In US economic data, personal income rose by 0.4% in September (survey: +0.3%). Personal spending rose by 0.6% (survey +0.4%). The key price measure – the core personal consumption expenditures deflator – rose by 0.5% (survey: +0.5%) to be up 5.1% on the year. The employment cost index rose by 1.2% in the September quarter (survey: +1.2%). The consumer sentiment index rose from 58.6 to 59.9 in October (survey: 59.8). Pending home sales fell by 10.2% in September (survey: -5%).
European sharemarkets were mixed on Friday. After falling by as much as 1.1% earlier in the session, the continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.2% to 5-week highs. But the UK FTSE 100 index fell by 0.4%. The French economy grew 0.2% in the September quarter with the German economy up 0.3%. The German sharemarket rose 0.2% with the French market up 0.5%.
US sharemarkets lifted solidly on Friday with broad-based gains being recorded. In response to earnings results, shares in Apple rose 7.6% while Amazon lost 6.8%. Oil giants rose in response to earnings beats. Shares in Chevron rose by 1.2% with Exxon Mobil up 2.9%. Shares in Intel rose 10.7% after cutting its spending forecast. The Dow Jones index rose by 828.5 points or 2.6%. The S&P 500 index lifted 2.5% and the Nasdaq index gained 310 points or 2.9%. Over the week the Dow rose 5.7% – the fourth straight weekly gain. The S&P 500 rose 2.9% with Nasdaq up 2.2%.
US treasuries fell on Friday (yields higher) after data indicated no real change in inflationary pressures. US 10-year yields rose by 7 points to 4.01%. And US 2-year yields rose by 9 points to 4.41%. Over the week, US 10-year yields fell by 21 points and US 2-year yields fell by 7 points.
Major currencies were weaker against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro held between US$0.9925 and US$0.9990 and was near US$0.9965 at the US close. The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US64.70 cents to lows near US63.90 cents and was near US64.10 cents at the US close. The Japanese yen eased from 145.95 yen per US dollar to JPY147.80 and was near JPY147.45 at US close.
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Global oil prices fell by as much as 1.3% on Friday as China widened its Covid19 restrictions. Investors cheered news showing the German and French economies both unexpectedly grew in the September quarter. The Brent crude oil price fell by US$1.19 or 1.2% to US$95.77 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude oil price lost US$1.18 or 1.3% to US$87.90 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude rose by US$2.27 or 2.4%. Nymex rose by US$2.85 or 3.4%.
Base metal prices fell on Friday by between 1.1% and 4.3% with zinc down most. But lead rose by 7.1% after Bloomberg said that it would include the metal in its benchmark commodity index. Over the week metals were mixed. Lead rose 4.8% and zinc fell by 4.2%.
The gold futures price fell by US$20.80 an ounce or 1.2% to US$1,644.80 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,642 an ounce at the US close. Over the week gold fell by US$11.50 an ounce or 0.7%. Iron ore futures rose by US20 cents or 0.2% to US93.01 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell by US$1.85 or 2.0%.
Originally published by CommSec
