Market Highlights: ASX Futures a bit iffy this morning following a mixed bag on Wall Street

Good morning to you all.

The good news is that the ASX posted its best one-day gain since April yesterday, after way better than expected CPI data for May had investors punting that the RBA is likely to keep things on hold next week, after they’ve spent a few days with their snouts in the trough deciding what’s next for interest rates.

The not-great news is that it’s looking unlikely that we’ll be cheering on another fantastic day, after a mixed result on Wall Street left the Dow lower by 0.22%, the S&P flat and the Nasdaq slightly higher on +0.27%.

At 8:00am the ASX 200 Futures Index was blinking the “All Signs Point to Flat” message, so we’re just going to have to wait and see what the local markets are going to do.

There’s some hefty data on the way, due to land around 11:30am from the Australian Bureau of Guessing How Many Jellybeans Are In the Jar, including May’s retail trade and job vacancies data, and the March quarter Australian National Accounts: Finance and Wealth report.

I cannot wait.

In US stocks, the bafflingly popular cruise liner stocks are back at the top of the table again – Carnival added 8.88% and Norwegian Cruise Line steamed in right behind it on 7.5%.

I’ve just realised that it’s heading into prime cruising season in the US because they’re dumb and the weather’s all back to front so business is starting to boom again post-Covid, so that’s likely why.

Either that, or someone at Goldman has upgraded their outlook again because they fancy a shot at being murdered by a crook oyster while out at sea, but don’t want to pay full price for the ticket.

Tech stocks were also doing well again in New York – the were no screaming barnstormers among them, but Lucid Motors led the table on a 5.2% gain off the back of its recent deal with Aston Martin to provide EV batteries and drivetrain tech.

And Sirius XM has climbed 4.3% on news that it’s set to shut down its popular Stitcher podcast app, to move customers and consumers over to its “official” SXM app instead.

European stocks were broadly positive overnight, with the FTSE up 0.5%, the DAX up 0.64% and the CAC higher by 0.98%.

Brent Crude prices were flat, hovering around the $74 a barrel mark, and natural gas prices were also unchanged at $2.60 per party balloon or however it is they measure it. I can’t remember. It’s early and I’ve not had any coffee.

Gold edged down 0.2% to $1,918.20 per ounce, silver fell 0.52% and palladium added 0.74% to $1,256 a thing.

I really need coffee.

STOCKS TO WATCH TODAY

Fenix Resources (ASX:FEX) has revealed the acquisition of Mount Gibson Iron’s (ASX:MGX) Mid-West iron ore and port assets, including the Shine Iron Ore Mine, two storage sheds at Geraldton Port, two Mid-West rail sidings and assets at the Extension Hill Iron Ore Mine.

Fenix says it will now be positioned as a fully integrated Mid-West bulk commodity logistics and supply chain operator, and the deal provides a 15Mt increase in iron ore resource base to underpin production growth, and a 400% increase in Fenix’s Geraldton Port capacity.

Xtek Limited (ASX:XTE) says things are looking healthier than ever for the company, after upgrading its outlook for the year, predicting it will deliver record revenues for FY23 of between $86m-$88m, up by circa 50% on the previous record revenue result of $58.2m achieved in FY22.

Summit Minerals (ASX:SUM) says this morning that it has found “significant new shallow mineralisation” during infill drilling at its Stallion REE project, including intercepts of 14m at 938ppm TREO in Hole STRC026, and 5m at 1355ppm TREO on hole STRC028.