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ASX today − Wall Street is sizzling this morning, and Australian shares are to follow with our own 50-point gain, after Trump seemingly chickened out on his threat to tariff some eight EU nations over his Greenland squabble.
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The U.S. President had been demanding “immediate negotiations” with European powerbrokers over buying Greenland for national security.
Today, he suggested there’s now a “framework” around the future of Greenland and the Arctic Region; whether that means the U.S. backed down or that Trump bought the region is a little unclear this morning, though he had previously declared there was no alternative to his plans for the Danish territory.
Whatever happens there, traders have liked it all − The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both cracked as much as +1.2% higher (mostly wiping yesterday’s losses) while the Stoxx stayed barely flat. London ended up +0.1% higher.
Now, with that surge rolling through, let’s look at Oz stock news.
ASX stocks to watch
First up, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the AFR on Wednesday that he’s looking into emergency steel tariffs levelled on China. Chalmers’ snap move comes after BHP (ASX:BHP) admitted it’s had to accept lower pricing. The immediate question is how Oz could avoid a trade spat with any levies.
Elsewhere, our biggest gold-buying ETF option Down Under, “GOLD,” has already hit some +12% early doors in CY26, carried through a lengthy January boom by bullion prices charging on towards US$5K/ounce.
Australian Strategic Minerals (ASX:ASM) ended its Wednesday rocket up +120% after fielding a takeover lob from Colorado’s Energy Fuels.
Quarterlies aplenty today, too, including from Fortescue (ASX:FMG), Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL), Northern Star (ASX:NST), Santos (ASX:STO), South32 (ASX:S32), Regis Resources (ASX:RRL), and Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG).
December jobs data (at 11.30am) may impact stocks somewhat, too.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, our Oz dollar’s buying 67.6 U.S. cents.
Looking at commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore has dropped -0.6%; it’s today at $103.30 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is up, at $65.28/Bbl,
Gold is selling at $4,848 an ounce, and,
US natgas futures are up another +28%, to $4.98 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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