The ASX is piqued to rise again today thanks to a strong session on Wall Street overnight.
ASX futures were up 38 points to 6,974 just before 7:00 am AEDT, with analysts predicting a 0.55% bounce into the green.
What’s new with Wall Street?
All three major US indices were trading up by the bell — the Dow rose 1.3%, while the S&P and the Nasdaq jumped 0.9%.
Communication stocks led the charge with a 1.83% gain, followed by a 1.73% bounce among energy stocks.
Top performers overnight include Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), up 0.5%; Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), up 0.3% and BHP (ASX:BHP), up 0.03%.
Meta notched a 5.4% gain as the Facebook (NASDAQ:META) parent prepares to slash thousands of jobs to curb its losses.
And while it’s been more than a week since Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter, skittish investors are still taking their concerns to the market.
Tesla shares slid 3.6%, compounding recent losses to reach a 17-month low.
Across the pond, European stocks closed on a high thanks to gains among travel and technology stocks.
The benchmark STOXX 600 index looks set to continue its three-week green streak following a better-than-expected earnings season.
Commodities and currency
China doubled down on its COVID restrictions on Monday, causing commodity markets to stumble.
Spot gold dipped 0.3% to US$1,676.39 an ounce overnight, while Brent Crude slipped 0.6% to $US97.99 a barrel.
Iron ore suffered a US$0.10 slump to $US87.95 a tonne.
The Aussie dollar also failed to move the needle overnight, trading steady at 64.80 US cents.
Bitcoin was trading 1.5% lower to $US20,865 early this morning.
On the ASX
The criminals behind the Medibank breach are threatening to release sensitive health data within the next 24 hours.
It’s estimated around 9.7 million Australians have had their data stolen but Medibank CEO David Koczkar said the company would not pay a ransom.
“Paying could have the opposite effect and encourage the criminal to directly extort our customers and there is a strong chance that paying puts more people in harm’s way by making Australia a bigger target,” he explained.
In other ASX news, Inghams is bracing to pay higher feed costs well into 2024.
The livestock company said costs stabilised earlier this year but feed prices remain elevated due to tight global supply.
Scrap metal group Sims also expects elevated costs in FY23, forecasting a $65 million to $75 million earnings bracket for the first half of the financial year.
And in news from the boardroom, Select Harvests CEO Paul Thompson has announced his resignation after 10 years in the role.
He’s tapped Alliance Group chief executive David Surveyor as his replacement and will hand over the baton in early 2023.