Ford has decided to quit manufacturing in Australia in October 2016 after unveiling a $141 million loss for 2012-13.

Clearly the savings measures outlined in the 2014 financial year budget have offset any consumer joy flowing from the May RBA rate cut. Some 44% of survey respondents said they would be worse off due to the budget while only 5% said it would improve their lot.

The Russell 2000 index traded above the 1000 level for its first time ever, and the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high.

US consumer sentiment was up from 76.4 to a six-year high of 83.7 in May, beating the forecast of 78.0.

US year-on-year housing starts were down 16.5% to 853,000 — well below expectations of 985,000.

US industrial production was -0.5% in April, missing the forecast of +0.1%, with March’s gain revised down to 0.3%.

The budget is largely irrelevant, the story is that the prospect of a further fall in the A$ is seeing international equity investors sell to avoid the currency risk.

Better than expected economic data was outweighed by an article in The WSJ that stated that the Federal Reserve had started to map out a plan to slow the pace of its asset purchase plan (third round of quantitative easing), generally seen as bad news for the equity market.

The US Federal budget deficit was US$112.9 billion in April — missing a forecast of US$106.5 billion,

Good US weekly jobless numbers were down by 4000 to a seasonally adjusted 323,000 last week — the lowest level since January 2008.

The materials sector performed well on the back of China’s better-than-expected trade balance numbers yesterday and Rio Tinto’s AGM statement saying it expects iron ore demand to remain intact.

Chinese trade numbers beat expectations. Jan-Apr iron ore Imports were 250 million tonnes up 3.9% on year. The Aussie dollar rose to US$1.0192 from US$1.0165.

The market is down 20. Dow Jones finished down 5 on well below average volumes. The Dow was up 15 at best and down 33 at worst with no economic data overnight. Best sectors — financials, technology. Worst sectors  — consumer staples, utilities. Apple jumped 2.4% after Barclays lifted their target price to $525 from $465. Eurozone retail sales […]

The US unemployment rate fell from 7.6% to a 4.5-year low of 7.5%.

Weekly jobless claims were down 18,000 to a five-year low of 324,000, beating the forecast 345,000 and the previous reading of 342,000.

The mining services sector was particularly weak today.

Our market hit a 57-month high yesterday breaking the recent high of 5163 on the ASX 200.

US pending home sales were up by 1.5% last month, beating the forecast and previous reading of 0.1%; this was the highest level since April 2010.

The final reading of consumer sentiment for April was 76.4, beating the previous result of 72.3 and forecast of 73.2.

The German press cited a confidential Bundesbank opinion paper, which strongly opposed the ECB’s implementation of Outright Monetary Transactions (quantitative easing).

European markets posted their biggest intraday gains in more than seven months on a good Spanish bond auction.

US existing home sales were down 0.6% to 4.92 million in March, missing the forecast of 5.02 million and the previous reading of 4.95 million.

Finance leaders of the G20 countries said that more efforts are required to boost growth: “Much more is needed to fulfill our commitment to address the ongoing weakness in the global economy.”

The Dow was down 123 at worst and up 32 at best on soft economic data and company earnings.

Westfarmers has posted an increase in sales at its Coles division driven by strong volume growth particularly in grocery.