ASX today − Australian shares are heading towards a +0.33% advance this Tuesday morning, following global markets happily ignoring the fact that President Donald Trump is looking to (legally, if he can) dethrone Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and rejig the central bank’s independence.
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While there was a sharp buzz when Powell took to YouTube to defend himself, wider sentiments seem more positive after the Fed’s quick rebuke.
The S&P 500 actually marched on to another high, up +0.2% overnight, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq composite added up to +0.4%. Similar in Europe, where London and the Stoxx both gained +0.2%. Japan’s up +1.6%.
There is still the whole investigation Trump opened, which focuses on comments Powell shared to Congress about a building renovation project, but Powell dubbed it a “pretext” to control interest rates. That may suggest the actual legal investigation will turn up little and peter out sometime through CY26.
Now, we’ll leave Trump and Powell behind, and look at company news.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, all eyes will be on the race at the top, with BHP (ASX:BHP) now within 8% of Commonwealth Bank’s (ASX:CBA) big lead on the S&P/ASX200 index. A +30% rally through the last six months helped BHP’s challenge.
Elsewhere, Resources Minister Madeleine King has welcomed Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) mining mega-merger with Glencore – as long as Oz stays a focus.
Looking at smaller caps, gold explorer Lunnon Metals (ASX:LM8) is drawing attention early on HotCopper forums after telling shareholders it has found “multiple significant, high-grade hits down plunge” at Lady Herial.
And, Miramar (ASX:M2R) has found more gold/copper targets at Lorraine.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar buys 67.1 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has held highs again, up +0.5% at $109 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is up +1%, to $63.96/Bbl,
Gold is at $4,608 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures rebounded +6.8%, to $3.38 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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