Finance news you need to know today

WALL Street stocks finished lower Wednesday as a morning rally faded amid nagging questions following two days of chaotic trading and wild price swings.

THE Australian share market looks set to open comfortably higher after Wall Street’s key indexes again swung between gains and losses, though less brutally than earlier in the week. At 0700 AEDT on Thursday, the share price futures index was up 14 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 5,804.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar has slipped further against its US counterpart, The local currency was trading at 78.18 US cents at 0700 AEDT on Thursday, from 78.77 on Wednesday.

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

NEW YORK — Wall Street stocks finished lower Wednesday as a morning rally faded amid nagging questions following two days of chaotic trading and wild price swings. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had slipped to 24,892.73, down 0.1 per cent, after being in positive territory most of the session. But the broadbased S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent to end the day at 2,681.56, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 0.9 per cent to 7,052.94.

WASHINGTON — The US Senate, in a rare display of bipartisanship, has reached a two-year budget deal to raise federal spending by almost $US300 billion, in an attempt to end the kind of squabbling over fiscal issues that has plagued Washington for years.

BRUSSELS — The European Commission says the recovery across the 19-country eurozone is set to remain buoyant this year.

LONDON — British supermarket giant Tesco is facing the UK’s largest ever equal pay claim from women and a possible bill of up to STG4 billion ($A7.1 billion), the BBC reports.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has broken his silence on the stock market.

WEDNESDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

MARKETS AUST — Australian shares have clawed back about $17 billion as Asian markets recover from the impact of a three-day meltdown on Wall Street.

CBA — Commonwealth Bank has suffered a rare fall in half-year profit after setting aside $375 million to cover penalties it expects to pay over alleged money laundering law breaches.

CBA NAREV — Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ian Narev had not presided over a fall in profit until he delivered his final set of numbers.

RIO TINTO — Rio Tinto will deliver a record payout to shareholders after stronger commodity prices nearly doubled its full year profit.

ASIC CREDIT CARDS — Two of the nation’s major banks are refunding more than $21 million to thousands of customers affected by errors with their credit card practices.

PREMIER INVESTMENTS — Premier Investments is acting on threats to oust the board of Myer with a request for the department store chain’s shareholder register in a first step towards holding a vote to install new directors.

MURRAY GOULBURN — Dairy processor Murray Goulburn says it needs to complete a $1.31 billion takeover by Canadian dairy giant Saputo to maintain its forecast farmgate milk price and avoid further losses of milk supply.

CIMIC — CIMIC’s shares have soared after the construction giant announced a 21 per cent lift in full-year profit to $702 million and raised its dividend by 13 cents.

CARSALES — Online vehicle classifieds business carsales.com has lifted its first-half profit 27 per cent and says it is on track to deliver growth in the second half.

NICK SCALI — A sales boost from new stores in Australia and New Zealand has helped lift furniture retailer Nick Scali’s first-half profit by 15 per cent, but its recent sales have been volatile.