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

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7 am AEST Wednesday, ASX futures were pointing 0.2% higher, a promising start to the day.

Here’s what went on overnight…

Wall Street hits highs again

The S&P 500 hit a fresh intraday record north of 6,900, its third in a row, while the Dow rose by 0.34%, and the Nasdaq by 0.8%.

The usual suspects led the charge.

Nvidia made new intraday highs after Jensen Huang declared the AI industry had “turned a corner”, though he forgot to mention it will soon turn straight into another earnings season.

Microsoft climbed 2% after locking in a 27% stake in OpenAI, retaking the US$4 trillion club membership it briefly lost.

The deal also saw OpenAI restructure into a public benefit corporation, clearing months of legal fog and giving Microsoft fresh bragging rights as both investor and infrastructure backbone for the world’s most famous AI lab.

Apple, never one to miss a flex, followed suit, touching US$4 trillion for the first time ever, becoming the third company to do it after Nvidia and Microsoft.

“Despite missing out on AI so far, Apple hitting the $US4 trillion market cap club is a watershed moment for Cupertino and Big Tech,” said Wedbush’s Dan Ives.

“This is a testament to the best consumer franchise in the world.”

It’s hard to argue. Apple’s iPhone 17 launch is apparently flying off shelves, with sales up 14% year-on-year.

And somewhere in all this noise, Tesla’s chair Robyn Denholm casually reminded shareholders that the company can find another CEO if Musk walks after losing his trillion-dollar pay vote.

“The most likely would be internal,” she said, which is corporate-speak for please don’t panic, we’ve thought about it.

Meanwhile, Trump is still auditioning for the Fed’s next governor like it’s reality TV.

He said he wants Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to take the top job, but Bessent isn’t keen. Probably because he’s seen how Trump treats Powell.

Gold’s glitter fading, believers waiting

Gold pulled back to around US$3,9350 an ounce, slipping to a three-week low as the US-China talks kept risk appetite alive.

Still, the big banks remain firmly bullish on the shiny metal.

Bank of America called gold “overbought but underinvested,” forecasting it could dip to US$3,800 in the December quarter before pushing toward US$5,000 by 2026.

Oil loses its footing

Oil slipped another 2% last night, logging a third straight day of red as traders tried to make sense of Trump’s fresh sanctions on Russia’s energy majors.

The initial panic over supply crunches has eased after Washington gave Germany a waiver on Rosneft’s local operations.

The drop in prices also comes as the IEA points to plenty of spare capacity still sloshing around the system.

ASX energy stocks could come under pressure today.

The day ahead

Back home, there’s plenty to keep traders caffeinated.

Woolworths and Boss Energy drop quarterly results, while Ansell, Endeavour, Nick Scali and Siteminder all host their AGMs.

But the real headline act lands at 11:30 am AEST: Australia’s Q3 CPI.

The number that could make or break next month’s RBA meeting.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Health Check: CSL shares tumble after recovery proves to be a false dawn.

Precision Points: Investors need to pay attention when a company makes this key announcement.

Dr Boreham’s Crucible: Bcal scores a diagnostic hat-trick with new cancer blood tests.

Resources Top 5: Cazaly cops speeding ticket as gold, silver and rare earths keep on truckin’.

Trading halts

Arafura Rare Earths (ASX:ARU) – cap raise
Encounter Resources (ASX:ENR) – cap raise
Polymetals Resources (ASX:POL) – serious safety incident at Endeavor Mine
Scorpion Minerals (ASX:SCN) – drilling results from Pharos gold project
Pantera Lithium (ASX:PFE) – tenement agreement

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Star Minerals and Horseshoe Metals 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.