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

Everything you need to know before the ASX opens. Pic: Getty Images.

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Thursday, August 21, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7 am AEST, ASX futures were up 0.2%, pointing to a steady Thursday open.

Here’s what you missed overnight….

Wall Street stumbles

The Dow eked out 0.04%, the S&P 500 slipped -0.24%, and the Nasdaq extended its selloff by 0.67%.

Tech stocks were once again the culprits. Google, Apple, Amazon and Micron were all smacked.

Palantir extended its misery, down another 1% after a near 10% wipe-out on Tuesday.

Oaktree’s Howard Marks captured the mood: “I’m certainly not ringing the alarm bells. The point is that things are expensive.”

He compared it to the late ’90s, when Alan Greenspan was muttering about “irrational exuberance” years before the bubble actually burst.

Closer to home, it’s impossible not to draw a line to James Hardie.

Yesterday on the ASX, the building materials giant plunged 30%, its worst one-day fall since 1973, blaming a softer US housing market.

In New York last night, its US-listed stock did even worse, down 35%.

Minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed officials can’t look past price pressures.

“A majority of participants judged the upside risk to inflation as the greater of these two risks,” the minutes read.

Employment worries were noted, but tariffs and sticky inflation dominated the debate, hence the decision to keep rates steady.

Eric Teal at Comerica said inflation is still “on the front burner”.

After a rough start to the week, crude prices finally bounced.

WTI and Brent both added around 1.75%.

The driver was a much bigger-than-expected US crude inventory draw of six million barrels, more than triple analyst forecasts.

With negotiations around Ukraine and sanctions still in the mix, oil remains a political story as much as a supply-demand one.

The day ahead is lined up with plenty to keep traders caffeinated.

Australia drops August PMIs and consumer inflation expectations, and across the globe, jobless claims out of US will hit later tonight.

Then the real event begins: Jackson Hole.

The symposium of central bankers kicks off, with Jerome Powell due to speak at midnight Saturday AEST.

	Price (US)	Move
Gold:	$3,348.05	0.93%
Silver:	$37.90	1.35%
Iron ore:	$101.52	-0.05%
Nickel:	$15,045	-0.09%
Copper:	$8,839	0.03%
Zinc:	$2,789	0.70%
Lithium carbonate 99.5% Min China Spot:	$11,402	1.23%
Oil (WTI):	$62.84	1.73%
Oil (Brent):	$66.95	1.76%
AUD/USD:	$0.6433	0.20%
Bitcoin:	$114,372	1.40%