Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Thursday, May 15, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

Wall Street

The ASX is set to open Thursday lower, with futures down by 0.4% at 7AM, AEST.

Overnight, Wall Street hit a patch of buyer fatigue.  The S&P 500 inched up 0.1%, just enough to stay upright, while the Nasdaq edged up 0.6%.

Nvidia’s Saudi chip deal kept the buzz going, and Boeing has now scored a monster jet order with Qatar Airways.

Goldman Sachs, however, is warning valuations are stretched, and without stronger growth, this rally could be running on fumes.

And while the bull case is holding up for now, a shaky data point or a tariff twist could flip the mood fast.

Gold price

Gold copped a 2% drop, slipping under US$3200 for the first time since mid-April.

Rising US bond yields and Trump’s globe-trotting trade deals have traders feeling bolder, ditching safe havens for riskier plays.

Rate cut hopes are also getting kicked further down the road (gold tends to rise when rates fall).

Moody’s downgrades metals

Moody’s took the shears to its metals forecast, slashing price outlooks for copper, nickel and aluminium.

Weaker demand, slower industry, and jittery investors have taken the wind out of the sector, the ratings agency said.

It now expects copper to average US$3.90 a pound over the next year, down from US$4.00, and nickel to sit around US$6.50, instead of US$7.00.

Aluminium’s also been marked down slightly.

The one bright spot is gold and silver. Moody’s actually lifted its forecasts for both, saying they’re likely to stay in demand as safe havens in a choppy macro environment.

And finally…

Australian April jobs data lands at 11.30am AEST, with NAB tipping unemployment to hold steady at 4.1%.

In the large caps space, Xero (ASX:XRO) and Graincorp (ASX:GNC) report their earnings today, while Ampol (ASX:ALD) and Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) are hosting AGMs.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

• Gold: US$3177.05/oz (-2.35%)
• Silver: US$32.21/oz (-2.22%)
• Iron Ore: US$101.70/t (-2.00%)
• Nickel (3mth): US$15,735/t (+0.640%)
• Copper (3mth): US$9599.5 (+0.830%)
• Zinc: US$2759.55 (+1.59%)
• Lithium carbonate 8550/t (no change)
  
• Oil (WTI): US$62.89 (-1.23%)
• Oil (Brent): US$65.81 (-1.23%)
• AUD/USD: 0.6432 +(0.57%)
• Bitcoin: US$103,545 (-0.70%)

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Cell therapies have emerged as an exciting new frontier in the fight against cancer, autoimmune diseases and fibrotic illnesses. Check out Australia’s own cell therapy facilities and the ASX companies making good use of them.

Speaking of new frontiers, brain-scanning specialist Compumedics (ASX:CMP) says its cracked a world first: decent concurrent readings from both adult and children patients imaged by the same MEG device at China’s Tianjin Normal University.

Murmurs of a lithium revival have been on the wind, and Core Lithium’s (ASX:CXO) Finniss operation could be one of the early risers from the dead.

Trading Halts

Aurumin (ASX:AUN) – transactions on non-gold mineral rights at Sandstone
Babylon Pump & Power (ASX:BPP) – cap raise
First Au (ASX:FAU) – major gold project acquisition
Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) – Finland court appeal update on Kuusamo KSB Project
Legacy Minerals Holdings (ASX:LGM) (ASX: LGM) – cap raise
Lucapa Diamond Company (ASX:LOM) – recapitalise and restructure announcement
Norwood Systems (ASX:NOR) – cap raise
NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) – implications legislation proposed by the SA government

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

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.