Morning Bell 17 December

Between the Bells

Wall St closed mixed overnight as the Dow fell for the 8th straight session, whilst the Nasdaq closed at another record high. The Dow Jones fell 0.25%, the S&P500 gained 0.38% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 1.24%.

Over in Europe, markets closed lower as the STOXX600 lost 0.14% with the majority of sectors closing in the red. Losses were led by autos stocks which fell 3%. Germany’s DAX lost 0.45%, the French CAC closed 0.71% lower and over in the UK the FTSE100 ended Monday’s trading session 0.46% in the red.

Locally yesterday the ASX200 fell 0.56% with most sectors closing in negative territory. Losses were led by the materials and real estate sector which dropped by 2.04% and 1.35% respectively. This was offset by the financial sector which rose by 0.17% by market close.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open lower, with the SPI futures suggesting a fall of 0.17% at market open this morning.
• On the commodities front this morning,
  
  • Oil is trading over 1% lower at 70 US dollars and 56 cents a barrel after economic data coming out of China indicated a weakening aggregate demand from the worlds top oil importer.
  • Gold is trading 0.18% higher at 2651 US dollars an ounce and iron ore is trading 0.17% lower at 105 US dollars and 31 cents a tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter maintains a buy rating on Southern Cross Electrical Engineering (ASX:SXE) with a 12-month price target of $2.25. With a current share price of $1.43, this indicates a share price growth of 57.3% over the next 12-months, hence the buy rating is maintained.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $6.43 to the range of $5.65-$5.80, on a pattern formed over 68 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.