The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) managed to carve out the smallest of gains last week. But it would have been so much more if there hadn't have been a selloff on Friday. The ASX 200's 5% decline reduced its weekly gain to 0.1% to 5245.9 points.
Next week looks set to be another busy one for investors. Here are a few things to watch:
Wall Street ends the week in the red.
U.S. equities were out of form on Friday and tumbled notably lower. The Dow Jones fell 2.6%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.8%, and the Nasdaq index sank 3.2% lower. Tech giant Amazon had a night to forget and dropped 7% in response to its quarterly result. Current SPI futures are pointing to another decline at the open on Monday for the ASX 200 index.
Westpac half year result.
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price will be on watch on Monday when it becomes the last big four bank to release its half year result. The main focus for investors will no doubt be its dividend. Last month National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) declared a greatly reduced interim dividend and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) decided to defer its dividend. Westpac is widely expected to follow the lead of ANZ and not pay a dividend.
Tencent snaps up 5% of Afterpay.
The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price could be on the rise next week after revealing that Chinese tech behemoth Tencent Holdings has bought a 5% stake in the company. Co-founder Nick Molnar said: "We feel very privileged to welcome Tencent as a substantial shareholder in our business. Being able to attract a strategic investor of this calibre is extremely rewarding and is a testament to our team and the strength of our differentiated business model." Investors may be hopeful that this could be the first step towards an expansion into the massive China market in the future.
Reserve Bank meeting.
All eyes will be on the Reserve Bank on Tuesday when it holds its next cash rate meeting. According to the latest cash rate futures, the market is pricing in a 62% probability of a rate cut to zero at this meeting. However, the economics team at Westpac are expecting the central bank to keep rates on hold at 0.25%. According to the latest Westpac Weekly, the banking giant has forecast rates to stay on hold until at least the end of 2021.
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.
