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

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Wednesday, October 22, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST Wednesday, ASX futures were down 0.5%, setting the tone for a weak open.

Here’s what went down while we were sleeping….

Wall Street hovers just below records

The Dow rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 scraped up 0.14%, just below record territory, and the Nasdaq drifted 0.01% lower.

Earnings season is doing its best to keep the dream alive.

General Motors jumped 15% on solid numbers and yet another guidance upgrade.

Coca-Cola rose around 4% after posting better-than-expected quarterly sales and profit, powered by steady demand even as it kept raising prices across key markets.

Wells Fargo’s Charlie Scharf tried to calm the private-credit jitters after last week’s loan-fraud scares.

“There’s a very, very big difference between what could be a fraud and what is a credit issue driven by poor performance,” Scharf said.

Meanwhile, Apple is edging toward US$4 trillion in market cap (now at US$3.9T), a number that would make most countries blush.

It rose 0.2%, with Fundstrat’s Mark Newton calling a “short-term path to US$283” before resistance.

And Trump said his jabs at Kevin Rudd were “just banter”, and that a “good deal” with Xi Jinping is coming.

In Trump-speak, the latter is probably the policy equivalent of a coin toss.

Gold loses its halo

Gold finally did what overextended markets always do, it fell under its own weight.

Down nearly 6%, with silver off 7%, the sell-off was less “healthy correction” and more “margin calls in real time.”

The VanEck Gold Miners ETF slid almost 9%, its worst day since March 2020, as Barrick, Newmont and Agnico all took double-digit hits.

A firmer US dollar, calmer US-China rhetoric, and overstretched technicals all conspired to drag it down.

“It’s during corrections that a market’s true strength is revealed,” noted Saxo Bank’s Ole Hansen.

Nevertheless, ASX goldies could come under heavy pressure today.

America tops up the tank

Trump’s White House is taking advantage of cheap crude to restock the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, buying one million barrels.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sits below US$58 a barrel, down 30% from January highs.

For context, Biden drained 180 million barrels from the same reserve during the post-Ukraine oil shock, so this is more like a refill.

But oil traders know the drill: when governments start buying, it’s rarely the bottom.

And finally…

Locally, the ASX has a heavy corporate docket.

Updates are due from Atlas Arteria, Iluka Resources, Mirvac and Woodside Energy.

AGMs will be held by Magellan Financial, REA Group and Reliance Worldwide.

Then later tonight, the US earnings parade continues. Netflix reports after market close, followed by Tesla.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Bulk Buys: Does China’s iron ore standoff open the door to BHP-Rio merger?

Growing Pains: Why Australia’s life sciences sector needs patience and capital to scale.

Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) closes in on FDA feedback for potential Ebola and Marburg treatment.

Resources Top 5: Trifecta of critical minerals gainers gallop ahead of Albo-Trump talk.

Trading halts

Alicanto Minerals Ltd (ASX:AQI) – cap raise
Australian Oil Company Ltd (ASX:AOK) – cap raise
Infini Resources Ltd (ASX:I88) – cap raise
Leeuwin Metals Ltd (ASX:LM1) – cap raise
LGI Limited (ASX:LGI) – cap raise
Omnia Metals Group Ltd (ASX:OM1) – cap raise
Spectur Ltd (ASX:SP3) – cap raise
SSH Group Ltd (ASX:SSH) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Brightstar Resources and Island Pharmaceuticals are Stockhead advertisers, 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.