The local bourse is headed for a green open, with the ASX 200 futures now pointing to a 0.22% rise – to a hair over 8,500 points – as global traders shrug at Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs in a way Australia didn’t yesterday.
While there were some panics Down Under following the news on Monday, the reports have done little to knock U.S. sentiments as Week 7 trade starts there.
Instead, Wall Street is said to be “looking at the light at the end of the tunnel.”
(We’ll hear a bit more about this after our PM Albo calls Trump about this today too.)
As for numerical moves, the Dow Jones ended a two-day red streak to close 0.4% higher while the Nasdaq composite led the way with a 1% jump.
In Europe, benchmark index the STOXX notched an all-time high, as did the FTSE 100 in London. Energy was the biggest leader there, with British oil titan BP managing the biggest one-day rise in two years with a 7.3% leap.
Back home, Westpac (ASX:WBC) and NAB (ASX:NAB) are both releasing February consumer confidence reports – the first is at 10.30am; the second an hour later.
Today’s another busy day for reporting too: Breville (ASX:BRG), CSL (ASX:CSL), Seven Group (ASX:SGH), and Seven West (ASX:SWM) are on the docket.
Seven West Media has already reported a 26% slump in earnings this morning.
Elsewhere, Fortescue’s (ASX:FMG) off-market takeover bid for all shares in Red Hawk Mining (ASX:RHK) has been affirmed as unconditional.
HotCopper forum users also watch Vulcan Energy (ASX:VUL) after the energy and lithium producer slashed its interim dividend. The decision comes after earnings dropped 31% amid “headwinds” for the NZ company.
To the forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 62.7 US cents.
To commodities, which are in the greenback,
Iron Ore has climbed 0.8% to $107.20 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude is trading at $76.04,
Gold has enjoyed yet another bump over its all-time high after Trump’s latest tariff talks to trade at $2,913 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are at $3.44 per gigajoule.
That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.
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