The bullish rush upwards fuelled by China’s stimulus pledges hasn’t been able to hold through the week, with ASX 200 now expected to open 0.33% lower as Wall Street navigates doldrums ahead of its next CPI reporting.
There was some hope Beijing’s “proactive” moves in the Chinese economy would keep the Santa rally running for the rest of the week but that’s fading away.
Instead, a U.S. slowdown – basically a deep breath before this CPI report shares that consumer price index rose 0.3% month-over-month – saw all three major indexes on Wall Street end modestly lower. The Nasdaq was down most at -0.3%.
There were some winners, like Google parent Alphabet finishing up 4.8%.
Most tech, led by Oracle, dragged the market down through Tuesday’s trade though.
In the bond market, things all ticked the other way: Treasury yields are up ahead of Wednesday’s reporting and have inched back to two-week highs.
Back home, eyes will be on News Corp (ASX:NWS) after Rupert Murdoch’s failed bid to solidify his succession plan by compounding son Lachlan’s control of the empire.
Regional Express Holdings (ASX:REX) has become the latest listed company to fall under the ire of the ASIC, with the airline alleged to have released a “misleading and deceptive” ASX announcement for investors in February 2023.
Telco heavyweight Telstra (ASX:TLS) has forked out more than $3 million in penalties after failing to comply with triple-000 emergency call rules during a technical disruption.
Amid the hand slaps and ASIC allegations there’s better news too – the ASX welcomes another debutant today, with Whitefield Income braving what’s been a pretty barren IPO landscape to ring the bell in Sydney at 11am today. The investment company will list under WHI and is looking to raise $250M in capital.
Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) is also looking to fill the coffers and is looking to secure $164M from equities investors just days after bagging €120M from Export Finance Australia.
The RBA beast rolls on today too, with Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser speaking at the ABE Annual Dinner tonight – all eyes will be on if he echoes Michele Bullock’s relatively dovish sentiment from her presser yesterday.
Finally, make sure you join us here at HotCopper this afternoon as we unveil the hottest stocks on Australia’s biggest investor forum through 2024. We’ll look at the Top 10 Most Watched stocks and pick the brains of top analysts like RaaS Research Group MD Finola Burke and Lowell’s fund chief John Forwood.
Looking at forex, which found itself dented somewhat by the RBA’s surprising February cut tease, and the Aussie dollar is buying 63.7 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has stayed slightly in the green at $105.45 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $71.96,
Gold is trading up again at $2,699 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $3.18 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.