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At The Bell — The Australian share market is guaranteed to take a buffeting today, at least -0.4%, after Wall Street trading took a nosedive on their Wednesday. The biggest driver was 30-year U.S. bonds, which climbed to a 19-year high thanks to inflation worries; that fear pushed the Nasdaq into correction territory.
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While most of our Week 31 trading has been dovish thanks to Michele Bullock suggesting more hikes are unlikely, this U.S. meltdown feels unavoidable – the Nasdaq -1.74%, and the S&P and Dow up to -2.2% weaker.
A lot of this is also wrapped up with the U.S. Federal Reserve holding rates, when many bond traders believed Kevin Warsh needed to “panic” a bit.
He instead suggested there’s “no magic wand” to lower inflation quickly, and then kowtowed to what Donald Trump would have wanted: Holding rates to avoid more uproar from average Americans across the country.
And speaking of Trump, he’s said he’ll go “very hard” on Iran with fresh strikes.
ASX stocks to watch
Tough day to share news for ASX companies, but the show stops for nothing, and we’re in the middle of resource reporting. On that front, we have Champ Iron (ASX:CIA), Perseus (ASX:PRU), and Boss (ASX:BOE) sharing updates today.
PLS Group (ASX:PLS) has already released its FY26 quarterly, spruiking a “strong operational year” with a total 12-month production of 879.5 kilotonnes that exceeded the top of the guidance. The company expects FY27 to look better, too, and has set guidance for total spodumene between 1,030–1,100kt.
Elsewhere, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) will be paying its biggest half-year dividend in four years after raking in top profits on higher copper and aluminium prices.
And Qantas (ASX:QAN) a watch after completing a 24-hour “Sunrise” flight to Toulouse.
Buck and ore
In forex, the Oz dollar is buying US 69.5c today,
Then to commodities, all in the greenback,
Brent Crude has stopped the rot, bouncing +7.5% to $90.40/barrel,
Iron Ore basically flat at +0.1%, $97.85 a tonne in Singapore,
Gold today $4,075/ounce, and,
US natgas futures up, $2.72 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper‘s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – happy trading today.
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