Finance news you need to know today

JAPANESE carmakers Toyota and Mazda plan to spend $2 billion to build a joint-venture manufacturing plant in the US.

THE Australian market looks set to open comfortably higher. At 0700 AEST on Monday, the share price futures index was up 24 points, or 0.42 per cent, at 5,5684.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar is lower against the US dollar after the greenback got a significant boost from strong key US jobs data. The local currency was trading at 79.21 US cents at 0700 AEST on Monday, from 79.68 on Friday.

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

NEW YORK CITY — The United Nations Security Council has unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea over its two July intercontinental ballistic missile tests.

LONDON — Britain is ready to pay up to 40 billion euros ($A59 billion) as part of a deal to leave the European Union, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper is reporting.

WASHINGTON DC — The US trade deficit has narrowed in June as exports hit the highest level in two and a half years.

WASHINGTON — The US unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 4.3 per cent, returning to the lowest level in 16 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

LOS ANGELES — Toyota Motor Corp has announced plans to build pickup trucks and possibly SUVs at a new plant in Mexico, a move that followed threats by US President Donald Trump to penalise the company if it built small cars south of the border.

TOKYO — Japanese carmakers Toyota and Mazda plan to spend $US1.6 billion ($A2.0 billion) to build a joint-venture manufacturing plant in the US, a move that will create up to 4000 jobs.

FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

CBA — Commonwealth Bank has suffered a $5.5 billion slide in market value as investors ditch shares in the lender after it was accused of more than 53,000 breaches of laws put in place to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

RETAIL TRADE — Retail spending in Australia has risen for a third straight month and is slightly higher than market expectations, official figures show.

CROWN — Crown Resorts will wait until all its employees jailed in China are released before saying how its plans to address a big slump in its highrolling gambling business.

TABCORP — Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough expects 2018 to be transformational after the gaming giant slipped to a $20.8 million loss for the 2016/17 financial year as strategic investments smothered earnings.

RBA — The Australian economy is chugging along as expected and remains on track to expand at around three per cent a year, the central bank says.

A2 MILK — The a2 Milk Company has had its application to sell its infant formula products in China accepted for review and is confident the registration will go ahead as planned.

WEBJET — Shares in online travel agency Webjet are sharply higher as the company resumes trading after generating about $93 million from the institutional stage of its capital raising.

OROTON — Oroton’s plan to close its Gap clothing stores in Australia in an attempt to limit future losses has triggered another big fall in its shares.