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We’ve got here – the Federal Reserve made the call to cut interest rates in the U.S. quite early this morning (Aus time), leaving global markets to figure out whether they like the big chop decision or not this Thursday.
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So far, Australian shares have headed downward since the ‘cut’ call was unveiled, with futures for the ASX 200 suggesting a -0.12% loss at open.
It’s a fairly similar sentiment on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped. Only the Dow Jones, up +0.57%, made any meaningful gains.
London’s FTSE enjoyed a soft bump, too, adding +0.14% after the news.
All this really suggests is there’s a big bucket of volatility ahead; everyone seemed to have accepted the interest rate chop was coming, but exactly what it means for the wider markets will take some time to figure out, apparently.
Maybe the biggest thing we can take away – outside the 25bp drop, of course – is that the board wasn’t unified in its call. That’s likely why things are red.
Now – before we get to company news, circle 11.30am for Aug’s labour force data.
ASX stocks to watch
And today Down Under, eyes will be on Santos (ASX:STO) after Abu Dhabi National Oil Co walked away from its proposed $36 billion takeover offer.
The nation’s foreign investment arm, XRG, said it pulled out after it “found factors during its due diligence work… that reduced assessment of the target’s value.” That could easily hit Santos’ value on the bourse, too. We’ll see.
Elsewhere, Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) is in the headlines after it emerged it had mooted a merger with Carlyle Group earlier this year. Talks faded, however, after Carlyle’s CEO, Harvey Schwartz, rejigged plans.
And troubled ANZ Group (ASX:ANZ) has stayed in a state of flux, with the just-fined big four bank now goodbye-ing a half-dozen senior chiefs.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Aussie buck is buying 66.5 U.S. cents.
Looking over in commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is down -0.3% on Thursday, selling at $105.85 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is at $67.95/Bbl,
Gold has pulled back from its lofty highs a little, selling at $3,667, and,
US natgas futures are down -0.9%, at $3.07 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s ASX Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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