The ASX Today: We’re only halfway through this insane week; gold back over US$5K/oz; tech index beheaded

Greetings and welcome to ASX Today for Wednesday of Week 6, I’m Jon Davidson. It’s hump day today, and yet, it feels like we’ve already had two weeks’ worth of market events in just the last 72 hours. Remember when silver and gold prices crashed on Monday morning? Yeah, me neither.

Listen to the HotCopper podcast for in-depth discussions and insights on all the biggest headlines from throughout the week. On Spotify, Apple, and more.

At the time of writing, gold is up nearly 2% back over US$5K an ounce, and silver’s up over 2%, nearly back to US$90/oz. Gold has recovered over half of its losses since five days ago, an indication perhaps a sense of calm spurred by the new Fed pick will prove to be short-lived; copper’s still running hard too, near ATHs.

But Down Under, we also had a rate hike this week, making us the first G10 nation to do so. Our government tells us the reason inflation is going back up is due to the removal of power bill rebates, which, to me, is another way of saying power bill rebates were effectively manipulating the CPI basket.

So then why did the RBA cut rates at all? Unfortunately, not many finance journalists appear brave enough to ask Treasurer Jim Chalmers that directly.

And then there’s U.S. tech. On Wednesday, the ASX tech index, or XTX if you prefer, was down nearly -8% in one day, a massive swing which looks less like stocks getting scalped and more like being decapitated. Much of that was due to heavyweight WiseTech (ASX:WTC), down a whopping -8.3% in arvo trades; elsewhere at the top of the index, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) has fallen -13%.

That’s due to fears in America, where tech stocks have definitely not been the headline story in recent sessions; tech and software stocks are going down in the same week we learned a massive investment for OpenAI from NVIDIA fell through.

Perhaps in response to the carnage, NVIDIA had to backpedal somewhat, now talking about funding OpenAI’s looming IPO. Expect to hear a lot about AI in coming weeks. 

Looking back home, at least one CBA analyst has shared her view that China is in fact trying to wean off Australian iron, though, maybe that’s just because BHP overtook CBA in market cap again Wednesday. Notably, the Bank of America forecast the Aussie dollar to hit 73c against the greenback by the end of this year.

Looking around the traps, as mentioned, BHP (ASX:BHP) has become the #1 stock on the ASX once again, shaking off Monday’s madness; Woodside (ASX:WDS) was up not far off +3% intraday as investors eyed higher oil prices following a US strike on an Iranian drone, just don’t bring up the fact Iran doesn’t control the oil market anymore but sure whatever; and finally, Woolworths (ASX:WOW) continues to blow supermarket archrival Coles (ASX:COL) out of the water with YTD returns up +6%, clearly the preferred duopoly player in a higher inflation environment.

Join the discussion: See what’s trending right now on HotCopper, Australia’s largest stock forum, and be part of the conversations that move the markets.

The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please click here.