• The ASX 200 index is set to open flattish today
  • Wall Street fell 1% across the board ahead of the US CPI due out later today
  • Commodity prices also fell as oil prices plunged by 8% and iron ore by 7%

The ASX is set to open flattish this morning despite most major assets falling overnight.

Wall Street fell across the board as all three benchmark indices – the S&P 500, the Dow and Nasdaq – closed around 1% lower.

Oil prices collapsed by 8% to a three-month low, with Brent crude now back below US$100 at US$98.60 a barrel.

The fall almost mirrored last Wednesday’s 10% plunge and although there wasn’t a clear catalyst for overnight’s slump, it’s clear that recession fears are still top of mind for oil traders.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) meanwhile has warned that the energy crisis could get worse from here.

“We might not have seen the worst of it yet,” says IEA executive director Fatih Birol last night.

Iron ore prices also plunged by 7% to US$105.80 a tonne, possibly for the same reasons.

Experts believe demand for iron ore will remain weak for the foreseeable future as Chinese steel mills scale back output due to high inventories and sluggish steel orders.

Other commodities like gold, silver, nickel and copper also fell overnight, while bonds were the only major asset to have risen as the US 10-year treasury yield fell 2bp to 2.97% (price increase).

Bitcoin is down another 3% to trade at US$19,396 at 8.30am AEST.

In corporate news, Boeing jumped 7% after reporting strong June aircraft deliveries, while Twitter rebounded 4% as the company brought a lawsuit to Elon Musk to force him to complete the US$44 billion takeover.

Later today we see what happens when the RBNZ meets, while back home we get Westpac’s Consumer Confidence Index for July, and Australia Consumer Inflation Expectations.

The US CPI is also due out later tonight, while China’s Q2 GDP will be released tomorrow.
 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Neometals (ASX:NMT)
Neometals lithium-ion battery recycling JV, Primobius, has executed a purchase order from Mercedes-Benz recycling subsidiary, LICULAR, to complete front-end engineering for the shredding section of LICULAR’S integrated recycling plant.

KMD Brands (ASX:KMD)
The formerly known as Kathmandu outdoor clothing brand said underlying FY22 EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $88 million to $94 million, and underlying EBIT at $53 million to $59 million. The company reported record performance in Kathmandu’s key winter promotional period, while the Rip Curl brand continues to trade strongly across retail and wholesale channels.

BNK Banking Corp (ASX:BBC)
BNK reported record volumes in total lending settlements of $120.7m for the month of June, an increase of 52% YoY. Its total deposits also grew by $98.8m during June, an increase of 11.5%.

Strickland Metals (ASX:STK)
Native title heritage clearance has now been received from Tarlka Matuwa Piarku (Aboriginal Corporation) for the remainder of the main Millrose gold project located on the northeast flank of the Yandal Belt in WA. Along with the prior approval from the government, this now paves the way for expedited drill testing of the full ~13km structure.

Revolver Resources (ASX:RRR)
Downhole Electromagnetic (DHEM) and Fixed-Loop EM (FLEM) surveys have identified an exciting new anomaly showing an identical conductive response to the already drill-validated very high-grade massive sulphide copper lens near surface. This work follows recent diamond drilling assays where grades of up to 19.8% copper were reported.

 

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Strickland Metals and Revolver Resources are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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