Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks rose in choppy trading as Donald Trump was sworn in as president. The Dow industrials rose 95 points, or 0.5%, to 19827. Stock-trading volume spiked during Mr. Trump's speech, according to FactSet. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%. Government bonds also swung. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was 2.466% Friday compared with 2.500% ahead of Mr. Trump's speech and 2.461% Thursday. Yields move inversely to prices. Markets have swung in recent sessions on comments by the new president. On Tuesday, the dollar fell to its lowest level in a month after Mr. Trump called the dollar "too strong." Last week, health-care stocks dropped after he criticized the pharmaceutical industry during his first press conference as president-elect. On Friday, Mr. Trump said his administration would follow "two simple rules: Buy American and hire American." It also promised new roads, bridges and highways.
Europe's main stock benchmark closed down modestly Friday, snapping a weekly run of gains, as investors remained largely on the sidelines before Donald Trump delivered his inauguration speech as the 45th president of the United States. The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.1% to end at 362.58. The minor drop in equities Friday came as investors worldwide tuned into Trump's swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., which was starting as European trade wrapped up at 4:30 p.m. London time, or 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
A solid economic finish to 2016 for China helped stocks there climb after bouts of selling much of the past two weeks. But stocks in Asia otherwise generally finished the week lower as investors continued to await what the start of Donald Trump's presidency will bring. The benchmark Shanghai Composite closed up 0.7% after declining six of the prior eight sessions while the Shenzhen Composite gained 1.5% and the tech-heavy ChiNext index jumped 2%. Taiwan stocks also got a lift, with the Taiex index rising 0.1%. But drops were posted in many other locales, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 0.6% just ahead of its closing bell. The world's No. 2 economy grew 6.8% last quarter from a year earlier after three straight increases of 6.7%. The full year's 6.7% growth was the least for China since 1990.
Australian shares wiped out all of the gains of the New Year this week, as banks and other stocks that had rallied since the U.S. election faltered ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Taking cues from Wall Street, the big banks led selling Friday as they continued to pull back after an almost 20% rally over the past two months. Mining stocks were in retreat after a fall in iron-ore and base-metals prices. Signs of stronger-than-expected economic growth in China, the world's biggest consumer of iron ore and other commodities, offered little support to the local equity market. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 37.4 points, or 0.7%, at 5654.8, its lowest since late December.
The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract closed up 0.2% to $5,748/t. Other base metals ended the day mixed. Aluminium prices rose 1.0% to $1,853/t, lead rose 1.0% to $2,321/t, whilst zinc prices rose 0.1% to $2,755/t. Tin fell 2.6% to $20,193/t whilst nickel fell 2.3% to $9,649/t.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Syntonic Ltd (SYT), MZI Resources Ltd (MZI), Resolute Mining Ltd (RSG), Capricorn Metals Ltd (CMM), Eve Investments Ltd (EVE), Australian Mines Ltd (AUZ), Heron Resources Ltd (HRR), St George Mining Ltd (SGQ), Threat Protect Australia Ltd (TPS), Paringa Resources Ltd (PNL), The Gruden Group Ltd (GGL), Primary Gold Ltd (PGO), Vault Intelligence Ltd (VLT), Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BOT) Orthocell Ltd (OCC), Strandline Resources Ltd (STA) Dragontail Systems Ltd (DTS), ABM Resources Ltd (ABU), Acacia Coal Ltd (AJC), Troy Resources Ltd (TRY), Hazer Group Ltd (HZR), Berkeley Energia Ltd (BKY),Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Ltd (SEH), Sovereign Metals Ltd (SVM)
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