The ASX is set to open lower today, with ASX Futures (SPI 200) implying the ASX 200 will open 27 points lower, down -0.4%.
The slide comes on the back of the S&P 500 tumbling 1.8% after fresh economic data reminded investors that the Fed isn’t ready to pivot away from its current policy.
The economy is still too strong, marked by a better-than-expected private payroll report and improving services sector data.
Only three of the 11 US sectors gained, with energy rallying 2.1% after OPEC announced a production cut. Tech and Healthcare were also in the green.
62% of US stocks declined.
The Dow was down 0.14%. The S&P 500 lost 0.20%. The Nasdaq lost 0.25%
Here’s what we saw (source Commsec):
- The Euro fell from highs near US$0.9993 to lows near US$0.9835 and was near US$0.9885 at the US close.
- The Aussie dollar fell from highs near US65.20 cents to lows near US64.15 cents and was near US65.00 cents at the US close.
- The Japanese yen eased from near 144.00 yen per US dollar to JPY144.82 and was near JPY144.55 at the US close.
- Global oil prices rose by around 1.5% on Wednesday. “OPEC+ oil producers agreed to a 2 million barrel per day (mbd) cut in production quotas. New data showed that US crude and fuel inventories fell last week. While the cut in quotas could boost oil prices, in August OPEC+ missed its production target by 3.58 mbd as several countries were already pumping well below their existing quotas,” writes Commsec’s Craig James.
- The Brent crude oil price rose by US$1.57 or 1.7% to US$93.37 a barrel.
- The US Nymex crude oil price lifted by US$1.24 or 1.4% to US$87.76 a barrel.
- Base metal prices were firmer on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday.
- Lead was up the most, lifting 6%. Copper fell 1% and aluminium gained just 0.1% with zinc up 0.2%.
- The gold futures price fell by US$9.70 an ounce or 0.6% to US$1,720.80 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,714 an ounce at the US close.
- Iron ore futures rose by US5 cents or 0.1% to US$95.26 a tonne.
NDIS SaaS platform Bridge will make its ASX debut today.
Bridge will trade under the ticker BGE and will hit the boards at 11am AEDT, having raised $4.5 million via an IPO of 22.5 million shares at $0.20 apiece. The company’s fully diluted market cap on listing will be $15.4 million.
Led by co-founder and former CEO of global tech platform Tapit, Jamie Conyngham, Bridge connects providers of government-funded disability and social programs, streamlining compliance and organisational tasks.
It currently supports more than one million participant records in employment services and is expanding into NDIS services aiming to slash some of the inefficiencies that have been undermining the scheme by linking the sector’s fractured 17,000 providers and ensuring recipients get better value for money.
The NDIS forecasts almost 860,000 Australians will be using the scheme by 2030. The funds raised through the IPO will go primarily toward developing a much-needed solution for the revitalised NDIS scheme and, in particular, supporting smaller providers who bear the brunt of the administration associated with the NDIS.
“We are delighted with the level of support from investors and would like to thank our joint lead managers for their tremendous efforts," Conyngham said.
"The success of the IPO is testament to the market’s enthusiasm not only for our highly scalable platform but also the strength of our product offering, its potential for significant growth, and our ability to continue to innovate and offer greater efficiency solutions for our customers.
“Bridge has been aggregating data and refining our product offering for over 13 years and, as a first-mover in the Australian market, we’re in an outstanding position to continue to expand our market share in a highly fragmented and growing industry.
“We see tremendous opportunities to grow in the short term, especially into adjacent market segments such as Aged and Home Care, as well as significant expansion opportunities in our existing Employment Services and NDIS revenue streams.
"Bridge is taking a major step forward with an IPO on the ASX that will significantly strengthen the company’s ability to expand, and we are now even more excited about the Company’s prospects for the future.”
Has Musk backflipped on Twitter?
It seems Elon Musk is rethinking his decision to pull out of the Twitter acquisition.
"Elon Musk is reported to have surprisingly reversed course and to now be prepared to go ahead with his original US$44 billion purchase of social media company Twitter. This about-face may be a reflection of the seemingly long odds of overturning the disputed agreement in court,” said eToro’s Ben Laidler.
"This news would be a relief to Twitter's long-suffering shareholders. The company's shares surged on the latest takeover possibility but remain well below April's US$54.20 offer price. Musk has been active on Twitter since 2009 and has a huge 108 million followers.
"Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares fell on concern that the world's richest man would be less focused on the electric vehicle maker, as it faces supply chain bottlenecks and rising demand fears. There were also worries that he would have to further reduce his 14.8% shareholding to finance the Twitter takeover."
One thing he may also backflip on is cancelling Twitter’s spam accounts.
In doing so, he would lose 13.5 million followers.
According to CodeClan, a Scottish digital skills academy, Justin Bieber would lose 27.6 of his 114.2 million followers and former US President Barack Obama would lose 19.3 million of his 131.9 million followers.