- The ASX is set to open higher on Friday
- Wall Street was mixed overnight ahead of the US non-farm payrolls
- Shares in Block Inc on NYSE fall 7% on volumes miss
Local shares are set to open higher today. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 August futures is pointing up by 0.15%.
Overnight, US stocks were mixed as the S&P 500 finished flat, while the Dow fell 0.26% and tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by 0.41%.
Wall Street continues to ignore the deepest yield curve inversion since the early 2000s, and the S&P 500 index has now rebounded over 13% from the June lows. The Nasdaq is also up by more than 12% since a month ago.
“Many on Wall Street anticipate that the Fed will stop quantitative tightening next year and begin cutting interest rates,” said Oanda analyst, Edward Moya.
“If the next couple of inflation and non-farm payroll reports support the Fed pivot argument, we might stop hearing these bear market calls.”
The non-farm payrolls for July will be released later today US time.
Shares in Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) slid 7% after hours after reporting that its Q2 payments volume ($US52.5 billion) missed estimates ($US53.47 billion). Gross profit for the quarter was $US1.47 billion, in line with estimate. Block’s Afterpay business reported a loss rate improvement to 1%.
Meanwhile Atlassian reported a full year FY22 net loss of $US614.1 million vs loss of $US696.3 million in the pcp. The Atlassian share price rose 10% in after-hours trading.
In Europe, the Bank of England (BOE) has slapped another 50bp hike, the steepest increase in 27 years as it took the UK cash rate to 1.75%.
The BOE has warned the UK might enter its longest recession since the financial crisis of 2008-09, saying the British economy will contract for five consecutive quarters beginning in Q4 this year.
In other markets, oil prices slid by 3% overnight, while the iron price was also down by 4% to $US103.80 a tonne. Bitcoin was down another 1.5% in the last 24 hours to US$22,511.
Back home, the RBA will announce its latest Statement on Monetary Policy at 11.30am today. The statement sets out the bank’s assessment of current economic conditions, both domestic and international, along with the outlook for Australian inflation and output growth.
On the ASX, Summit Minerals (ASX:SUM) will list at 1pm AEDT. The battery metals explorer has four projects in WA, and one in NSW. It raised $5.5m at 20c per share in the IPO round.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL)
As of today, DYL will operate as a significantly larger uranium company, following the successful merger with Vimy announced in March. The completion of the merger has consolidated an exploration portfolio across two Tier-1 mining jurisdictions, particularly the highly prospective Alligator Project, able to support the company’s ambitious strategy of establishing +10Mlb production per annum.
DevEx Resources (ASX:DEV)
Further assay results have been received from reconnaissance aircore drilling, which has outlined an extensive zone of shallow gold mineralisation at Nangus Road, part of the Junee Project in NSW. Shallow intercepts include 1m @4.9g/t Au from 42m, 5m @ 1.3g/t Au from 6m, and 3m @ 1.3g/t Au from 4m.
Greenwing Resources (ASX:GW1)
GW1 says a Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) geophysical survey has significantly expanded the surface area underlain by a highly conductive response, indicative of an expanded brine body. Survey confirms that brine continues west from the salar under volcanic flows at the San Jorge Lithium brine project in Argentina.
Quickfee (ASX:QFE)
Quickfee CEO Eric Lookhoff will resign immediately for personal and family reasons. The CEO’s duties will now be performed jointly by Dale Smorgon, non-executive director of QuickFee, Bruce Coombes, founder and executive director, and Simon Yeandle, chief financial officer and secretary, until a suitable replacement CEO is appointed.
Incannex Healthcare (ASX:IHL)
The medicinal cannabis company has finalised the acquisition of APIRx Pharmaceuticals. Founders of APIRx, Dr George Anastassov and Lekhram Changoer, have joined the Incannex team as non-executive director and chief technology officer respectively. The acquisition of APIRx follows a long relationship with Dr Anastassov and Changoer that first began in 2018.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Incannex Healthcare is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.