Aussie stocks are set to rise for a third straight day despite pessimistic minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting.
The benchmark ASX 200 is predicted to leap 26 points at the open, bringing it up 0.37% as it nears the end of 2023’s first trading week.
What’s new on Wall Street?
US markets clawed back into the green on Wednesday despite a pessimistic publication from the central banking system.
The Federal Reserve released the minutes from its December policy meeting overnight, providing key insights on its mission to curb inflation — and why it’s determined to keep interest rates high.
Minutes from the December 13-14 meeting reveal the monetary policymaker believes it’s not out of the woods just yet and that it has adopted a hawkish view on rate slowdowns in the new year.
“An unwarranted easing in financial conditions, especially if driven by a misperception by the public of the committee’s reaction function, would complicate the committee’s effort to restore price stability,” officials said.
Still, that wasn’t enough to put a dampener on equity markets. New York’s four major exchanges all clinched a green finish; the S&P led the way with a 0.75% gain.
Sectors followed in their footsteps, with all bar two finishing above the black. However, energy stocks still missed the mark, taking out the wooden spoon for a second straight day.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s share price plummet is still fresh in investors’ minds and City Index senior market analyst Matt Simpson had this to say about the rort:
“If we take a look back at what fuelled the price of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) in the last few years, it is true that the company enjoyed considerable first-mover advantage in the pure EV market, with its market share of the space finishing 2022 at around 65%.
“But with such a large market share already and deliveries of vehicles missing expectations, traders must consider whether further rationalisation could see additional price adjustments for the now-mature automaker, as it gets off to a rocky start in 2023.
“For now, the best chance the stock has for a rally is if Musk were to step aside as CEO of Twitter and regain his focus on Tesla.”
Commodities and currency
The gold price ebbed and flowed overnight, jumping to fetch around US$1,850 before correcting back to the low US$1,840s after the Fed minutes were released.
Still, it looks like the yellow metal is back on the green course, trading back in the 60s near its six-month high.
On the energy front, oil continued to dip — the price of a barrel of WTI crude dropped to US$73.16 a barrel.
Analysts at FXStreet said investors remain wary of slowing Chinese demand, with a further decline brought on as equity markets tempered their wins.
The Aussie dollar is 1.62% stronger against US currency this morning. It’s currently fetching 68 US cents and 57 British pence.