Good morning, Tumul Sinha – Equities Research Analyst – here with your First Look.

The Trump administration and Republican leadership call for lowering the corporate rate from 35% to 20% and collapsing the current seven personal tax brackets to just three, led to market optimism on the US markets with the SPI moving up overnight to 5661. The market remains choppy and range bound and we remain on the sidelines until we get some consistent movement in market direction.

What’s on today:

Local data: Job vacancies August; NZ Reserve Bank policy meeting

Overseas data: Euro zone consumer confidence September, German GfK consumer confidence October, German CPI September; US second quarter GDP annualised, Wholesale inventories August, Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity

Fed speakers: Esther George, Stanley Fischer

Key numbers:

SPI futures up 24 points or 0.4% to 5661

AUD -0.4% to 78.55 US cents (Overnight range: 78.36-78.89)

On Wall St: Dow +0.3%, S&P 500 +0.4%, Nasdaq +1.2%

In New York, BHP -0.2% Rio +0.7%

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.5%, FTSE +0.4%, CAC +0.3%, DAX +0.4%

Spot gold -0.7% to $US1285.58 an ounce

Brent crude -1.2% to $US57.75 a barrel

US oil +0.4% to $US52.06 a barrel

Iron ore down 80 US cents to $US64.15 a tonne

Dalian iron ore -0.4% to 466 yuan

Comex copper +0.4%

10-year bond yield: US 2.30%, Germany 0.46%, Australia 2.78%