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ASX today – Australian shares are heading for a retreat this morning, following Wall Street and the Dow Jones (at its lowest this year) into the red. Oil also stands as a close watch after three commercial ships were struck near the Strait of Hormuz, and IEA countries voted to release strategic oil reserves early.
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On the first, Wall Street has been struggling to keep its head above water as the conflict in the Middle East drags on through its second week.
Things weren’t too bad yesterday – and that was enough for Oz to ignore the U.S. bellwether – but more danger signs have sent the Dow plunging and kept the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite largely flat.
The second is the reason: Between three ships being hit by missiles near the Strait of Hormuz and the IEA soon to push the reserves emergency button, it doesn’t feel like oil prices are quite as stable as they could be.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, is back to around US$93 a barrel, even after the International Energy Agency released ~400M reserve barrels.
It could even be argued the IEA reaching into its back pocket to keep oil flowing globally is more of a worrying sign than a boon; there’s only so much in there, and the U.S.-Israeli attacks seem to have some way to run.
(For more on all this, JD and I break this whole affair – as well as the RBA rate call – next week in the latest HotCopper Wire episode, just released.)
Now, let’s take a look at what’s out in Thursday’s early company news.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, artificial intelligence behemoth Anthropic is looking to set up new operations in Sydney and start building local infrastructure Down Under. Company chiefs will be in the country later this month to finalise partnerships, butter up Canberra policymakers, and sound out fresh customers.
In local company news, Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) is up +30% in a month after signing a long-term supply deal with Japan Australian Rare Earths. The ex-China deal carries a notable rare earths floor price of US$110 a kilogram.
Elsewhere, South32 (ASX:S32) is now the frontrunner to buy $1 billion BHP (ASX:BHP) project West Musgrave. South32 mostly likes the copper opportunity.
And speaking of copper, Marimaca Copper Corp (ASX:MC2) has uncovered “significant” step-outs west from previous drilling at its Pampa Medina deposit in Chile. Next up, Marimaca will be testing the metals.
Metals mentions give us a good segue into commodities…
Buck and ore
So – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 71.5c.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is +0.5% stronger, selling at $104.25 a tonne in Singapore today,
Brent Crude is up +6%, at $93.03/Bbl,
Gold is selling at $5,192/ounce,
US natgas futures are up +6.9%, to $3.22 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck today.
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