In US economic data, retail sales rose by 1.0% in June (survey: +0.9%). Industrial production fell by 0.2% in June (survey: +0.1%). Export prices rose by 0.7% in June (survey: +1.2%) with import prices up 0.2% (survey: +0.7%). The preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was 51.1 in July (survey: 50). The New York Empire State manufacturing index rose from -1.2 points to +11.1 points in July (survey: -2.0).
European sharemarkets rose on Friday. Investors were comforted after two of the US Federal Reserve policymakers said they favoured a 75 basis point hike at the next meeting rather than 100bp as some analysts expect. Italian shares rose 1.8% as investors watched developments in a political crisis. The panEuropean STOXX 600 index rose by 1.8%. The German Dax index gained 2.8% and the UK FTSE index rose by 1.7%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto rose by 0.3%; BHP shares rose 1.8%.
US sharemarkets posted firm gains on Friday. Shares in Citigroup rose 13.2% after its profit beat expectations. And shares in Wells Fargo rose 6.2% after its earnings result. The S&P Banking index jumped 5.8% – its biggest one-day gain since January 2020. The Dow Jones index rose by 658 points or 2.2%, the S&P 500 index lifted 1.9%. And the Nasdaq index added 201 points or 1.8%. Over the week, the Dow lost 0.2%; the S&P 500 lost 0.9%; and the Nasdaq fell by 1.6%.
US treasuries were firmer on Friday (yields lower). US policymakers downplayed rate expectations while economic data encouraged. US 10-year yields fell by 3 points to near 2.93% and US 2-year yields fell by 1.5 points to near 3.13%. Over the week US 10-year bond yields fell by 15 points while US 2-year yields rose by 3 points.
Major currencies were firmer against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Euro rose from lows near US$1.0005 to highs near US$1.0095 and was at US$1.0087 at the US close. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US67.20 cents to highs near US68.00 cents and was near US67.92 cents at the US close. And the Japanese yen rose from near 139 yen per US dollar to JPY138.42 and was near JPY138.53 at the US close.
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Global oil prices rose by near 2% on Friday after a US official told Reuters that an immediate Saudi oil output boost was not expected. The Brent crude price rose by US$2.06 or 2.1% to US$101.16 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude price rose by US$1.81 or 1.9% to US$97.59 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude fell by 5.5% and Nymex lost 6.9%.
Base metal prices rose on Friday by up to 6% (lead). But nickel fell by 0.1%. Over the week metals fell by between 1.9% and 10.1% with nickel down the most. But lead rose 1.9%.
The gold futures price fell by US$2.20 or 0.1% to US$1,703.60 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,707 an ounce at the US close. Over the week gold fell by US$38.70 an ounce or 2.2%. The iron ore futures price fell by US$1.89 or 1.8% to US$103.07 a tonne. Over the week iron ore fell by US$10.69 or 9.4%. Ahead: No major economic data is released in Australia. In the US, the NAHB housing market index is issued with capital flows.
Originally published by CommSec
