Local shares are poised to open flat with a weak lead from Wall Street and ahead of a speech from the Reserve Bank governor.
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What you need2know
SPI futures up 5pts to 5977
AUD at 78.48 US cents, 93.49 Japanese yen, 72.10 Euro cents and 51.55 British pence
On Wall St, S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.6%
In Europe, Stoxx 50 +1.6%, FTSE +0.5%, CAC +1.3%, DAX +1.9%
Spot gold gained $US23.43, or 2% to $US1202.43 an ounce
Brent crude slid 59 US cents, or 0.9% to $US64.69 a barrel
Iron ore adds 2.2% to $US59.09 per tonne
What's on today
Australia Reserve Bank governor speech at The Australian Financial Review Banking and Wealth summit in Sydney, weekly consumer confidence; US consumer confidence, Case Shiller home prices, Richmond Fed survey.
Stocks to watch
Blackmores third-quarter trading update, Beach Energy March quarter production results, Henderson Group first quarter 2015 results.
Canaccord has a "buy" on Osprey Medical with a price target of $1.50 a share.
Hartleys says gold producer Northern Star Resources is an "accumulate" with a price target at $2.31 a share.
Currencies
ANZ notes that the Australian dollar [AUD] is drifting higher as the influence of the softer USD broadens. "With little local news this week the AUD's direction will be dictated by the tone of the USD. Risks are weighted to the topside, however we expect that any rally will be limited." ANZ sees a range between US78¢ and US78.60¢.
Commodities
Ore with 62% content at Qingdao rallied 2.2% to $US59.09 a dry ton on Monday, the highest level since March 6, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd.
Brent's premium to US crude reached $US8.33 a barrel on Monday in New York, but ended at $US7.84 based on settlements falling short of Friday's $US8.43 peak.
United States
US stocks ended down on Monday, led by losses in biotech shares after disappointing news from several companies including Amgen.
The Nasdaq Biotech Index sank 4.1%, its biggest daily percentage loss since March 25, while the S&P Healthcare index, down 1.8%, was the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Amgen shares led the S&P 500's decline, dropping 3.3% to $US162.38 after USregulators said Amgen's skin cancer immunotherapy cannot be considered for an accelerated review at this time.
After the market closed, Apple posted a 33% jump in profit last quarter, fuelled by strong demand for the iPhone and sales growth in China. The company also boosted its capital- return program by $US70 billion.
Europe
Europe's main stock markets have rebounded strongly on optimism that stalled Greek debt talks will get on track after Athens shook up its negotiating team.
The naming of a new team to negotiate with Greece's EU-IMF creditors showed some "solid progress" and with the role of Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in the talks reportedly relegated "the interpretation of this is that progress can only accelerate from here", said Tony Cross, Trustnet Direct's market analyst.
Deutsche Bank's biggest strategic overhaul under co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen elicited a thumbs-down from investors, who judged it too little, too late. Deutsche shares fell 4.6%. The German lender plans to cut €200 billion in investment bank assets and exit a 10th of the countries in which it operates as part of a restructuring programme designed to boost earnings and cut risk.
What happened yesterday
Strong gains in the biggest miners drove the local sharemarket higher after iron ore extended its recent price recovery rally and a bidding war erupted over junior telco iiNet. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 49.4 points, or 0.83%, to 5982.7.
