Company Interview / the open: ASX to open flat, oil prices drop

The local market is set for a flat opening with ASX futures off by 2 points, following a mixed session on Wall Street. 

Investors overseas remained cautious ahead of planned tariff negotiations between President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. Shares of Hewlett Packard rose as demand for its hybrid cloud segment helped second-quarter revenue with profit beating estimates. Meanwhile Tesla fell as the EV maker’s sales dropped for the fifth straight month in the largest European markets. 

The US services sector contracted for the first time in nearly a year in May, whilst businesses paid higher prices for inputs. And US private payrolls increased much less than expected in May, adding 37,000 jobs. Evidence of a weakening US economy sent the US dollar lower across the board, including the Australian dollar which has risen to US64.9c. 

Oil prices have fallen, brent crude futures were down 1.2% at $64 a barrel and the copper price rose 1.3%, whilst iron ore fell around 1% to $95 a tonne. The price of gold has been supported by a softer dollar and weak US data, with spot gold up around half a percent at $3375 an ounce. 

Locally today we get the international trade balance for April as well as the household spending.