OPENING CALL: The Australian share market is expected to open lower. The SPI200 futures contract expected to open down 32 points.
SoftBank has prepared a financing package that would give it control of WeWork and further sideline its founder Adam Neumann in exchange for relieving the shared-office startup’s looming cash crunch, according to people familiar with the matter.
Harley-Davidson has stopped production and deliveries of its first electric motorcycle after discovering a problem related to the vehicle’s charging equipment, a setback for a product the company is counting on to revive sales.
Overnight Summary
Each Market in Focus
Australian shares joined broad gains across most of the region as investors react positively to signals of progress on the U.S.-China trade front. With only pockets of weakness, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.5% to 6642.6.
The index has rose in six of the last seven sessions. Energy stocks dominated, with the industry subindex up 2.9% following gains in crude prices. Still, gold miners retreated, with a lower price for the metal and telecom stocks weakened with Telstra losing 1.7% ahead of its AGM tomorrow. Santos rallies 5.7% on a deal to buy ConocoPhillips’ northern Australia assets, while Seven West Media jumps 6.9% after confirming talks to sell its magazines business.
U.S. stocks drifted between small gains and losses intraday, kept in a narrow range by thin trading volumes, ahead of the start of third-quarter earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20 points, or 0.1%, to 26836. The S&P 500 was down less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite rose less than 0.1%. Markets were quiet Monday with many banks and fixed-income desks shut in observance of Columbus Day. When regular trading activity resumes Tuesday, analysts say the focus will shift to earnings reports from companies including Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup, as
well as developments on the U.S.-China trade front.
Signs of progress between the two countries had helped stocks rally at the end of last week. Yet many investors have noted that details on key issues like intellectual property have remained elusive, and that a deal may still collapse. Adding to investors’ scepticism, state-run publications in China have had a much more measured tone in describing the two countries’ preliminary agreement, analysts said.
Rounding out action in Comex metals, December silver added 16.6 cents, or 1%, to $17.71 an ounce, while December copper added just over half a cent, or 0.2%, to $2.634 a pound.
Fresh concerns that U.K. and European leaders may not reach a deal by October 31 weighed anew on the pound, yanking it down from a three-month high seen late last week. The pound slumped to $1.2573 against the dollar, a drop of 0.6% on the session so far.
Sterling saw its best two-day run in over a decade late last week. On Friday, it reached as high as $1.2706, its strongest since Theresa May was prime minister before Boris Johnson took over in July. On Thursday, the pound saw its best single-day percentage gain since March.
Stocks in Asia, which ended trade Friday before President Trump said the U.S. and China had completed the early stages of a deal, rallied. The Shanghai Composite gauge advanced 1.2%.
Hong Kong shares closed higher, in line with Asian peers as the U.S.-China trade truce continued to lift sentiment. The Hang Seng Index extended its morning gains to close 0.8% higher at 26521.85. Pork seller WH Group was the top gainer, with shares up 4.3%.
India’s BSE Sensex closed 0.2% higher at 38214.47, supported by automobile and banking shares. Tata Motors held firm throughout the session, ending 5.3% higher.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed 1.1% higher at 2067.40, logging its second session of gains. The partial U.S.-China trade deal was brightening investor sentiment somewhat amid expectations that the world’s two biggest economies are making possible progress toward ending their longrunning dispute, as well as the Fed’s planned purchase of
Treasury bills, Kiwoom Securities said.
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