Australian Stock Market Report - Morning May 15, 2015

In US economic data, weekly jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 264,000 in the past week. US durable goods orders were revised from +4.4% to +4.7% for March. US factory orders rose by 2.1% in March. US producer prices fell by 0.4% in April to be down 1.3% over the year. Core producer prices (ex food & energy) rose by 0.1%.

European shares rose on Thursday, driven by a rally in steel companies after a report that the European Commission had opened an anti-dumping inquiry into cold steel imports from Russia and China. ArcelorMittal rose by 4.1% while ThyssenKrupp gained 1.6%. The FTSEurofirst 300 rose by 0.7% with the German Dax up by 1.8% and the UK FTSE gained 0.3%. Mining shares were flat or weaker in London trade with BHP Billiton unchanged while Rio Tinto lost 0.8%.

US sharemarkets rallied in late trade on Thursday taking the S&P 500 to a record high. Investors bet on stronger sales from US multinationals following the weaker US dollar. The US dollar index fell to its lowest level since January. All 10 major S&P sectors were higher with the tech index (up 1.7%) leading the gains. Apple shares rose 2.2% supporting the Nasdaq and S&P 500. Cosmetics company Avon briefly jumped more than 27% after a regulatory filing said it had a offer for nearly three times its market value before it was claimed to be a hoax. The Dow Jones rose by 192 points or 1.1% with the S&P 500 index up by almost 23 or 1.1% while the Nasdaq ended higher by 69 points or 1.4%.

US treasury prices rose on Thursday (yields lower). A sale of $16 billion in 30 year bonds was met with tepid demand. German bonds were relatively steady on Thursday, helping to support US government debt. US 2 year yields fell by 3 points to 0.548% while US 10 year yields fell by 6 points to 2.234%.

Major currencies were mostly weaker against the greenback over the European and US sessions on Thursday. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.1440 to lows around US$1.1355 before lifting to end US trade near US$1.1410. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US81.35c to around US80.65c before ending US trade near US80.80c. And the Japanese yen traded between 118.85 yen per US dollar to JPY119.30 and was around JPY119.15 at the US close.

World oil prices eased modestly on Thursday as ample global supply weighed on prices. US oil inventories were almost 90 million barrels higher than levels a year ago. Brent crude fell by US22 cents to US$66.59 a barrel while US Nymex crude fell by US62c or 1% to US$59.88 a barrel.

Base metal prices fell by up to 2.6% with lead down the most while copper eased just 0.1%. The Comex gold futures price rose for the third straight session, up by US$7.00 an ounce or 0.6% to US$1,218.20 per ounce. Iron ore fell by US80c or 1.3% on Thursday to US$61.20 a tonne.

Ahead: In Australia, lending finance data is released. In the US, the Empire manufacturing survey, industrial production and capacity

utilisation are all slated for release.

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