Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to rise, Warren Buffett sells another US$20bn in stocks, Westpac announces $1bn buyback

Strap yourselves in because it's another big week in markets. The latest RBA monetary policy decision will be handed down on Tuesday and everyone will be eyeing for a subtle change in language which could lead to more rate hikes.

Over the weekend, the latest US jobs report suggested some loosening was starting to show - just 175,000 jobs were added last month (which was well short of economist expectations) and the unemployment rate ticked up. But jobs reports - be it in Australia or the US - are infamously noisy so take one month's numbers with a grain of salt.

Warren Buffett has also been making headlines too - selling even more stock and boosting Berkshire Hathaway's cash balance to US$189 billion. (More on this in the headlines)

On the home front, the shares of Westpac will be in focus after it announced a $1 billion buyback and a special dividend despite a 16% decrease in net profit.

Let's dive in.

S&P 500 SESSION CHART

Bad news in the economy is seen as good news for stocks. (Source: TradingView)

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

• Dow closes higher by more than 400 points as April jobs report bolsters Fed rate cut hopes

• European markets close higher; French banks gain on profit beats as Novo Nordisk slides

• 10-year Treasury yield briefly dives below 4.5% as unemployment rate rises to 3.9%

• Oil prices fall, head for steepest weekly drop in three months

• Gold resumes retreat despite soft jobs report as traders book profits

• Investors continue to prefer passive over active funds

INTERNATIONAL STOCKS

• Berkshire Hathaway's operating profit increased 39% y/y to just over $11.2B, cash pile climbed to record $189B

• Berkshire Hathaway trimmed Apple stake for second straight quarter; Buffett suggested sale was for tax reasons and expects it to remain Berkshire's largest holding

• Buffett says Berkshire sold all of its stake in Paramount at a loss and blames himself for the decision

• Buffett says designated successor Greg Abel will have final word on Berkshire's investing decisions when he is gone

• Just 18% of S&P companies that have provided guidance have beat consensus expectations

• Tesla decision to pull back on buildout of electric chargers across US raises uncertainty about how fast other charging companies can address the shortage

• Google and Justice Dept. wrapped up closing arguments in government's antitrust case last Friday; more federal cases testing big tech's dominance on the way

• DoJ to decide by 28-May about whether Boeing violated agreement protecting it from criminal prosecution

CENTRAL BANKS

• Fed's Goolsbee wants central bank to provide economic projections behind each dot in SEP

• European banks rallying on balance sheet repair, cost cutting, higher rates, capital returns

ECONOMY

• Consumers pushing back against high food costs, forcing companies to ramp up value proposition

• Yuan weakness providing big tailwind for China exports

• China has been a big factor behind gold rally as investors there see few better alternatives

ASX TODAY

• Keep an eye on Westpac shares following its first-half result. Net profit and revenues declined at the bank but return on equity increased by 40bps half-over-half. They've also declared a 75 cent per share interim dividend and a 15 cent per share special dividend - both beat the expectations of the brokers we wrote about in our Bank Earnings preview last week.

• Shares in dual-listed Spark New Zealand will be in focus after the company reduced its earnings guidance for the full year by some NZ$50 million due to weaker demand in the normally sticky government and enterprise markets.

Companies trading ex-dividend: 

• Monday 6 May: Link Administrative Holdings (LNK) - $0.16\

• Wednesday 8 May: Resmed (RMD) - $0.052

• Thursday 9 May: Future Generation Australia (FGX) $0.034, United Overseas Australia $0.02

Economic calendar (AEST):

• 11:00am – AUD – MI inflation gauge, NZD – ANZ commodity prices

• 11:30am – AIUD – ANZ job advertisements

• 11:45am – CNY – Caixin Services PMI

This Morning Wrap was written by Hans Lee and Chris Conway.