Good morning, and welcome to the last trading day of Week 21 (Happy Friday!)
ASX200 futures imply the market is set to fall nearly one per cent on Friday, a result driven by fresh Purchasing Manager’s Index data in the US overnight that came in higher than expected, implying a longer path to interest rate cuts.
The S&P500 finished down -0.74% on Thursday, with the NASDAQ posting losses of -0.40%.
The Dow Jones, and Russell 2000 smallcap index, also ended red, losing -1.53% and -1.6% respectively.
Not even NVIDIA’s earnings were enough to shake fear out of the market spurred by the PMI data. Well after the ASX closes today, we also get US manufacturing demand data at 10.30pm AEST.
Looking at ASX equities, BHP’s (ASX:BHP) proposed takeover of Anglo American remains in focus, with Morningstar analysts betting on Friday there’s a 60% chance the deal will get across the line.
Elsewhere, ASX competitor National Stock Exchange (ASX:NSX) has appointed former ASX executive Max Cunningham as its CEO.
Meanwhile, in commodities, Brent Crude has fallen to US$81.40 a barrel, and gold has slipped -2.17% to US$2,330 an ounce.
Copper fell -1.5% overnight to US$4.77 a pound, and uranium increased slightly to US$92.10 a pound.
Iron ore prices at the port of Dalian remain steady at US$117/tn, retaining gains of +8% over the last month for the iron ore price.
That’s Market Open – we’ll be with you later on when the trading day is underway.
Note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the US Core PCE rate will be released tonight. That is incorrect; the PCE data comes out next Thursday. Tonight we get US manufacturing demand data (durable goods orders.)