What you need2know:

• SPI futures down 3 pts at 5404

• AUD at 85.44 US cents, 100.66 Japanese yen, 68.29 Euro cents and 54.09 British pence.

• On Wall St in late trade, S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow flat, Nasdaq +0.5%

• In Europe, Euro Stoxx 50 flat, FTSE flat, CAC -0.2%, DAX +0.6%

• Spot gold 0.2% to $US1198.54 an ounce

• Iron ore slips 1.6% to $US68.49 per dry ton

• Brent oil loses 0.9% to $US77.66 per barrel

What’s on today

Australia HIA new home sales, CBA business sales indicator for October, business investment September, ABS Private Capital Expenditures report; China industrial profits; US Thanksgiving holiday; Euro zone economic, industrial, consumer confidence; Germany unemployment data; Austria OPEC meeting.

Stocks to watch

Beach Energy, Woolworths, Bank of Queensland, SEEK, Mayne Pharma Group AGMs.

Discovery Communications and bid partner Foxtel are unlikely to pay a big premium for takeover target Ten Network Holdings, according to the Street Talk column in the Australian Financial Review.

Citi Research kept its “neutral” recommendation unchanged on Orica Limited but dropped its price target by 40¢ to $20.10.

Morningstar has a “hold” on Coca-Cola Amatil from “reduce” previously with a “medium” fair value uncertainty rating and a fair value price of $8.50 a share.

Currencies

The Australian dollar is opening little changed after a wild overnight ride in which it plunged as low as 84.80 US cents before a slew of disappointing economic data took the wind out of the sails of the greenback and the Aussie slowly recovered.

The US dollar fell, its first two-day decline this month, after reports showed an unexpected increase in weekly jobless claims and a decline in business orders, fueling speculation the U.S economy faces headwinds.

Brazil’s real led advances on optimism a former Treasury official will be chosen as finance minister. The yen rose against the US dollar as trading patterns showed its declines this month were overdone. The ruble sank after Russia sold less than 10 per cent of the bonds originally planned.

Commodities

Iron ore extended a retreat to the lowest level in more than five years as global supplies of the steel-making raw material are poised to swell just as economic growth in China is slowing. Ore with 62 per cent content delivered to Qingdao in China declined 1.6 per cent to $US68.49 a dry ton, the lowest since June 2009, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd.

OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and fellow member the United Arab Emirates signalled on Wednesday they were unlikely to push for a major change in oil output at the group’s meeting this week to prop up prices that have sunk by a third since June.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell to its lowest since November 5 at $US6558 a tonne in intraday trade before paring losses to close 0.6 per cent weaker at $US6570. Aluminium rose 0.6 per cent to close at $US2061 a tonne as a key spread remained at the highest levels in nearly two years, indicating lack of spot material.

United States

US stocks edged up on Wednesday afternoon, boosted by tech shares, while the energy sector was once more the largest weight on the market as crude prices continued to flirt with multi-year lows.

Hewlett-Packard, Apple and chipmakers were among the largest advancers, with the PHLX semiconductor index at its highest since mid-2001. Apple gained 0.8 per cent while the SOX was last up 1.8 per cent.

Wall Street will be closed on Thursday in the US for the Thanksgiving holiday and close early on Friday.

The Commerce Department said consumer spending, which makes up more than two-thirds of US economic activity, increased 0.2 per cent last month after being flat in September. In a second report, the Commerce Department said non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft fell 1.3 per cent last month.

Europe

Europe’s main stock markets have closed flat after the European Central Bank signalled it could begin purchasing government bonds, but not until next year.

ECB vice president Vitor Constancio said on Wednesday the bank might decide as early as the first quarter of next year whether to begin buying sovereign bonds.

British holiday company Thomas Cook slumped 18 percent after saying its chief executive Harriet Green was stepping down two years after leading a turnaround of the group.

What happened yesterday

The Australian sharemarket has pushed higher, with broad gains across sectors, including the big miners and banks, despite yet another slump in the price of iron ore.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 added 61.4 points, or 1.2 per cent, to close at the day’s high of 5396.2. The broader All Ordinaries rose 59.4 points, or 1.1 per cent to 5324.1.