How’dy USA

In US economic data, consumer prices rose by 0.4% in August (survey: 0.3%) to be 1.3% higher over the year (survey: 1.2%). Core consumer prices lifted 0.4% (survey: 0.2%) to be up 1.7% on the year (survey: 1.6%). The US budget deficit widened from US$63 billion to US$200 billion in August (survey: -US$245bn).

US share markets ended mixed on Friday. Shares in cloud services provider Oracle fell 0.6% despite earnings beating expectations. The Dow Jones index rose by 131 points or 0.5% assisted by gains of 1.3% for Home Depot with shares in Caterpillar up 2.65%. The S&P500 index edged 0.1% higher but the Nasdaq index slid by 66 points or 0.6%. Over the week, the Dow fell 1.7%; the S&P 500 fell by 2.5%; and the Nasdaq lost 4.1%.

US longer-term treasury bond prices rose on Friday (yields lower). Investors shrugged off higher-than-expected inflation data and looked ahead to the coming week's Federal Reserve meeting. US 2-year yields fell 1 point to 0.129%, and US 10-year yields fell by 2 points to near 0.669%. For the week, US 2-year yields fell by 2 points and US 10-year yields fell by 5 points.

Bonjour Europe

European share markets closed mixed on Friday. Investors weighed prospects for a no-deal Brexit. Investors also mulled merger & acquisition news. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.1%. The German Dax lost 0.1% but the UK FTSE index rose by 0.5%. In London trade, shares in Rio Tinto rose by 4.3% with shares in BHP up by 2.1%.

Hello World!

Major currencies were mostly lower against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.1870 to lows near US$1.1825 and was near US$1.1845 at the US close. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US73.05 cents to lows near US72.60 cents and was near US72.85 cents at the US close. But the Japanese yen lifted from 106.23 yen per US dollar to JPY106.05 and was near JPY106.14 at the US close.

Global oil prices were mixed on Friday. The market monitoring committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, (OPEC+), will meet next Thursday to consider how to deal with worldwide oversupply. The Brent crude price fell by US23 cents or 0.6% to US$39.83 a barrel. The US Nymex price rose by US3 cents or 0.1% to US$37.33 a barrel. Over the week, Brent lost US$2.83 or 6.6% and the US Nymex fell by US$2.44 or 6.1%.

Base metal prices rose by up to 2.4% on Friday on the London Metal Exchange with zinc up the most. But aluminium fell by 0.9%. For the week, lead lost 4.5% and other metals fell by up to 1.3%. But copper rose 0.6%.

The gold futures price fell by US$16.40 or 0.8% to US$1,947.90 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,942 an ounce at the US close. Over the week, gold rose by US$13.60 or 0.7%. Iron ore rose by US$2.75 or 2.2% to US$129.05 a tonne. For the week, iron ore rose by US35 cents or 0.3%.

G’day Australia

In Australia, provisional travel data is released with a report from the ABS entitled, “A series of unprecedented events – the June quarter, 2020.” In China, the house price index, new vehicle sales and foreign direct investment data are due. In the US, consumer inflation expectations data is issued.