Weekly Market Outlook

The US economy continued to reel off less-than-impressive data on Friday with retail sales, business inventories, inflation and consumer sentiment continuing to point to a slackening of economic growth during the third quarter. Retail spending rose 0.4% in July, a result that was slightly below economic forecasts for a rise 0.5%. However, once auto and fuel purchases were removed, the data was less impressive with “core” spending falling by 0.1%.

As you would expect from a subdued retail environment, inflation rose by a modest 0.3% in July, with a 2.6% rise in energy costs helping to snap a two-month decline in consumer prices. However, once energy costs were removed, prices rose by 0.1%, an outcome that suggests the threat of deflation is likely to persist in the months ahead.

The Dow Jones fell 0.2% on Friday to close at 10,303.15, while the S&P 500 lost 0.4% and the Nasdaq retreated a further 0.8% to end a negative week for the US market.

The next two weeks in Australia brings us the bulk of Australian corporate earnings reports. Click here for a brief rundown of annual results due out this week.

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Newport Energy Limited (NPE) seeks to be an exploration specialist committed to maximizing results through effective identification, acquisition, exploration and management of quality conventional oil and gas assets.

Newport Energy’s intention is to initially focus on the exploration of PPL 326, which lies between the Papuan Peninsular and the Papuan Plateau.

Sinom Group Holdings Pty Ltd, a Chinese investment company, will become a major shareholder of Newport Energy and will hold 11.49% of the shares on issue at the time of the IPO.

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