Okay, so who’s been bad this December? The Santa rally that seemed to be kicking into high gear earlier this month is well and truly gone, with the ASX 200 expected to open another 0.07% down today.
Wall Street is missing the Christmas cheer, with the Dow Jones index closing 260 points lower to mark its longest losing streak since as far back as 1986.
Superstar performer Nvidia weighed particularly heavy on U.S. indexes, sagging -1.2% amid a correction for the market-leading chipmaker.
UnitedHealth too has slumped to a 15-year low weeks after CEO Brian Thompson was killed.
Even 2-year Treasury yields are hurting, ending lower after six green sessions.
All these slumps have seen some turn to alternate investing options – Bitcoin has been the biggest winner there and even briefly touched $US108K today.
A shock to the U.S. system could come on Thursday morning (6am in Aus) with the Federal Reserve to deliver its rate cut decision; there are some worries the central bank may now hesitate after retail sales data had a 0.7% increase.
Back home, Jim Chalmers has admitted the Australian budget has seen “slippage” in more recent years as he readies his mid-year fiscal outlook for this afternoon.
Qantas (ASX:QAN) has today agreed to pay out more than $120 million to 1,820 ground crew workers it had illegally sacked at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian flag carrier will start payouts in 2025.
ANZ Group (ASX:ANZ) has found itself in the corporate regulator’s sights again this week, with ASIC pondering enforcement action against the big four bank come January. The Australian has reported that ANZ “incorrectly slugged customers’ accounts with fees” and had “failed to fix glaring system deficiencies.”
Fellow big four bank NAB (ASX:NAB) is hosting a pre-Chrissy AGM today.
On HotCopper, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) is the talk of the town after completing its $1.1 billion deal with Gina Rineheart’s Hancock Prospecting.
Horizon Minerals (ASX:HRZ) has also caught eyes after a new study at Penny’s Find.
Looking at forex, the sliding Aussie dollar is buying 63.3 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has dropped again to $104.50 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at the lowest it has been in a week at $73.31,
Gold is trading at $2,651 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are up 5.5% at $3.39 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.