The ASX is expected to continue tracking the US rally today, with ASX 200 futures trading 45 points higher, up 0.62% as of 8:30 am AEST.
US benchmarks rallied on US jobs data, which came in lower than expected. The data lifted soft landing expectations.
The data saw the market-implied chance of a further US rate hike by November fall to 37% from 46%.
Back home we’ll see results from Brambles (ASX:BXB) Limited, Healius Ltd and Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) Travel Group Ltd.
It isn’t good news for Healius, which lost $397.8 million for the year as COVID-19 testing slowed down to a crawl.
Chief executive Maxine Jaquet said: "In the short-term, post-COVID challenges including GP shortages and lower GP referrals impacted Healius’ pathology volumes and Healius responded by right-sizing its business in the current market context.”
Healius is now transitioning to a business-as-usual framework, with COVID testing distorting figures over the past few years.
“We have reset the foundations of our business to put us on a sound footing for a successful future,” Jaquet said. “We are already seeing the benefits in revenue and financial performance in the second half of FY 2023. Pathology non-COVID revenue was up 7.9% and Imaging revenue was up 11.6% on 2H 2022."
On top of reporting, July CPI data is also due at around 11.30am (AEST) today.
What happened overnight?
Here’s what we saw (source Commsec):
US markets
Were higher on Tuesday, lifted by megacap growth stocks after a drop in monthly US job openings cemented expectations of a pause in interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.
The decline in bond yields supported growth stocks, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumping 7.7%, Nvidia climbing 4.2% and Meta Platforms up 2.7%. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) gained 2.7% following a swath of fresh artificial intelligence technology and partnerships unveiled by the Google - parent.
Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 2.2% after it announced that it will host an event on September 12, where the company is expected to launch new iPhones. Verizon (NYSE:VZ) (+3.4%) and AT&T (+3.9%) both rose after Citi upgraded the telecom companies to "buy".
- The Dow Jones index rose by 293 points or 0.9%.
- The S&P 500 index gained 1.5%.
- The Nasdaq index added 239 points or 1.7%.
Advanced on Tuesday after China's measures to support its economy fueled investor risk appetite. European miners climbed 2.1% as commodity prices rose. Europe's largest bank HSBC and insurer Prudential (LON:PRU), with business in China, gained 1.3% and 4%, respectively.
- The continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index lifted 1%.
- The UK FTSE 100 index jumped 1.7% after the British Retail Consortium said annual shop price inflation cooled to 6.9% in August, its lowest since October 2022, weakening from 7.6% in July. Shares of online grocer Ocado (LON:OCDO) gained 5.5%.
Were stronger against the US dollar in European and US trade.
- The Euro rose from US$1.0782 to US$1.0889 and was near US$1.0875 at the US close.
- The Aussie dollar lifted from US64.01 cents to US64.86 cents and was near US64.80 cents at the US close.
- The Japanese yen firmed from 147.35 yen per US dollar to JPY145.66 and was near JPY145.85 at the US close.
Global oil prices rose on Tuesday as US crude stockpiles at the key storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, declined to the lowest level since January. Hurricane Idalia strengthened, heading towards Florida, potentially disrupting energy supply. But Russia's seaborne crude flows soared to an 8-week high.
- The Brent crude price rose by US$1.07 or 1.3% to US$85.49 a barrel.
- The US Nymex crude price gained US$1.06 or 1.3% to US$81.16 a barrel.
- The copper futures price gained 1% as funds cut bets on lower prices after China moved to boost its struggling housing and stock markets.
- The aluminium futures price fell by 0.7%.
- The gold futures price rose by US$18.30 or 0.9% to US$1,965.10 an ounce.
- Spot gold was trading near US$1,937 an ounce at the US close.
- Iron ore futures added US34 cents or 0.3% to US$108.65 a tonne after China announced guidance to relax residential housing loan rules.
The S&P/ASX Small Oridinaries (XSO) index gained 0.35% yesterday to 2,817.70.
There has been solid news flow this morning and you can read more about the following companies and more throughout the day.