Market Open: ASX to pay price for AI jitters back on Wall Street; earnings wobble | Feb 13

ASX today – The long (fearful) thematic around artificial intelligence has loomed large again on Wall Street, battering six of the seven “Mag7” stocks and guaranteeing Oz shares will open down on Friday morning.

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Week 7 had looked so good for Aussie stocks, especially as our strong earnings split us from the U.S., but apparently, nothing good lasts forever.

That’s the exact fear those backing the AI thematic have been having recently, too, and the growing panic that there’s a bubble saw Wall Street’s leading indexes dump between -0.8% and -1.7%; the S&P and Nasdaq, respectively.

Even the high-flying Nikkei, which has been buoyed by stimmys and a Japanese election landslide recently, was caught up in the tech sell-down and hovered flat. London and Europe’s Stoxx similarly dipped red.

Sentiments Down Under weren’t helped by a more local swipe either: CBA analysts warned Australia may soon be tagged an “old economy” again, thanks to its reliance on mining and agriculture vs. tech exceptionalism. “Various geopolitical issues may also sap investors’ risk appetite,” the gurus suggested.

Now – let’s wade into reports, earnings, and all the big quarterly news.

ASX stocks to watch

Earnings have gone well for many in Week 7, but it’s AMP Ltd (ASX:AMP) and Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) that have grabbed the most Aussie headlines – both “created the wrong kind of history” Wednesday, with bumper reporting misses yesterday morning seeing each dump nearly -30% in a single day.

Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) had a similar bumpy ride; it shaved as much as -23% after its reporting disappointed shareholders, though chief Sam Rupert said it had just been “caught up in some of the wash” through earnings.

All three were just, to put it simply, hammered, which won’t help the bourse after Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) put up such strong numbers Wednesday. (More on that from JD and me on the HotCopper Wire today, too.)

Things roll on today, with Westpac (ASX:WBC) already sharing that its first-quarter net profits were up +5%, to $1.9 billion through to CY25’s year-end.

Others on the way as we head into the weekend include GQG Patners (ASX:GQG), as well as Nick Scali (ASX:NCK), Cochlear (COH), and plenty more.

Elsewhere, Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC) has been given the ACCC tick to acquire all National Capital Private assets and operations from Healthscope. That sale, unveiled last December, will wrap up in FY27.

Buck and ore

Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 70.8c.

Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,

Iron Ore has dropped -0.5%, to sell at $99.40 a tonne in Singapore today,

Brent Crude is -2.7%, at $67.55/Bbl,

Gold is selling at $4,951/ounce,

US natgas futures are up +1.5%, at $3.20 per gigajoule.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading.

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