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Australian shares are expected to open this shorter trading week down as much as 0.9% after Donald Trump and his administration made a shock move against the Federal Reserve that now leaves its independence in the balance.
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Trump has rocked markets again in Week 17 – this time scaring Wall Street by suggesting the Fed has got inflation calls wrong and should cut rates.
The U.S. President followed that up by calling Fed chairman Jerome Powell a “loser.”
Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that Trump has quietly been investigating whether he could sack Powell and take more control over the Fed. That, analysts have said, may lead to the entire central bank board being scrapped.
Similarly, the ongoing tensions – and more countermeasure threats – between China and the U.S. in their global trade war have left traders hesitant in the markets.
Some are also watching the Vatican after Pope Francis died this week, aged 88.
Back home, Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR) has wrapped up its latest drilling program at its Darwin Copper-Gold Project in Chile, where it tested three targets across 16 holes and spotted several new veins. Assays are now on their way.
(Read more about Lodestar in our latest HotCopper Thematic Insights report.)
Elsewhere, Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) has entered a non-binding MOU with Alaska Antimony Corporation and SB41 Pte Ltd to explore offtake, processing, and commercialisation for the Alturas Project in Canada.
And, TruScreen Group (ASX:TRU) just launched a five-year testing program to screen as many as 260,000 women for cervical cancer in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) was also bumped to “Buy” by Bell Potter early today.
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Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 64.1 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has jumped 2% to $99.60 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $66.60,
Gold continues to climb and is selling at $3,436 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are down 6% at $3.05 per gigajoule.
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