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Good afternoon and welcome to The ASX Today for Thursday, I’m Jon Davidson. The good mood was still palpable after Commonwealth’s big jump on Wednesday, a second day of gains in that stock helped push the ASX to a fresh record high on Thursday, though really we’re more or less where we were last October.
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The Japanese Nikkei also hit a fresh record today as Japan’s answer to the Trump trade carries up our Asian neighbour, too.
However, as we passed 2pm on the East Coast, the ASX was starting to pare back (editor’s note: hence our lovely yellow “Turtle” feature image) – leaving it open as to whether we’ll fade into red or not. What’s going on?
Well, the S&P500 ended exactly flat overnight, and the fear and greed index currently sits at neutral; at 2pm Thursday, Nasdaq futures were exactly flat, too. U.S. inflation data comes out on Friday evening Oz time, and it’s likely Wall Street’s waiting for that baby to drop. So that’s why we’re travelling sideways.
We haven’t looked at oil on The ASX Today recently, and Brent Crude is more or less back to US$70/bbl for the first time in recent memory. That’s because fears of U.S.-Iran tensions always impact the oil price, even though Iran doesn’t actually supply that much oil to the U.S. anymore. (Old habits die hard, I suppose, and oil traders like the easy money.)
As for precious metals, the ASX is travelling sideways in part because they are too. We haven’t really heard of any new records being broken for silver or gold in a week or two now. The two have taken a breather as the market watches what’s going to happen with Kevin Warsh at the Fed. (He doesn’t actually start ’til May.)
But China’s gold holdings continue to hit fresh record highs, suggesting there’s an ongoing hedge against the USD. Still, when neither gold nor silver is acting like a cryptocurrency, it appears interest falls off. Funny that.
Looking at company news around the traps today, homewares and furniture retailer Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) tanked -30% as its half-year profits missed expectations by some 30%, despite increased revenues – meaning margins aren’t great. In the background, 62% of of total orders are coming from repeat customers.
Healthcare giant Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) was also scalped in a decline of over -20% as its first-half revenue likewise missed estimates; the cardinal sin of earnings season. Finally, the ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) itself fell after it released earnings today. While profits were up, the amount of money the bourse operator is spending has increased by some 20%, so really, those profits aren’t even actual profits at that point. Former CEO Helen Lofthouse also quietly left the job this week.
That’s the ASX Today for Thursday, I’m Jon Davidson, have a great night.
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