The ASX 200 is expected to open 0.16% lower today after Wall Street’s Friday close pulled back from the “Trump bump” the U.S. share markets have been enjoying.
One marker that has shaken the Trump-fuelled run – which many still see as a long-term climate – was the president-elect butting horns with China over trade. The new administration plans to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese products.
Back home, Macquarie (ASX:MAQ), Westpac (ASX:WBC), and CBA (ASX:CBA) are all facing huge costs under a new Treasury levy aimed at keeping rural branches open.
NAB (ASX:NAB) has acknowledged it is being sued by the Australian Securities and Investments CommissionASIC; that case centres around the bank failing to help customers experiencing financial hardships.
Elsewhere, all eyes are on RBA assistant governor Christopher Kent’s Sir Leslie Melville Lecture in Canberra tonight; a forerunner to a speech from governor Michele Bullock at the Women in Payments Conference on Wednesday.
Car leasing group FleetPartners (ASX:FPR) also reported a one percent decline in net profits from FY24 (NZ$88 million) while The a2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M) has today appointed former Zespri International CEO as a non-executive director.
Elders (ASX:ELD) will also be sharing its FY24 earnings later today.
Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 64.6 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has slipped slightly to $101.63 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $71.04,
Gold is trading at $2,562 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $2.82 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.