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

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST, ASX futures were pointing down by 0.71%, suggesting a lower open for the local share market.

Trump hits Japan and South Korea with 25% tariffs

Wall Street ended the first session after its post-July 4 holiday period with a stinging hangover as the Trump administration decided to turn up the pressure dial on its trading partners to make deals before its punitive  tariffs kick in. Will it work? Deal or no deal? Whodahellknows today, but we’ll know soon enough.

Overnight, the Dow dipped 0.94%, the S&P 500 slid 0.79%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.92%.

President Donald Trump has now published letters to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia noting a 25 per cent tariff rate on the countries’ exports to the US, effective August 1.

But wait, there’s more

Trump also gave Laos and Myanmar the heads up via letters (and his Truth social platform) imposing tariffs on both nations of 40 per cent – also effective August 1.

And he’s put South Africa on notice , which has a 30 per cent levy and Kazakhstan, which also has the 25 per cent tariff.

In each letter addressed to the leaders of each nation, Trump emphasised that their tariff rate may be adjusted up or down “depending on our relationship with your country” and warned of ramping up the tariffs further in the face of any retaliation.

RBA expected to cut rates

Turning eyes locally, the consensus seems to be that the RBA will cut cash rates today when it meets at 2.30pm AEST.

Most economists and analysts seem to agree this is pretty much a done deal. Whether it’s already baked in, priced in, however, is another matter.

The expected 0.25 percentage-point move lower to 3.6% will be the third cut in the RBA’s cash rate target after moves in February and May. Good for borrowers, homeowners and the economy, in theory. As for would-be homeowners… not so much, as property prices continue to rise.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Pre-season is in full swing for ASX gold miners, with a host of producers posting their FY25 production results early.

Health Check: Amid headwinds, Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) goes bells and whistles on core devices.

Hot Money Monday: Tokenised stocks just got real, but is the world buying in?

TRADING HALTS

• Manuka Resources (ASX:MKR) – cap raise
• Chariot Corporation (ASX:CC9) – acquisition
• Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC) – trading halt
• Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) – trading halt
• Almonty Industries (ASX:AII) – JORC technical report filing
• Pantera Lithium (ASX:PFE) – trading halt
• Viridis Mining and Minerals (ASX:VMM) – trading halt
• Native Mineral Resources (ASX:NMR) – trading halt
• Lifestyle Communities (ASX:LIC) – trading halt

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