The ASX futures are down 0.1% this morning as fears of a right-wing resurgence in Europe weigh on an Australian bourse proving more vulnerable to geopolitical influences than another record close on both the S&P500 and the Nasdaq overnight.
The S&P500 closed at a peak after gaining 0.2% in New York with Adobe spiking 15% late in the day after Nvidia, Tesla, and Broadcom had all climbed during trading with Apple’s market cap at one stage surpassing Microsoft. Only the Dow Jones was in the red – 0.2% lower at the close.
Weekly US jobless claims were up in the US but the producer price report for May was lower than expected – recording its biggest decline in 8 months – raising hopes of a rates cut later in the year.
Morgan Stanley said in a note to investors it expects three rates cuts in the USA this year, starting in September, as inflation is reined in.
Australian Energy
In Australia, Australian energy comes is into focus today after AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) described investment for wind and solar as “tricky”, with Macquarie Asset Management’s (ASX:MQG) green investment division saying it sees renewables as opportunistic for those up to the challenge.
By contrast, Sam Berridge’s resources fund – after delivering 30% returns – said it was betting big on natural gas. Earlier in the week a Climate Change Report said Australia should phase out LNG exports and adopt tougher domestic gas reservation policies.
Forex and Commodities
The Australian dollar was buying 66.35 US cents.
Gold dipped 0.9% to US$2304.21, Iron ore was up 2.1% to US$106.85, Brent crude slipped 0.2% to US$82.11 a barrel and natural gas was down 1% fetching US$3.04 per giga-joule.