The Aussie market looks set to move lower today, following a weak session on Wall Street overnight due to disappointment with earnings reports from the likes of Apple and Microsoft.

Whilst the September SPI futures contract is down only two points, at 5550, commodities were generally weaker and that will weigh on our commodities heavy market.

There is no major economic news scheduled for release today.

In company news, Fortescue Metals, Newcrest Mining and BC Iron are due to release quarterly production reports, and construction firm CIMIC will post its half year financial results.

Macquarie Group holds its annual general meeting in Sydney.

Key numbers:

– SPI futures down 2pts at 5550

– AUD at 73.75 US cents, 91.44 Japanese yen, 67.54 Euro cents and 47.26 British pence

– On Wall St, S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq -0.7%

– In Europe, Stoxx 50 0.3%, FTSE -1.5%, CAC -0.5%, DAX -0.7%

– In London, BHP -5.7%, Anglo American -5.6%, Glencore -5.4%, Rio -3.6%

– Spot gold down $US6.89 or 0.6% to $US1094.36 an ounce

– Brent crude down $US1.04 or 1.8% to $US56 a barrel

What’s on today:

New Zealand Official Cash Rate decision ;US Chicago Fed national activity index (June), US jobless claims, US leading economic indicators (June), Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity (July), Earnings: Dow Chemical, McDonald’s, Caterpillar; Canada retail sales (May); Japan trade data (June); UK retail sales (June); Russia gold and currency reserves (as at July 17).

Stocks in focus:

Deutsche Bank has a “buy” on Oil Search and a target price of $8.75 a share. The broker says key risks include outages at PNG LNG, production costs and exploration failures.

RBC Capital Markets has a “sector perform” on Evolution Mining and a target price at $1.20, up from $1 previously. “Clearly FY15 has been a significant year for EVN, dramatically changing the make-up of the company with acquisitions, as well as continuing to deliver from an operational perspective.”

Macquarie Group said “WSA (Western Areas) remains our preferred pure play nickel stock” and has an “outperform” on the stock with a 12-month price target at $4.90 a share.

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