Australia

The local share market is expected to open higher after a positive night on Wall Street as some encouraging company earning reports lifted investor confidence.
At 7.35am (AEST), the Australian share price futures index was up 41 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5909.
The Australian share market on Tuesday gained ground as the Australian dollar hovered at a four-month low and inflation remained below the Reserve Bank’s target. The dollar is buying 76 US cents.The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 35.6 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5921.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 33.4 points, or 0.56 per cent, at 6009.4 points.
Australian markets were closed yesterday for the Anzac Day public holiday.
Out today: gold miner Newcrest Mining releases its March quarter production report, and Wesfarmers releases its Q3 sales report.

Asia

Asian shares fell on Wednesday as a rise in US bond yields above 3 per cent and warnings from bellwether US companies of higher costs drove fears that a boom in corporate earnings may be near its peak.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3 per cent, hitting their weakest in almost three weeks, with tech-heavy Taiwan shares slipping to two-month lows on worries about slowing semi-conductor demand. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent.

Europe

A bid for Irish drug maker Shire and a fresh offer for Sky failed to lift the UK stock market on Wednesday amid US bond yield fears.
Britain's blue chip FTSE 100 closed down 0.62 per cent at 7379.32 points, broadly in line with other European markets and Wall Street where warnings by top US firms about rising costs fuelled worries corporate earnings may have peaked.
In Germany the DAX 30 was down 1 per cent, and France's CAC40 fell 0.57 per cent.
Sky shares were the top performers of the session after US media group Comcast submitted a £22bn ($40.5bn) bid, prompting the European pay TV group to drop its support for a lower offer from Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox.
Rare disease specialist Shire lost 2.6 percent after it said it was willing to recommend a sweetened $US64bn ($84.6bn) offer from Takeda Pharmaceutical.

North America

In the US, stocks climbed into positive territory despite optimism over a spate of upbeat earnings being dampened by jitters over rising bond yields and corporate costs. The Dow broke a five-day losing streak, closing 59.70 points, or 0.25 per cent higher, at 24,083.83. The S&P 500 gained 4.84 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 2639.40. The Nasdaq posted its fifth-straight loss weighed down by tech stocks. It ended down 3.62 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 7003.74.

Facebook was a standout. Ad sales have boosted its shares by 5 per cent. The social media giant’s Q1 revenue rose 49 per cent, according to Bloomberg data. Facebook says it now has 14.5 billion daily users. Amazon, Microsoft, and Intel will report Q1 earnings for 2018. Microsoft is expected to report more than $23bn in revenue, thanks, in part, to its cloud-computing service, Azure. Twitter dropped 3.5 per cent after the social media company said it expects a slowdown in revenue growth and increasing costs, overshadowing its otherwise upbeat earnings report. Boeing shares rose 4.6 per cent after the company posted better-than-expected profits amid strong commercial airliner sales, leading it to raise its forecasts after a record 2017.

The 10-year Treasury yield, a benchmark for global borrowing costs, again breached the 3 per cent level as government debt issuance surged due to a revenue shortfall related to the massive tax overhaul.

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Lex Hall is a Morningstar content editor, based in Sydney. 

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