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The Australian share market closed the week 0.12% higher, with technology and consumer discretionary leading the market, while utilities and materials declined the most.

The US saw little change on Friday, with the three major benchmarks closing slightly mixed. The Dow Jones was down 0.3%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq only gained 0.08% and 0.02% respectively.

This followed disappointing earnings results which offset news of cooler-than-expected producer prices. The big focus was US bank earnings: Bank of American and JP Morgan shares declined, while Citigroup gained, after posting a $1.8 billion quarterly loss and announcing that they’re cutting 10% of its workforce.

And US markets will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King public holiday.

What to watch today:

• The Australian share market is set to open higher this morning, with the SPI futures suggesting a 0.07% rise at the open.
• And economic data that the market will be looking out for this week includes Westpac’s consumer confidence data out tomorrow and December’s unemployment rate out on Thursday.
• Looking at commodities,
  • Crude oil is trading almost 1% higher at US$72.86 per barrel, as concerns following potential supply disruptions escalated, following US and British air and sea strikes in Yemen.
  • Gold has jumped over 1% to $2,050 an ounce, multiplying its morning gains on Friday, following the cooler-than-expected producer inflation print in the US that fuelled bets on earlier monetary easing by the Federal Reserve.
  • Iron ore has fallen 3.2% to $136 per tonne, extending the decline from the 20-month high of $145, hit on January 4th, as decreasing margins for Chinese steel mills raised expectations of lower input buying.

Trading Ideas:

• Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Transurban Group (ASX:TCL), indicating that the stock price may fall from the close of $13.67 to the range of $13.05 to $13.20 over 7 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.