The ASX is set to rise by 0.7% or 59 points in early trading this morning, following the US up after a strong day of growth across the pond.
It’s earnings season in the US, meaning there will be a swathe of winners and losers with some strong stock movements in either direction, exacerbated by the general uncertainty colouring the international community from the Trump Administration’s tariff threats.
US and European markets
It was a day of recovery for chip stocks overnight, with Nvidia recovering 5.4% (having lost its crown as most valuable stock on the market) after Super Micro Computer (also up 7.99%) announced its new AI data centre product is ready to ship, complete with Nvidia Blackwell chips.
On the other side of the tech balance sheet, Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 7.3% on poor cloud revenue growth and higher-than-expected spending of US$75 million on its AI plans for this year.
Advanced Minco Devices also fell 6.3% as CEO Lisa Su acknowledged the company’s data centre sales would fall about 7% this quarter from the last, a foreboding sign for its AI-driven revenue.
Drug makers Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) lifted 6.5% on strong fourth quarter profit and revenue numbers that exceeded expectations, and building solutions provider Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI) jumped 11.3% on hiring a new CEO and improving its profit forecast.
The Dow Jones gained 317 points or 0.7%, the S&P500 0.4% and the Nasdaq 0.2% or 38 points.
In Europe, healthcare stocks lifted 2.2%. Drug-making stocks were unsurprisingly part of that buoyancy – Novo Nordisk (CSE:NOVOb) gained 4.5% and UK-based GSK 7.6%.
European stocks have been on a strong trajectory for 2025, offering their best performance compared to Wall Street in a decade.
Investor movement in the major European cities have driven the broader STOXX600 up by more than 5.5% in the first six weeks of the year, compared to 2.7% for the US S&P500.
Last night, the FTSE300 gained 0.5% while the UK FTSE100 lifted 0,6%.
Currencies and commodities
The US dollar fell against major currencies overnight. The Euro rose from US$1.0373 to near US$1.0400, the Aussie from US62.45 cents to near US62.85 and the Japanese Yen from JPY153.53 to JPY152.70 per US dollar.
Oil prices fell 2% on an unexpectedly large increase in US crude inventories. Brent fell from US$1.59 (2.1%) to US$74.61 per barrel, while US Nymex crude declined US$1.67 (2.3%) to US$71.03 per barrel.
Base metals saw mixed trading, with copper gaining 2.1% on a softer US dollar, while aluminium fell 1.1% due to lower raw material costs, raising supply expectations.
Iron ore futures slipped US59 cents (0.6%) to US$104.81 per tonne, as trade tensions weighed on sentiment, though supply disruptions in Western Australia provided some support.
Gold prices rose as investors sought a safe haven amid escalating US-China trade tensions.
Gold futures increased by US$17.20 (0.6%) to US$2,893 per ounce, with spot gold trading near US$2,861 after hitting a record high of US$2,882.16 earlier in the session.
On the small cap front
The ASX Small Ordinaries lifted 1.25% or 39.5 points yesterday, handily outperforming the ASX200’s 0.43% or 36-point increase.
You can read about the following and more throughout the day on our website.