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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
a listener production. Local economic data in focus this week for Australian investors. More records on Wall Street despite the Middle East conflict rolling on. Plus what's happened with auction clearance rates over the weekend. Good morning, I'm James Gruber.
And I'm Gillian Bowen.
Chapter 2: What economic data should Australian investors watch this week?
It's Monday the 1st of June and this is the morning edition of the CommSec Market Update.
So after another few days in the Middle East conflict, it's words rather than actions that again appear to be moving markets. So let's start with Australia this morning in what is a big week on the economic data front. And it's the start of a new month, June.
Chapter 3: How is the ongoing Middle East conflict affecting Wall Street?
And that means we have another interest rate decision due in the middle of the month.
We'll get an update on how the economy is performing on Wednesday this week when the national accounts are released by the Bureau of Statistics, which will include GDP for the March quarter. But it will be more backwards looking given a lot has happened since the quarter ended. That includes the likes of another rate rise, the drawn out US-Iran war, the federal budget...
The RBA is also out and about this week as well.
Chapter 4: What do the latest auction clearance rates indicate about the housing market?
And perhaps the most watched speaking engagement will be Governor Michelle Bullock's appearance on Thursday before the Senate Economic Legislative Committee as part of the budget estimates process. So that'll be an interesting one with some of the government's key policy announcements still being debated since they were announced on May 12th.
On the war, which began 93 days ago, as has been a usual occurrence, renewed hopes of progress towards a peaceful resolution pushed Wall Street higher on Friday. But here we are on Monday with no deal and the U.S. president reportedly sending proposed changes back to Tehran.
And that hope pushed our market up sharply higher on Friday as well. So the ASX 200 closed up 1.62% to 8,731.7. The top performing stocks on Friday were 4D Medical and Judo Capital Holdings up 18.86% and 12.23% respectively. For the month of May, the ASX 200 rose 0.8%. This morning, the Aussie share market is set to open lower with index futures down 0.1%. Let's move on to commodities.
James, what's happened there?
With oil prices, they closed at their steepest weekly decline since early April as traders await a word that the US, Israel and Iran had actually reached an agreement on a ceasefire. Brent crude futures settled down 2.4% at US$92.05 a barrel. Base metal prices were mixed. Copper futures fell 0.6% on profit-taking, while aluminium futures were slightly higher, up 0.2%.
Gold futures rose on reports that the US and Iran may have agreed to extend their ceasefire. The futures settled 3.3% higher at US$4,593 an ounce. Meantime, iron ore futures were slightly lower, losing 0.2% to US$108.82 a tonne.
Looking at currencies, they were mixed against the US dollar. One Australian dollar is buying 71.68 US cents. The euro is worth 1.1660 US dollars, while one US dollar is buying 159.25 Japanese yen. Let's get a wrap of what's happened overseas with markets on Friday. So, the Dow Jones Index finished up 0.7%. The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher and the NASDAQ rose 0.2%.
So, hopes of a peace deal, but also some corporate earnings playing a role during the trading day there, James.
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Chapter 5: What key economic indicators are being released this week in Australia?
That's right. So the main indexes hit record closing highs on Friday and posted weekly and monthly gains as Dell results drove tech shares higher, while investors awaited details on a potential U.S.-Iran deal. Dell surged 33% after raising its full-year profit and revenue forecasts on Thursday. That was American time. The tech sector climbed 1.9% fueled by gains in chip stocks.
Peers, Hewlett-Packard and Supermicrocomputer gained 13% and 12% respectively. Microsoft climbed 5%. The Software Services Index also advanced by over 6%, raising all losses since January end when concerns about AI disruption had weighed on the sector. The S&P 500 communications services sector dropped as Alphabet declined by 2.5%.
Consumer staple shares were weak, with heavyweights Costco and Walmart down 3.9% and 2.6%, respectively. The automaker index, meanwhile, dropped after reports that the Trump administration wants North American-built vehicles to have 82% regional content to qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.
Shares of General Motors fell 1.3% and US-listed shares of Stellantis dropped 2.7%. Among other movers, Gap shares tumbled 15% after the apparel retailer cut its annual sales forecast, while American Eagle Outfitters dropped 12% after keeping its annual comparable sales forecast unchanged. Meantime, U.S.
government bond yields edged lower a fourth straight day on Friday, closing out a week in which reported progress in efforts to secure a truce between the U.S. and Iran had spurred some optimism on markets. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell two points to 4.44%, while the U.S. two-year Treasury yield dipped one point to 4.00%.
Look, if we head over to check out what happened with the European markets, the FTSE Euro First 300 index ended 0.1% higher, while the UK FTSE 100 slipped 0.2%. So Europe was mixed on Friday, but it wrapped up the month. with gains as investors clung to hopes that a proposed deal to extend a Middle East ceasefire and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz could be finalised.
Defence stocks were among top sector gainers with a 0.7% climb. NATO accused Moscow of reckless behaviour and pledged to, quote, defend every inch of Allied territory after Romania said a Russian drone had crashed into an apartment block in the alliance member state during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine. Lufthansa and Air France both added more than 2% as oil prices declined.
So if we check in on what's on the watch list, as we said at the top of the episode, it's a big week of economic data with GDP and other national accounts data out, as well as several RBA speaking engagements, as we mentioned. But before that, we have the National House prices for May and the Melbourne Institute's inflation gauge for May out today. Job ads for May are also out.
In the US, the ISM manufacturing PMI for May is released today. It's time for our one more thing before we go. So, James, what have you got?
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