On Friday's trade the All Ordinaries finished down -42.560 points or -0.73 per cent.

QBE Insurance Group announced that John Neal, Group CEO, will be stepping down after five years in the role. The board of directors has appointed Patrick Regan, CEO Australian and NZ Operations and previously Group Chief Financial Officer, to succeed John on January 1 2018, with a four-month leadership transition. Patrick will remain on the board as an executive director. John will be stepping down from the role of Group CEO effective from December 31. QBE finished the week at $10.470.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia's unemployment rate was steady at 5.6 per cent in August and the economy added 54,200 jobs. Australia's economy has added more jobs than expected, the biggest increase in nearly two years and far higher than the 20,000 increase the market had expected. Full-time employment again accounted for the bulk of the gains, rising by 40,100 jobs, while part-time jobs rose by 14,100. 

Myer Holdings Limited (MYR) announced its financial results for the 2017 FY reporting Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) of $67.9 million on sales 1.4 per cent lower than the previous year in part reflecting the closure of three stores.

Myer Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Richard Umbers said: “We have made significant progress to deliver New Myer which has assisted the company to withstand the challenging retail trading conditions characterised by heightened competition, subdued consumer sentiment and discount fatigue.” MYR finished the week at $0.700. 

At the close of weekly trading, the gold price finished at $ 1,325.200 per ounce, the WTI oil price traded at $ 50.440 a barrel, and the Australian dollar was worth US $0.8002. 

In the US on Friday night, the Dow Jones finished up 64.860 points to end the week at   22,268.340. 

The Share Price Index (SPI) finished up 16 points which should lead to a start to today’s trade.