• The ASX is poised to open higher on Tuesday despite falls on Wall St
  • Fed policy maker says rate hikes should continue
  • Disney’s legendary CEO Bob Iger returns to the helm

 

The ASX is set to open higher on Tuesday despite losses in New York. At 8.30am AEDT, the ASX 200 Dec futures contract was pointing up by 0.40%.

Overnight, Wall St finished lower – the S&P 500 by 0.37%, the Dow by 0.12% and Nasdaq by 1% – after a key Fed policy maker signalled that rate hikes will continue.

San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly said she expected the central bank to hike rates more until the Fed funds rate reaches 5%. Currently the rate is at 3.75%-4%.

Her Cleveland counterpart Loretta Mester however was more dovish, saying a slower pace of hikes would be better.

A possible railway strike in the US is also causing the market some concerns. The country faces a growing risk of rail workers’ union strike in two weeks time that could cripple supply chains.

Shares of Disney rose over 6% after the company announced the return of former legendary CEO, Bob Iger.

Iger will immediately replace Bob Chapek, who was handpicked by Iger himself in 2020 when he stepped down amid the pandemic.

Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase meanwhile touched its lowest level of US$40.60 after plunging a further 9% overnight.

Elsewhere, China’s struggle against containing Covid cases continues to be a focus for investors.

The country is now expected to ramp up its Covid restrictions again after cases spiked resulting in the first death in six months.

The spot iron ore price slipped 3% on the news, while crude prices also softened half a percent.

“The warnings from key Chinese officials are the primary driver behind oil’s current slump,” said OANDA analyst Edward Moya.

Meanwhile, the EU expects to have new regulations completed in time for the introduction of the G7’s cap price on Russian oil on Dec 5th.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected the price cap, and has said his country will ban the selling of oil to those who join the plan.

To cryptos where Bitcoin is down another 4% in the last 24 hours to US$15,818 as the FTX collapse leads to a confidence crisis.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Fluence Corp (ASX:FLC)
Fluence has been awarded a contract to provide a wastewater treatment plant in Taiwan. The value of the contract is approximately $520k. In addition, the Company has secured its first contract in Korea with a contract value of $200k. Finally, Fluence has entered into an additional contract with existing customer in Argentina. The contract is valued at $1.9m.

Turners Automotive (ASX:TRA)
Turners has reported its first half results. Revenue for H1 increased by 11% on pcp to $185.3m. Bottom line NPAT grew 1% to $17.1m. Earnings per share is at 19.8 cps, and Q2 dividend has been declared at 5.0 cps.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN)
The company reported highly encouraging first drillhole completion at the Salta Lithium Project in Argentina. Multiple, highly encouraging potential lithium brine aquifers of significant thickness were intersected including: 191m of thick sandy gravel unit (from 138 to 339m depth).

Auteco Minerals (ASX:AUT)
Drilling at the Tyson discovery has returned Auteco’s highest-grade gold intersection to date of 1,020g/t gold over 0.4 metres. In addition, broad, shallow mineralisation within banded iron units has been intersected with results including: 6.2m @ 3.0g/t gold from 138.8m down hole.

Green Tech Metals (ASX:GT1)
The company says it has produced its highest-grade drill intercept to date at McCombe deposit, Root Project. Assays received include: 8.0m @ 1.72% Li2O from 64.0m, and 8.4m @ 1.32% Li2O from 102.0m.