The Australian market is poised to open higher later this morning, after Wall Street advanced overnight despite disappointing retail sales figures.

The September SPI futures contract is up 20 points, at 5538.

US retail sales fell 0.3% in June as consumers pulled back spending in a broad array of areas. Analysts had expected a 0.3% rise.

Wall Street stocks seemed to be propelled by reports of a possible $US23 billion ($A31.06 billion) acquisition of chipmaker Micron by Chinese investors.

In local economic news today, the Westpac/Melbourne institute survey of consumer sentiment and the Australian Bureau of Statistics' new motor vehicles sales for June are due out.

Meanwhile, National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn is slated to address trans-Tasman Business Circle lunch. And, the Australian Uranium Conference is on in Perth.

In equities news, mobile and data provider Amaysim is due to list on the ASX.

Key numbers:

– SPI futures up 20pts at 5538

– AUD at 74.49 US cents, 91.91 Japanese yen, 67.67 Euro cents and 47.65 British pence

– On Wall St, S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.7%

– In Europe, Stoxx 50 +0.5%, FTSE +0.2%, CAC +0.7%, DAX +0.3%

– Spot gold down $US2.41 or 0.2% to $US1155.57 an ounce

– Iron ore slips 0.5% to $US50.06 per ton

– Brent crude up 52 US cents or 0.9% to $US58.37 a barrel

What’s on today:

Australia consumer confidence, new car sales, building activity
China Q2 GDP growth data and other key industrial growth indicators for June
US manufacturing survey, Beige Book, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen delivers her semiannual testimony to the US House Financial Services Committee; Earnings: Bank of America, BlackRock, Netflix, Intel.
Bank of Japan policy decision
Bank of Canada rate decision

Stocks in focus:

One of iiNet’s biggest shareholders – Merlon Capital’s Hamish Carlisle – has called for the rejection of TPG Telecom’s $1.56 billion takeover offer on July 27.

Macquarie Wealth Management cut its price target on Greencross to $7.50 a share from $8.50 previously, but maintained an “outperform” recommendation on the pet care operator.

UBS holds a “neutral” rating and a $61 a share price target on Rio Tinto ahead of the miner’s quarterly production report on Thursday. It continues to prefer BHP Billiton over Rio in the near term.

The post Morning market update – 15 July, 2015 appeared first on Market Pulse.