Australian shares are poised to rise as Wall Street shrugged off a $US2 trillion sell-off with the S&P breaching 5000 points and the Magnificent Seven megacaps set to report this week.It’s a big week for earnings in the US with 30 per cent of the S&P set to report, including, potentially delaying a recovery in the Australian dollar which could present a fresh headache for the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation battle..
JP Morgan strategist Mislav Matejka: “Investors are expecting S&P 500 earnings-per-share to accelerate by almost 20% by the fourth quarter compared to the projected first-quarter levels. That hurdle rate is too steep in our opinion.” Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok: “There are simply no signs of a slowdown in corporate earnings. The economy continues to power ahead fuelled by easy financial conditions.”Overseas: Euro zone Markit PMI April; UK public sector borrowing March; UK Markit PMI April; US Markit manufacturing and services PMI April; US new home sales March; Richmond Fed indexCopper rallied towards $10,000 a ton, hitting a new two-year high on its way.
The consumer price index for the March quarter will be released on Wednesday and is forecast to show an acceleration to 0.8 per cent, from 0.6 per cent. This would take the annual pace to 3.4 per cent, from 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to the end of December. Such a result would still be well outside the RBA’s 2 per cent to 3 per cent target as the economy adapts to higher borrowing costs.Double taxation was “a natural consequence” of Labor’s plan to tax unrealised gains under its proposed tax increase on super balances over $3 million, the shadow treasurer said.