Banks

A snapshot of economist responses to today’s Australian housing finance data for April.

MINC Stockbroking’s Mark Thomas suggests shares in National Australia Bank look like a good buy.

UBS has made minor changes to its model portfolio to reflect May market action, while RBS has identified potential ASX100 earnings surprises in August’s reporting season.

Investors are currently nervous and FY11 earnings estimates may be too high but Citi still sees value in equities at current levels, while GSJB Were outlines its current preferences.

With net credit demand in Australia beginning to ease, the Big Four banks are jostling for position among the various market segments.

Brokers update their views on Australian banks while it appears the local housing bubble might be peaking.

As we are not seeing anything like the credit crunch of 2008, brokers remain confident of value on offer in stock markets with Australian resources and energy highly favoured.

Wall Street opened stronger last night, but ultimately closed lower, as the rumour mill churned and the euro pushed toward previous lows. Dow down 69.

Citi suggests China will slow its slowing while Merrill Lynch sees value in Australian banks.

Wall Street saw a nervous late sell-off as Spain moved to take over a troubled regional bank, but commodities were strong overnight. Dow down 126.