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In US economic data, the JOLTs survey reported that job openings eased from 11.303 million in May to 10.698 million in June (survey: 11 million). According to Redbook, chain store sales in the past week were up by 15.5% on a year ago, compared with a 13.3% annual increase in the prior week.
European sharemarkets eased on Tuesday as investors fretted about weaker global readings on factory activity. Tensions between the US and China over Taiwan also weighed on investor sentiment. Miners led the declines, down by 1.6%. But shares in BP rose 2.8% in response to positive profit figures. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell by 0.3%. The German Dax index eased by 0.2% and the UK FTSE index fell by 0.1%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto fell by 1.3% and BHP shares fell by 1.4%.
US sharemarkets fell on Tuesday. The US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, creating tensions between the US and China and weighing generally on investor sentiment. However the tensions provided support for defence companies. Shares in Caterpillar fell 5.8% after warning of a bigger drop in demand for its excavators in China. Shares in Uber Technologies jumped 18.9% after the ride-hailing firm reported positive quarterly cash flow for the first time ever and forecast
upbeat third-quarter operating profit. The Dow Jones index fell by 402 points or 1.2%. The S&P 500 index lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq index fell by 20 points or 0.2%.
US treasuries fell on Tuesday (yields higher) on US-China geopolitical tensions. US 10-year yields rose by around 14 points to near 2.75%. And US 2-year yields rose by 15 points to near 3.06%.
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Major currencies were weaker against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.0270 to around US$1.0170 and was near US$1.0166 at the US close. The Aussie dollar held between US 69.15 cents and US69.65 cents and was near US69.20 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen eased from near 130.65 yen per US dollar to JPY133.16 and was near the weakest levels at the US close.
Global oil prices rose by around 0.5% on Tuesday ahead of the OPEC+ oil producers meeting on Wednesday. The Brent crude price rose by US51 cents or 0.5% to US$100.54 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude price rose by US53 cents or 0.6% to US$94.42 a barrel.
Base metal prices eased by between 0.2-4.6% on Tuesday with copper down the least and nickel down the most.
The gold futures price rose by US$2.00 an ounce or 0.1% to US$1,789.70 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,762 an ounce at the US close. The iron ore futures fell by US12 cents or 0.1% to US$114.74 a tonne.
Ahead: In Australia, retail trade data is released with new vehicle sales and the services purchasing managers index. In China the Caixin services index is released. In the US, the ISM services gauge is released with factory orders and weekly mortgage finance.
Published by CommSec
