ASX futures were pointing to a buoyant start, up 26 points or 0.35% to 7,358 early this morning. The dollar was also up 0.2% to 66.53 US cents.
On Wall Street, the Dow added 0.3%, the S&P was a rare even 0.00% and the Nasdaq dipped 0.4%.
In Europe, the Stoxx 50 edged up 0.6%, as did the FTSE. The CAC (0.9%) and the DAX (0.4%) also made some small gains.
It was a particularly busy day for global mining, with BHP (ASX:BHP) adding 4%, while Rio gained 3.6%, as mergers and acquisitions involving Newmont’s bid for Newcrest Mining and Glencore’s move on Teck Resources, took centre stage.
In Europe, the miners index rose 3.6%, the best gain in four months.
Shares in pharma giant Moderna slid 3.1% on news that its much-anticipated flu vaccine had failed to meet the criteria for ‘early success’ in a late-stage trial.
The next lot of data for investors to ruminate over lands today, with the US CPI figures, followed by bank earnings data on Friday.
IMF warns of ‘hard landing’
Meanwhile, a stark warning from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has set cooler winds blowing.
The report casts “financial sector turmoil, high inflation, ongoing effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and three years of COVID” as the culprits in an impending global downturn.
Entitled ‘A Rocky Recovery’, it predicts that global growth will fall from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023, before settling at 3% in 2024.
Of particular concern are the figures for Australia, which predict that annual GDP will move much more sluggishly over the next couple of years, sliding from 3.7% in 2022 to 1.6% this year and 1.7% in 2024.
The report warns: “Advanced economies are expected to see an especially pronounced growth slowdown, from 2.7% in 2022 to 1.3% in 2023.
“In a plausible alternative scenario with further financial sector stress, global growth declines to about 2.5% in 2023 with advanced economy growth falling below 1%.
“Global headline inflation in the baseline is set to fall from 8.7% in 2022 to 7% in 2023 on the back of lower commodity prices but underlying (core) inflation is likely to decline more slowly. Inflation’s return to target is unlikely before 2025 in most cases.”
Bitcoin passes $30,000 once more
The world’s largest crypto asset, Bitcoin, has never been a stock for those worried about what might happen in 2024, though, and it has seen some remarkable growth of late, surging past the $30,000 threshold for the first time since June last year.
“BTC has risen around 6% since the beginning of April and is up around 46% over 30 days,” says eToro’s Josh Gilbert.
“It has been on an upward trajectory since reaching a nadir of just above $15,400 in November last year. Investors have turned bullish on the cryptoasset – although initial progress was highly tentative – as markets look to price in the end of rising interest rates in the US and globally.
“Momentum has steadily built for Bitcoin as investors digest macroeconomic shifts in data. The next one markets will be watching is US inflation, due tomorrow.
“If inflation continues to recede we could see some consolidation above $30,000. The price is still wavering around the milestone currently.
“The cryptoasset has a long way to go still in terms of retreading the all-time high above $64,000 set in November 2021, however.”
In other news
Brent crude added 1.7%, moving to $US85.60 a barrel, while US Nymex crude rose by US$1.79 or 2.2% to US$81.53 a barrel, with investors banking on the imminent US inflation data putting paid to the Federal Reserve’s spate of rate hikes.
There were also hopes that China might proactively stimulate its economy following weak data on Tuesday.
Base metal prices were mixed yesterday – copper futures were up 1%, while aluminium futures were down 1.3%.
Spot gold was trading near US$2,005 an ounce at the US close, while iron ore was up 1.8% to $US119.60 a tonne.