The optimism of a record night on Wall Street is set to spill over into the Australian share market which is tipped to open almost 0.5% stronger on Friday.
The three main share price indices in New York ended up at new highs on Thursday (Friday AEST) after economic data reinforced expectations of lower interest rates in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.4%, the S&P 500 increased 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.7% after the release of inflation and jobs data that did not change expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this month.
“Certainly we are in a period that is unusual relative to the last several years, as the job market is slowing down considerably while inflation does not follow suit," Moody’s Ratings Chief Credit Officer Atsi Sheth told Reuters.
U.S. markets were also boosted by gains in Tesla and Micron Technology, which benefited from an upgraded broker recommendation.
Burrell Stockbroking wealth adviser Adam Dight said the market looked “awesome” on expectations of lower U.S. interest rates.
He said the companies offering good investment propositions were “picking up steam” while those that disappointed the market in the reporting season had been doing poorly since then.
“Here we go with a bull market into Christmas,” Dight said.
The Australian share market had eased back on Thursday with the S&P/ASX 200 Index losing 0.3% to 8,805.0.
News today includes a speech by Reserve Bank of Australia Assistant Governor (Financial System) Brad Jones, while shares in WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC), CAR Group (ASX: CAR), Cleanaway Waste (ASX: CWY) and G8 Education (ASX: GEM) trade ex dividend.
In fixed interest markets, the Australian Government bond yields rose with two-year rates adding 0.03% to 3.359% and 10-year rates putting on 0.05% to 4.211.%.
