US debt ceiling deal to send ASX higher. Picture Getty
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Aussie shares are set to rally on Monday after the White House and Republicans reached a tentative debt ceiling deal. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +1%.
On Friday, Wall Street surged higher with the S&P 500 up by 1.3%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by +2.19%.
US President Joe Biden and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy held a 90-minute phone call on Saturday evening, after which they reached an agreement ‘in principle’ to raise the US government’s $US31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
Under the expected deal, the debt limit increase will last two years, with defence and renewable energy to get the most funding.
“The agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That’s the responsibility of governing,” Biden said.
The Treasury Department had earlier warned that it would run short of money if the debt ceiling was not raised by June 5th.
In stock news, Nvidia Corp climbed 2%, adding to its 24% gain on Thursday.
Rival chipmaker Marvell popped over 32% after predicting its revenue from artificial intelligence would double.
In the earnings call, Marvell CEO Matthew Murphy said the company has reassessed the “tremendous” business potential of AI.
“In the past, we considered AI to be one of many applications within cloud, but its importance and therefore the opportunity has increased dramatically,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor jumped 6% after the automaker signed a deal that would allow Ford car owners to access more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the US and Canada starting early next year. Tesla also jumped 5%.
Wall Street will be closed today for Memorial Day.
After months of dodging court papers, NBA legend Shaq O’Neal has been served in connection with the FTX meltdown.
The charge: Doing paid advertisements for FTX. He also received a second complaint about a supposedly scammy NFT venture.
Shaq had been able to avoid being served for months, but attorneys said they finally caught up with him when process servers threw the papers at his car as he made a getaway – though his lawyers said it didn’t count.
In other markets, crude prices jumped 1% on Friday, with WTI trading at US$73.34 a barrel.
This week could deliver a make-or-break moment for oil – as we will see if Chinese manufacturing would rebound, if the US labor market would soften, and how oil giants Exxon and Chevron address climate ambitions at their AGMs.
“And also, what if the Saudis and Russians can reach agreement on what OPEC+ will do with output?” said Oanda analyst, Edward Moya.
Meanwhile, gold traded flat at US$1,944 an ounce, and Bitcoin surged +5% in the last 24 hours to US$28,111.
EMvision Medical Devices (ASX:EMV)
EMV said that Stage 2 of its multi-site clinical trial for its First Generation portable brain scanner has been activated. Following the successful completion of Stage 1 (30 healthy volunteers), Stage 2 will enrol up to 150 acute stroke and stroke mimic patients presenting to the Emergency Department.
Smartpay Holdings (ASX:SMP)
The payments company reported full year profit after tax of $8.5m, compared to the prior year of $2.2m. Revenue was $77.8m, a 62% increase on the prior year $48.1m. EBITDA was $18.4m, a 81% increase on the prior year. The Australian business was the main contributor to the continued growth across the business. Australia now represents 81% of total revenue up from 69% in FY22.
Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL)
Leo has executed a strategic placement with China’s largest lithium producer, Ganfeng. The placement will raise $106.1 million from the issue of 131 million new LLL shares to Ganfeng, representing 9.9% of Leo Lithium’s total pro-forma shares on issue, at $0.81 per share. Proceeds will be used to fund the Goulamina Stage 1 development and operational ramp-up costs.
Conico (ASX:CNJ)
The cobalt and nickel explorer said drilling has confirmed growth potential at its Mt Thirsty project. Results include: 48.0m @ 0.08% Co, 0.44% Ni, 0.13% Mn & 47.6g/t Sc from 2m, including: 6m @ 0.14% Co, 0.62% Ni, 0.85% Mn & 57.4/t Sc from 5m.
Recharge Metals (ASX:REC)
Four high priority target areas for lithium mineralisation with widespread outcrop have been identified by generative exploration work at the Express Lithium Project, in the heart of Canada’s James Bay Region in Québec. Recharge has now secured geological crew and accommodation, and other key logistics, including helicopters required to undertake the planned traverses.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Recharge Metals and Conico are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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