At The Bell – The S&P/ASX 200 index is tipped to open strongly as the market prepares for a number of critical financial releases including the next RBA interest rate decision.
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Today’s market is expected to be buoyed by Wall Street’s strong finish leading into the weekend after a better-than-expected July jobs report eased investor worries regarding upcoming US interest rate hikes.
The S&P 500 rose to a record on Friday after the July jobs report found that the US economy lost just 23,000 jobs last month, significantly lower than forecast.
Locally, a number of major banks which are set to unveil key updates this week including Westpac which will produce its third-quarter report today.
Traders will also be focusing on NAB releasing its business confidence review tomorrow, while the RBA is set to announce its lates interest rate decision tomorrow afternoon. Most pundits are suggesting rates will remain on hold.
Globally, physically backed gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted US$3 billion of inflows in July, reversing two consecutive months of outflows, the latest World Gold Council (WGC) “Goldhub” newsletter reported.
The WGC said demand was broad-based across all regions, led by Europe, while positive flows and a higher gold price lifted total global gold ETF AUM by 1% to US$530 billion. Collective holdings rose by 23 tonnes to 4,068 tonnes.
Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs has estimated companies have issued nearly US$500 billion in AI-related debt so far in 2026.
According to Goldman Sachs Research, there is likely to be more issuances to come.
Hyperscalers—the biggest US tech companies who have been responsible for 40% of AI debt issuance so far this year-could raise US$2 trillion more debt while keeping their investment-grade ratings, said Amanda Lynam, head of credit strategy research at Goldman Sachs.
But given that investment-grade credit markets are unlikely to absorb that amount of debt, “the bigger question is: What markets fill the void?” Lynam asks.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the Oz dollar is buying US$0.706
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is down 0.87% to $94.45 per tonne
Brent Crude was up 1.29% to $83.550 USD/Bbl
Gold is selling at $ 4343.43 per ounce
US natgas futures were up 1.06% to $ $2.6901 USD/MMBtu
On the market front:
All eyes will be on Elk Range Mining (ASX:ELK) which was admitted to the official list of the ASX on Thursday, 6 August, with its securities set to commence quotation at 12.00PM AEST today.
ELK raised $10,000,000 under its initial public offer (IPO) and the funds will go towards advancing the Idaho gold project.
Elk Range has consolidated a land position and extensive historical geological and drilling database provide a strong foundation for systematic exploration and resource growth.
The company is led by non-executive chairman Campbell Baird, who has been part of the Australian and global mining industry for more than 30 years, and CEO Edward Keys, who brings more than 20 years’ experience in mineral exploration, resource growth and project development across Australia and North America.
Elsewhere, Infratil (ASX:IFT) has unveiled a NZ data centre idea with Contact Energy for Taranaki;
Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN) identifies regional discovery opportunities at Kelpie;
West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1) is ramping up Salazar scandium development pathway; and
Stavely Minerals (ASX:SVY) has unveiled robust Stavely gossan scoping study.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Colin Sandell-Hay – happy trading.
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