The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) started the year on a sour note on Wednesday after Chinese economic data revealed that the trade war had caused a contraction in its manufacturing.
The benchmark index finished the day approximately 1.6% lower at 5,557.8 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing higher.
According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to bounce back strongly from yesterday's heavy decline. Futures contracts are pointing to the index jumping over 1.6% or 90 points higher at the open. This follows a volatile night on Wall Street which currently sees the Dow Jones up 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq 0.8% higher.
U.S. bank and tech stocks rebound.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) shares could be on the move today after their U.S. equivalents rebounded on Wall Street overnight. The Dow Jones was as much as 400 points or 1.7% lower at one stage before bank and tech shares rebounded to put the index in positive territory.
Oil prices jump.
On Wednesday the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price and Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price were amongst the worst performers on the Australian share market after oil prices weakened. Energy shares could have a better day of trade on Thursday after prices jumped higher overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 2.2% to US$46.40 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has risen 2.1% to US$54.91 a barrel. Oil prices were up as much as 5% at one stage.
Australian dollar sinks below 70 U.S. cents.
The Australian dollar continued its slide overnight and dropped below the 70 U.S. cents mark for the first time since 2016. The local currency is currently fetching just over 69.9 U.S. cents. The Aussie had fallen as low as 69.8 U.S. cents at one stage following a surge in demand for the greenback and weak economic data out of China. This could be good news for the likes of Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) and ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD).
ANZ Bank rated as a buy.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price will be on watch today after Goldman Sachs retained its conviction buy rating and $31.52 price target following the release of the APRA Chart Pack for November on Wednesday. The Chart Pack summarises macroeconomic and financial market trends in Australia.
