• ASX to open higher after a rally on Wall Street as oil eases
  • US economy grew less than expected
  • What returns are celebrities earning across their assets?

 

Aussie shares are poised to rise at the open, tracking gains on Wall Street. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +0.6%.

In New York, the S&P 500 rose by +0.59%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.35%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lifted by +0.83%.

The VIX index, sometimes called Wall Street’s fear index, fell 5% as stocks took a breather, bolstered by easing oil prices.

Investors also reacted positively to reports that striking auto workers have now asked for less wage increases.

To stock news, the NYSE Fang + Index finished 1.2% higher.

Advanced Micro Devices jumped 5% after CEO Dr Lisa Su said the field of AI was more open than it might appear.

Peloton was up than 5% after the company announced a five-year deal with Lululemon that would see Lululemon steer customers to Peloton’s classes, while Peloton will sell co-branded Lululemon clothes.

Meanwhile, the US economy (GDP) grew less than expected – at a 2.1% annual pace in the June quarter, versus survey of 2.2%.

US jobless claims  for the week have risen slightly from the week prior to 204,000, compared with 215,000 expected.

 

What returns are celebs making?

FOREX.com has commissioned an analysis of celebrity investments across various asset classes, including luxury properties, business ventures, intellectual property, stocks and collectables.

 

Source: Forex.com

The ’90s superstar Kenneth Brian Edmonds, better known by his stage name Babyface, is far ahead as the celebrity who makes the highest return on their investments — with over 134.40% return on his net worth.

Babyface owns more than 20 properties across the globe, including a $7 million New York property and a $3 million mansion in Paris.

Billy Joel, the iconic musician with a net worth of $225 million, has proven to be a savvy investor – his 52.20% return on net worth earns him third place in the ratings.

 

In other markets …

Gold price was down -0.5% to US$1,865.99 an ounce.

Oil prices tumbled -2%, with Brent crude now trading at US$95.08 a barrel.

Iron ore futures were flat at US$120.84 a tonne.

Base metals prices were mixed with nickel futures falling by -0.1%, and copper futures climbing by +1.24%.

The Aussie dollar surged over 1% US64.31c.

Bitcoin meanwhile lifted more than +3% in the last 24 hours to trade at US$27,028.

 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX: VUL)
Vulcan provided a Mineral Resources update for its Zero Carbon Lithium Project in the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field (URVBF), Germany. Already the largest lithium Resource in Europe, Vulcan’s URVBF lithium Resource has increased to 27.7 million tonnes of contained Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (Mt LCE) @ 175mg/L, from 26.6Mt LCE @ 174mg/L, to reflect a larger resource in the Phase One Lionheart area.

Harvest Technology (ASX:HTG)
Harvest has received a $960k advance from Radium Capital, providing early-access to funds related to the company’s Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) rebate for the year ended June 30. Harvest says the funding facility strengthens its financial position as it moves towards the planned release of new scalable technology products in the coming months.

ChemX Materials (ASX:CMX)
ChemX’s 100%-owned HiPurA chemical feedstock process has delivered a 4N (99.99%) HPA result across an impressive 66 element spectrum. The company is now working to ensure repeatability of this result through continued plant optimisation as it seeks to scale up the process to pilot plant scale.

GR Engineering Services (ASX:GNG)
Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) announced it has awarded a contract to GR Engineering to complete the plant expansion works at Mungari. These works are expected to total $155 million, and are within the project budget and schedule to increase the site’s processing capacity from 2 million tonnes per annum to 4.2 million tonnes per annum.

Rewardle Holdings (ASX:RXH)
Rewardle has entered an agreement to acquire the distribution rights for the Upstreet fund for $30,000 (once off) and ~$15,000/month (ongoing operating cost), which will provide the Rewardle platform with micro-investing capability. The company says the opportunity substantially reduces the cost and accelerates the speed to market of extending the Rewardle Platform’s offerings.

 

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Vulcan Energy Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

Read MoreSmall Caps

Featured Companies

You might be interested in