News: Outlook: S&P 500 hits new high

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Following mixed leads from the US the SPI is pointing towards a steady start for Aussie markets today.

 

The S&P 500 hit a new record on Wall street overnight and the Dow Jones also closed higher on the back of an improvement in jobless claims, while the NASDAQ lagged.

 

The price of gold pushed higher, on Wednesday’s news from the Fed; and oil prices have also risen as the conflict in Iraq heats up.

 

US economic news

The Labor Department reported jobless claims fell by 6,000 in the week ending June 14. It came in ahead of analysts’ expectations in growing signs the US economy is picking up steam.

 

Figures

Wall Street closed mixed yesterday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15 points to close at 16,921, the S&P 500 added 3 points to close at 1,959 and the NASDAQ lost 4 points to close at 4,359.

 

European markets closed up: London’s FTSE gained 30 points, Paris gained 33 points and Frankfurt is up 74 points.

 

Asian markets closed mixed: Tokyo’s Nikkei added 245 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 14 points, and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 32 points.

 

The Australian share market closed higher yesterday: The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 85 points up to finish at 5,468. On the futures market the SPI is 4 points down. 

 

Currencies 

The Australian Dollar at 7:20AM was buying $US0.94 cents, 55.19 Pence Sterling, 95.84 Yen and 69.11 Euro cents.

 

Economic news

Due out today from the Commonwealth Bank is the business sales indicator for May.

 

Company news

 

Macquarie Telecom Group Limited (ASX:MAQ) has revised down its earnings guidance for this year. The telecommunications company expects earnings to drop to between $25 million and $27 million this year. The company blames the slip on a faster than anticipated movement of their customers from their managed server offering, to their lower cost virtual private cloud service. Shares in Macquarie Telecom dipped 0.14 per cent yesterday to close at $7.01

 

DuluxGroup Limited (ASX:DLX) have completed a private placement worth about $200 million. The funds will be used by the paint manufacturer to replace existing debt facilities that expire in April 2015. CEO Stuart Boxer says this is an excellent outcome especially given the company’s overall cost of funding is expected to be maintained in spite of the lengthening of its debt maturity profile. Share in DuluxGroup rose 1.95 per cent on the news to close at $5.75

 

Commodities

Gold is up $41.40 to $US1,314 an ounce for the August contract on Comex.
Silver is up $0.87 to $20.65 for July.
Copper is up $0.02 at $3.08 a pound.
Oil is up $0.46 at US$106.43 a barrel for July light crude in New York.