Australian Market

US Market

U.S. stocks eked out small gains, despite comments from Warren Buffett over the weekend where the world’s most famous investor said he sold his airlines holdings and talked candidly about his concerns in the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1% at 23750 as of the 4 p.m. ET close of trading. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.2%.

The Dow industrials had been down as many as 363 points in the morning. Equities appeared to be following a rally that started in the oil market.  The nuanced comments from Mr. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., reflect the state of the markets and world. Stocks have come off their March lows, but
value judgements are difficult given the economy. The markets appeared to be pricing in a quick recovery from the coronavirs pandemic, but bonds haven’t reflected that, and equities themselves have stalled the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, the economy is still under pressure. On Monday, retailer J. Crew Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, crushed by the damage from coronavirus. It was the first big retailer to do so, but others are likely to follow.

Commodities

Gold futures ended higher for a second session in a row, as prices found support from weakness in global stock markets amid fears of an escalation of tensions between the U.S. and China over the global outbreak of COVID-19.

Gold for June delivery rose $12.40, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,713.30 an ounce after the yellow metal suffered a loss of about 2% last week, according to FactSet data based on
the most-active contract. Prices settled higher on Friday, after posting losses for five straight sessions.

Oil Futures

U.S. benchmark oil prices rose 3.1% to $20.39a barrel, the highest closing price since April 13, on data and analysis that suggest oil demand is starting to rebound as the U.S. and other global economies that were largely shut down due to coronavirus now begin to reopen.

Forex

The U.S. dollar strengthened against major European currencies but ticked 0.1% lower against the yen.   The dollar strengthened 0.7% against the euro, 0.4% against the pound and 0.4% against the Swiss franc.

European Markets

European sharemarkets closed lower on Monday following the May Day holidays. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell by 2.7%. Shares of Germany’s ThyssenKrupp plunged 14.3% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after its board advised staff that the pandemic could cause a new financial squeeze despite the sale of its elevator
business. The German Dax index fell 3.6%. The UK FTSE index was down 0.2% with London-listed shares of Rio Tinto lower by 1.6% and BHP shares down by 0.4%.

Asian Markets