The Market Online - At The Bell

Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights

ASX 200 futures are tipping a 26.8-point jump this morning, with the Aussie bourse expected to open around 0.32% higher after President Donald Trump opened his second term by declaring he’d bring in a “golden age” for the U.S.

Trump told the country he would overhaul U.S. immigration and reshape trade, taxes, and energy policies – all of which rolled straight into market movements.

That is, global markets jumped; Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King Jnr. Day.

The Stoxx and London’s FTSE 100 climbed, as did the Shanghai Composite.

Perhaps the most important thing Trump touched on during his inaugural address from Washington though was his looming tariffs: It’s looking like announcements around the crackdowns he’s been spruiking for some weeks have been delayed, which sent the US dollar tumbling more than 1% overnight.

Back home, Nine Entertainment (ASX:NEC) – who airs sports through its Stan streaming platform – has been offered the English Premier League broadcasting rights by Optus; the telco is looking to get out of the streaming game.

The slow-motion Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) crash is dragging into another week too, with Steve McCann rushing to Brisbane to meet worried Hong Kong investors.

There’s a slew of quarterly production results coming today too, including updates from Liontown Resouces (ASX:LTR), BHP (ASX:BHP), and Yancoal (ASX:YAL).

Mercury NZ Limited (ASX:MCY) is building a $287M wind farm near Dargaville to produce 77 megawatts and 221 gigawatts annually. It will be ready by ’26, the company says. At the same time, Richard Hopkins has joined as CEO.

Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar has rallied to a one-month high – another quarter helped by Trump’s tariff stepback – and is buying 62.7 US cents.

To commodities, which are in the greenback,

Iron Ore has dipped very slightly to $103.75 a tonne in Singapore,

Brent Crude is trading at $79.77,

Gold is trading at $2,723 per ounce, and, 

US natgas futures are at $3.83 per gigajoule.

That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.

More From The Market Online
REIT concept

Trump is banning work-from-home for Federal workers. Could our REIT index see contagion upside?

To answer the question at the top of the article, any benefit for Australian REIT stocks posed by Trump’s decision to ban work-from-home
Image of clinical researcher making notes

‘Significant’ new milestone for Recce in clinical testing of skin infection gel

Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd has seen its share price rise more than 1% as it completes dosing…
Cuba concept

Melbana shareholders oddly quiet as Trump redeclares Cuba terrorist state

These days it’s getting harder and harder to be a true believer in Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY), one of the
The Market Online Video

What 2025 holds for Australia’s economy and investments

This week on Money and Investing, Mitch Olarenshaw and I discuss the Australian economic outlook for 2025, offering insights into both the positive