Investing.com - Australian shares opened 0.2% lower on Thursday after Wall Street closed in negative territory, prompted by a significant drop in oil prices due to escalating worries about an oversupply.
US oil prices dipped by 4.1% around 3.50 pm in New York, falling below $US70 per barrel. Brent also experienced a drop of over 3.5%, sliding beneath $US75 per barrel. Despite the downturn, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) maintains its expectation that robust demand growth, a slowdown in US supply growth, and limited OPEC+ supply will keep Brent within the $US80-100/bbl range in 2024.
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The turbulence in the oil market overshadowed the more positive news from the US labour market. The ADP private payrolls report for the month revealed a slowdown in hiring by American employers, providing further evidence of a cooling economy and fuelling expectations of a swift policy change at the Federal Reserve.
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) experienced a notable surge after CFO Mark Mason announced that the Wall Street bank remains on track to report full-year revenue between $US78 billion and $US79 billion, despite a slump in trading revenue.
In local focus this week are the earnings from Mesoblast Ltd (ASX:MSB), expected on Thursday, and CSR Ltd (ASX:CSR), which is set to pay a dividend.
During Wednesday's trade, Perpetual Ltd (ASX:PPT) shares saw a 6.3% increase following an A$3 billion acquisition offer from investment conglomerate Washington H Soul Pattinson&Co Ltd (ASX:SOL). However, late on Wednesday, Perpetual rejected the proposal from Soul Patts, stating that it significantly undervalued the company’s various businesses.
Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:SIG) put a halt on its shares on Wednesday, pending an announcement about a potential significant transaction: Chemist Warehouse is set to take control of Sigma in a reverse listing that will mark the pharmaceutical retailer's debut on the ASX. The key components of the deal have been agreed upon and are expected to be revealed as early as Friday. Goldman Sachs is handling a $350 million capital raising, according to sources.
The Australian dollar decreased by 0.1% to 65.49 US cents, while Bitcoin was down by 0.2% to $US43,803 at 8.29am AEDT.
Today's agenda includes the release of local trade balance data for October at 11.30am. Overseas data to watch out for includes China's trade data for November as well as the Eurozone's industrial production data for October and third-quarter GDP.