Latest stock market news videos & Morning Bell

Good morning, well the Australian share market looks like it’ll rise for the second straight day this week with the future suggesting a lift of 0.3% at the open.

Now it’s all for a very good reason, Italy, Finland and some U.S states are easing their lock downs and this has fueled the oil price back above $21 a barrel and this has seen the energy sector rise the most on Wall Street with ExxonMobil shares up a 4%, Tech stocks also had a positive session overnight clawing back some of Friday’s losses but not all, Netflix shares ended 3% higher, Apple and Facebook both going 1.4%.

On the other side of the market, selling in Airlines kept overall market gains under wraps after Warren Buffett advised Berkshire Hathaway sold down its stakes in the airline industry, however gains in Tech and Energy saw the S&P500 end 0.4% higher and the Nasdaq rose the most 1.2%.

Also overnight, the gold price bounded back above to $1,713 an ounce.

Now what to watch today, several key things, firstly clothing business Kahtmandu (ASX:KMD), they announced a surged in online sales almost three times larger than last year’s April numbers.

The majority of Kathmandu and Rip Curl physical stores are also expected to reopen by the end of this week.

Now building material company James Hardie (ASX:JHX), they announced that they’re dropping their net profit guidance for 2020 to sit between $350 – $355 million, now that’s about $15 million less than previously expected.

James Hardie also announced they’re suspending all dividends until further notice and announced a suite of other changes such as moving the NZ cement manufacturing plant to Australia, or facilities rather, and they’re also closing their South Carolina USA manufacturing plant for good, in total they’ll axe 375 employees across the globe.

So for FY2021 capital costs will be 30% lower than James Hardie’s three-year average.

Now to a trading idea, Westpac (ASX:WBC) was reiterated overnight as a Bell Potter buy following the bank’s half-year results that they announced yesterday.

They announced statutory profit that beat Bell Potter’s expectations and Bell Potter says if you read the tea leaves, Westpac should pay a final dividend but don’t hold your breath for the interim and that means the dividend yield for the year could be 6%.

Now Bell Potter expects Westpac’s price to go to $17.30 a share in 12 months.

And what else to watch today, well the RBA meets with rates of course tip to hold at 0.25%, while traders and investors will be dissecting the underlying messaging in a statement that’s out at 2:30pm.

I’m Jessica Amir with Bell Direct happy trading and stay safe.