Not even the thrill of huffing nitrous in public was enough to break through Gavin's foul mood this morning. Pic via Getty Images.
Market Highlights: Wall Street to drag local markets higher, with inflation fears waning in the US
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- ASX set to climb this morning – ASX 200 Futures pointing at +0.5%
- Wall Street posts positive session despite mixed bag among the big names
- Plus a quick look at 3 stocks that could be on the move the moment the market opens today
Local markets are poised to open higher this morning, with the ASX 200 Futures index pointing 0.5% higher at 8:00am today.
Aussie markets are likely to be taking their lead from a positive end to the week for Wall Street, which saw the Dow climb 0.36%, the S&P 500 rise 0.41% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq putting on 0.45%.
That was particularly good news for the S&P and the Nasdaq, with both of them reaching the end of the session at their highest since early 2022 – and an even better result considerign the mood on Wall Street was a little more subdued than the results suggest.
Mid-week optimism on interest rates and US Fed action to control inflation soured somewhat through Friday’s session, in the wake of a US Dept of Labor report showing that nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs in November, well above the 180,000 estimates.
Other data revealed the US unemployment rate dropped to 3.7%, alongside a 0.4% increase in average earnings (on a monthly basis) – again outpacing estimates that were pointing to 0.3% instead.
“The drop in the unemployment rate in particular will assuage any concerns of a recession, and with payrolls and earnings both rising, it keeps the ‘soft landing’ narrative very much in the ascendancy,” said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital in London.
“The report will likely see some of those forecasting an early Fed cut next year re-evaluating their positions,” Cole said.
In US stock news, it was a mixed bag for the bug names in tech – chipmaker Nvidia and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms each put on nearly 2% on Friday’s, while Google-parent Alphabet fell 1.4%, giving up gains as the latest AI-company share rush lost momentum and profit-takers did their thing.
In Other Markets
Gold prices are hanging on – but only just – above US$2,000/oz. Last time I looked, it was on $2,003.34.
Oil prices bouncesd back over the weekend, leving Brent crude on $75.65, and WTI crude on $71.21 a barrel – gains of 1.45% and 2.24% respectively.
US 10-year Treasury yields are flat at 4.24%.
Iron ore price is up 0.78% to $135.45 and Nickel is up 3.77% to $16,603.50/tonne.
The Aussie dollar is buying US$0.6573 this morning, down 0.12%
And Bitcoin is at US$43,779.20, down 0.2% since this time on Friday.
Small Caps to Watch This Morning
Results from first pass soil sampling completed at Spargos East, part of the larger Widgiemooltha Project in the Goldfields Region of Western Australia are in, with the company reporting assays up to 409ppm Li2O in soils, supported by significant rubidium, tantalum, and caesium results.
Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE)
A shallow RC drilling progeram has turned up some solid results from the Star of Mangaroon gold mine for Dreadnought, such as 9m @ 13.4g/t Au from 9m including 2m @ 59.4g/t Au from 16m, and 7m @ 23.0g/t Au from 53m including 3m @ 48.9g/t Au from 54m.
IonicRE has signed a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire an additional 34% interest in the strategic Makuutu Rare Earths Project, taking its ownership to 94% on completion.
