The Australian market looks set to open little changed after Wall Street closed flat following a volatile session as the minutes from the Federal Reserve's April meeting signalled a possible near-term interest rate rise.

The SPI is down 4 points, at 5362.

Locally, in economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases labour force data and the Commonwealth Bank business sales indicator for April is due out.

No major equities news is expected, but Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn is slated to speak at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia lunch in Melbourne.

Key Numbers

• The SPI is down 4 points, at 5362.
• AUD -1.4% at 72.23 US cents
• On Wall St, Dow flat, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq +0.5%
• In Europe, Stoxx 50 +0.6%, FTSE flat, CAC +0.5%, DAX +0.5%
• In London, BHP +2.1%, Rio +2%
• Spot gold -1.3% to $US1262.18 ounce at 2.32pm New York time
• Brent crude -0.4% to $US49.07 barrel at 2.06pm New York time
• Three-month LME copper -0.9 per cent at $US4612.50 a tonne

What’s on today

Local data: Employment (April); NZ ANZ survey

Local earnings: Investec Australian Property Fund, Ruralco Holdings, TFS Corp

G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors meet near Sendai, Japan, to discuss currency tensions, the limits of monetary policy, and the need for more fiscal spending. The meeting precedes the leaders’ gathering May 26-27 on Kashiko Island.

Fed speaker: William Dudley

China MNI business indicator (May); Japan machine orders (March); UK retail sales (April), US jobless claims (weekly), US Bloomberg consumer comfort (weekly and May expectations), US Chicago Fed national activity index (April), US Philadelphia Fed manufacturing (May), US leading economic indicators (April),

Overseas earnings: Applied Materials, Wal-Mart Stores, Just Energy Group, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gap Inc, Merck KGaA, Royal Mail, National Grid, Thomas Cook Group, ADO Properties.

The post Morning market update 19 May, 2016 appeared first on Market Pulse.