• Shares to rise for third day in a row
  • Wall Street lifted after comments from Fed official
  • Gold and oil stocks continued to climb on the back of Middle East fallout

 

Aussie shares are poised to rise for the third day in a row today. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +0.4%.

In New York overnight, the S&P 500 rose by +0.63%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.59%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lifted by +0.24%.

Stocks were boosted after remarks from Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson who said Fed officials should “proceed carefully” after the recent surge in bond yields.

Earlier in the day, Fed Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan also said the recent surge in bond yields meant the Fed might not need to tighten again.

To stock news, US energy companies like Exxon Mobil led as US crude futures briefly topped US$87 a barrel.

Defence stocks like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin also surged the most since March 2020 as war rages.

Meanwhile, travel stocks like Delta and American Airlines, as well as British Airways and Air France, all fell.

“Against this backdrop, we continue to prefer fixed income to equities,” said Solita Marcelli of UBS Global Wealth Management.

“We see a better risk-reward profile for fixed income, and we recommend investors consider buying high-quality bonds in the 5-10-year maturity range.”

 

In other markets …

Gold price was up +1.57% to US$1,860.99 an ounce.

Oil prices surged over +4%, with Brent crude now trading at US$88.09 a barrel.

Iron ore futures climbed +0.4% to US$118.18 a tonne.

The Aussie dollar rose +0.5% to US64.11c.

Bitcoin meanwhile was down -1% in the last 24 hours at US$27,612.

 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Sabre Resources (ASX:SBR)
Three large lithium-in-soil anomalies have been identified south, along strike, of the Kangaroo Hills lithium discovery of Future Battery Metals (ASX:FBM), which has produced lithium (spodumene) intersections of up to 29m @ 1.36% Li2O. The three highly lithium anomalous zones are in areas of soil/alluvial cover. Magnetics interpretation indicates that the lithium anomalies are associated with northeast-southwest trending structural zones, which have intersected the interpreted greenstone corridors.

Turners Automotive (ASX:TRG)
Turners expects the six months to 30 September 2023 to be another half year record for the group, with profit before tax of at least $25m. The highlight of the period has been the sustained market share growth in Auto Retail, which now exceeds 9%, a more than doubling of Turners’ retail market share over five years.

Swift Networks (ASX:SW1)
Swift announced new agreements generating $1.6 million in revenue. The company signed new infrastructure and subscription contracts with multiple aged care providers, including Eldercare, Royal Freemasons, and Retirees WA. A renewal contract was also signed for Hall and Prior’s Karingal Green Health & Aged Care Community. Meanwhile, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) expanded its agreement with Swift for an additional four sites.

The Original Juice Co (ASX:OJC)
Q1 FY24 gross sales were $13.4 million, an increase of +23% on the pcp. Based on current performance and the outlook for the remainder of FY24, the company forecasts sales to grow between 12-16% this financial year, to a range of $59-61 million. The strong FY24 sales follows delivered sales growth of 18% in FY23 to $52.7 million.

EMvision Medical Devices (ASX:EMV)
First interim analysis of haemorrhagic stroke detection algorithm with patient data from Stage 2 of the company’s clinical trial delivered encouraging performance with correct identification. The simulations were successfully leveraged to accelerate AI algorithm development and achieve promising performance in real patient data.

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