Australian Stock Market Report – Morning November 12, 2014

Walmart NO: 1 Retailer in the World Market with $473.1 bln in 2014 FY — Walmart Store, that was destroyed by a tornado and later Rebuilt Reuters

* In the US, the NFIB business optimism index rose from 95.3 to 96.1 in October. And chain store sales were up 3.8% in the latest week compared with a year earlier according to Redbook, down from 3.9% in the previous week.

* European shares rose modestly on Tuesday. Shares in Vodafone rose by 5.4% after releasing earnings figures and the result helped other telecoms. But investor sentiment was dented by weakness in shares of Italian banks. The FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.3% with both the UK FTSE and German Dax up by 0.2%. In London trade shares in BHP Billiton fell by 1.0% with Rio Tinto down by 1.3%.

* US sharemarkets were little changed on Tuesday. Shares in Alibaba fell by 3.9% after rising 4% the previous day despite racking up $9.3 billion in online sales on "Singles Day". At the close of trade the Dow Jones was up by 1.1 points or less than 0.1%; the S&P 500 index was up 0.1% and the Nasdaq was up by 8.9 points or 0.2%.

* The US treasuries market was closed for observance of the Veterans Day holiday. US Treasury will sell $24 billion in 10-year notes on Wednesday and $16 billion in 30-year bonds on Thursday. US 2 year yields stand near 0.54% while US 10 year yields are at 2.36%.

* Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade on Tuesday. The Euro rose from lows near US$1.2395 to highs near US$1.2500, and was around US$1.2475 in late US trade. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US85.90c to near US87.15c, and was around US87.00c in late US trade. The Japanese yen weakened from 115.13 yen per US dollar to JPY116.06 but was near JPY115.45 in late US trade.

* World oil prices were mixed on Tuesday with investors dissecting news that brokers were reducing price targets. Thomson Reuters notes "JPMorgan slashed its 2015 Brent price forecast by $33 to $82 per barrel on Monday, citing supply pressures in the Atlantic Basin and the apparent inability of OPEC member states to work cohesively to cut production they meet later this month." Brent crude fell by US67c or 0.8% to US$81.67 a barrel. But US Nymex crude price rose by US54c or 0.7% to US$77.94 a barrel.

* Base metal prices rose by up to 1.2% on the London Metal Exchange on Tuesday with nickel and zinc leading the way. Gold rose slightly on Tuesday as the US dollar eased with Comex gold futures up by US$3.20 an ounce or 0.3% to US$1,163.00 per ounce. In after hours trade spot gold was near US$1,165. Iron ore was unchanged at US$75.50 a tonne on Tuesday.

Ahead: In Australia, the wage price index is released with the monthly consumer confidence index. In the US, weekly mortgage finance data is issued together with wholesale sales and inventories.

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