), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth (UNH), After The Close – CSX, IBM, Netflix (NFLX) Fed Speak – Dallas Fed PResiden Robert Kaplan
• Wednesday 17 April – BNY Mellon (BK), Ericsson (ERIC), Morgan Stanley (MS), PepsiCo (PEP), U.S. Bancorp (USB), After The Close – Alcoa (AA).
• Thursday 18 April – American Express (AXP), Blackstone (BX), Manpower (MAN).

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OVERNIGHT

SPI FUTURES +0

US EQUITIES – S&P 500 +19 (+0.66%), Dow +269 (+1.03%), NASDAQ +37 (+0.46%)

Main themes –

• S&P 500 closed above 2,900
• Earnings – Strong start with JPMorgan Chase (+4.69%) record revenue and net income for the first quarter. Wells Fargo (-2.6%0 has good results but lowered its outlook for net income.
• Walt Disney (+11.54%) climbed to an all-time high after unveiling its streaming services

EUROPEAN MARKETS – All higher. STOXX600 +0.16%, UK FTSE +0.26%, German DAX +0.54%, French CAC +0.31%.

CURRENCIES

• The USD is 0.25% weaker 96.95
• The Aussie dollar is a bit stronger at US71.75.

BONDS – 2-yr: +4 bps to 2.39%, 3-yr: +5 bps to 2.36%, 5-yr: +6 bps to 2.38%, 10-yr: +6 bps to 2.56%, 30-yr: +3 bps to 2.97%

COMMODITIES

• Oil – WTI futures closed up 31c or 0.5% at US$63.89
• Iron Ore – IRESS reports that iron ore was unchanged at US$95.00. CommSec reports iron ore was up U80c or 0.8% to U$95.80.
• LME metals – All up. Copper +1.47%, nickel +0.503%, aluminium +0.24%

ECONOMIC DATA, NEWS & POLITICS

• US economic data – Import Prices 0.6% (prior 1.0%), Import Prices ex-oil -0.2% (prior 0.2%), Export Prices 0.7% (prior 0.7%), and Export Prices ex-agriculture 0.7% (prior 0.8%); With nonfuel import prices down 0.8% for the 12 months ending March while non-agricultural export prices were up just 1.0%, there was no real inflation pressure from a broader standpoint; Preliminary April Michigan Consumer Sentiment 96.9 (consensus 97.6; prior 98.4). Interestingly, despite low inflation, consumers have increasingly been concerned about rising vehicle and home prices
• Chinese trade data – Rebound in exports and strong loan creation boost global risk appetite

• Trade talks – The first round of trade talks between the US and Japan will begin on Monday.
• European growth – Reports Germany will lower its 2019 GDP growth forecast to 0.5% from 1.0%.. Also Eurozone February Industrial Production -0.2% (expected -0.5%; last 1.9%) to be -0.3%yoy (expected -1.0%; last -0.7%).