Today promises to be another busy one for the ASX, with futures pointing up 33 points or 0.5% to 7,237 early this morning.
The dollar is up, too, adding another 1.4% to rest at 68.92 US cents in overnight trade.
US sharemarkets rose for a fourth straight day, with the Dow adding 0.1%, the S&P another 0.7% and the Nasdaq 1.4%.
Nvidia shares climbed again, 4.7%, to a record high, and the Philadelphia semiconductor index (2%) hit its highest level since January 2022.
Tech continued its AI-powered good run, with shares of Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were up 4.7% on the news that its chatbot Bard will launch in Europe and Brazil, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported record sales during its Prime Day sales and soared 2.7%.
Lowe set to go
The news broke this morning that RBA governor Philip Lowe’s tenure will come to an end when his current seven-year term runs out in September.
The widely anticipated move comes after a root-and-branch review of the performance of the RBA, which coincided with a period of high inflation and a run of difficult rates decisions for the board of the central bank.
Federal Cabinet is due to meet this morning to decide on his replacement. The Treasurer Jim Chalmers is understood to have made the decision despite his high regard for Lowe.
There are three potential replacements said to be in the mix: deputy Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy and Finance Department secretary Jenny Wilkinson.
Lowe will still perform some official duties, such as travelling with Chalmers to India on Monday for a meeting of the G20, before his time expires.
Currencies and crude
Currencies were stronger against the US dollar in European and US trade.
The Euro rose from US$1.1129 to US$1.1227 and was near US$1.1225 at the US close. The Aussie dollar was up, as mentioned, to near US68.85 cents at the US close. The Yen moved from 138.93 yen per US dollar to JPY137.92 and was near JPY138.05 at the US close.
Global oil prices were up again by 1.5% yesterday to a nearly three-month high on the US inflation news, with a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicting oil demand would hit a record high of 102.1 million barrels per day (bpd) this year.
Brent crude rose by US$1.25 or 1.6% to US$81.36 a barrel, while US Nymex gained US$1.14 or 1.5% to US$76.89 a barrel.
Commodities
Base metal prices were up again yesterday.
Copper futures rose by 2.3%, still riding high on the promise of rate rise halts in the US following slower inflation.
Aluminium futures were also up 2.2%, while gold futures price rose by US$2.10 or 0.1% to US$1,963.80 an ounce.
Spot gold was trading near US$1,960 an ounce at the US close.
Iron ore futures rose by 34 US cents or 0.3% to US$110.95 a tonne, with investors betting that Beijing will continue to bail out the Chinese property sector.
What’s happening in small caps?
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries closed at 2,873.8 yesterday, up 1.90% on the previous day.
Making news this morning, which you can read more about throughout the day with Proactive are: