The Aussie market will open weaker later this morning, following sharp falls on Wall Street overnight amid speculation the Federal Reserve remains on course to raise borrowing costs.

The March SPI futures contract is down 65 points, at 5450.

In local economic news today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases trade price index data for the December quarter.

Australian Unity Investments has a property market briefing.

Key numbers:

• SPI down 65 points at 5447
• AUD at 79.73 US cents
• Dow Jones -1.13, S&P500 -1.21%, Nasdaq -0.80%
• FTSE100 +0.21%, CAC -0.29%, DAX +0.78%
• Gold down 0.4% at $US1287.20 an ounce
• Brent oil down 84 US cents at $US48.76 per barrel
• Iron ore down 41 US cents at $US63.09 a tonne

What’s on today:

• Australia: Q'ly import prices
• US: unemployment claims

Stocks to watch:

• Production updates from Fortescue, Oil Search, PanAust, AWE, BC Iron, Beach Iron, Northern Star
• Orica and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries hold AGMs
• Downer raised to neutral vs underweight at CBA
• Graincorp cut to sell vs neutral at UBS
• Myer raised to neutral vs sell at UBS
• Qantas cut to sell vs hold at Morningstar
• Woodside Petroleum and its partners have been accused of holding back natural gas shipments to China as a negotiating tactic to raise the price of a contract guaranteeing 25 years of cheap energy.
• Citi has a “buy” recommendation on Carsales.com and a $12.25 target price.
• Deutsche Bank has a “buy” recommendation on Flight Centre and a $50.00 target price.

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