Australian Stock Market Report – Morning November 21, 2014

A man carries an umbrella in the rain as he passes the New York Stock Exchange October 16, 2014. Stocks on Wall Street rebounded from earlier lows on Thursday to trade little changed as a flurry of economic reports helped ease fears a weakening global economy would begin to affect the United States. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT)

* In the US, the Philadelphia Fed Business Activity Index lifted from 20.7 to 40.8 in October - its highest reading since 1993. The new orders sub-index was at the highest level in 26 years. US Consumer prices were unchanged in October to be 1.7% higher than a year ago. The tame result was driven by a slide in energy prices (-1.9%) and gasoline prices (-3%) in October. Excluding food and energy prices were up 0.2% to be up 1.8% on a year ago.

* The US leading index rose by 0.9% in October. US existing home sales rose by 1.5% in October to an annual rate of 5.26 million - the highest rate since September last year. Sales are up 2.5% on a year ago. US jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 291,000 in last week. Claims have been below the 300,000 threshold for 10 straight weeks - a sign of the tightening labour market.

* European shares were mixed on Thursday as weaker than expected Euro zone manufacturing data added to worries about growth for the region. The euro zone flash manufacturing gauge fell from 52.1 to 51.4 in November, with new orders falling for the first time in a year despite firms cutting prices. The FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.3% with the UK FTSE also down by 0.3% while the German Dax rose by 0.1%. In London trade shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both lost 2.6%.

* US sharemarkets edged higher on Thursday as the lift in factory activity and existing home sales supported sentiment. At the close of trade the Dow Jones was up by 33 points or 0.2% while the S&P 500 index was up by 0.2% and the Nasdaq was higher by 26 points or 0.6%.

* US treasuries rose on Thursday (yields lower) as weak global manufacturing data supported demand for safe-haven US bonds. US 2 year yields fell by 2 points to 0.513% while US 10 year yields fell by 3 points to 2.336%.

* The US dollar was mixed against major currencies on Thursday. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.2575 to lows near US$1.2505, and was around US$1.2545 in late US trade. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US85.70c to around US86.40c, holding near US86.25c in late US trade. The Japanese yen traded between 118.95 yen per US dollar and JPY117.80 and was holding near JPY118.00.

* World oil prices rose on Thursday for the first time in four sessions supported by upbeat US economic data. Brent crude rose by US$1.23 or 1.6% to US$79.33 a barrel while the US Nymex crude price rose by US$1 to US$75.58 a barrel.

* Base metal prices were mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday. Copper bucked the trend losing 0.3% but other metals lifted between 0.8%-3.5%. Gold fell on Thursday with the Comex gold futures price down by US$3 an ounce or 0.3% to US$1,190.90 per ounce. Iron ore was unchanged at US$70.00 a tonne on Thursday.

Ahead: In Australia, no economic data is released. RBA head of economics, Alex Heath speak at a mining conference. In the US, no economic data is released.

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