Morning Wrap: ASX 200 futures flat, US markets closed, Iron ore tumbles back below US$100

ASX 200 futures are trading 4 points higher, up 0.05%, as of 8:30 am AEST.

The US market was closed for Labour Day, so we'll be looking at the next best alternative – European markets.

Let's dive in.

Overnight Summary

Tue 03 Sep 24, 8:21am (AEST)

Name	Value	% Chg
Major Indices
S&P 500	5,648	NaN%
Dow Jones	41,563	NaN%
NASDAQ Comp	17,714	NaN%
Russell 2000	2,218	NaN%
Country Indices
Canada	23,346	+0.51%
China	2,811	-1.10%
Germany	18,931	+0.13%
Hong Kong	17,692	-1.65%
India	82,560	+0.24%
Japan	38,701	+0.14%
United Kingdom	8,364	-0.15%

Name	Value	% Chg
Commodities (USD)
Gold	2,531.7	+0.16%
Iron Ore	100.55	0.00%
Copper	4.1955	-0.38%
WTI Oil	74.04	+0.67%
Currency
AUD/USD	0.6792	+0.38%
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (AUD)	86,902	+1.29%
Ethereum (AUD)	3,747	+2.46%
Miscellaneous
US 10 Yr T-bond	3.911	0.00%
VIX	15.55	+3.67%

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

• US markets closed for Labour Day – All the US-related data points in the overnight summary table refer to the previous session

• European benchmarks finished mixed overnight: FTSE 1000 (-0.15%), Stoxx 600 (-0.02%) and DAX (+0.1%)

• US futures slightly higher: Nasdaq (+0.12%), S&P 500 (+0.08%) and Dow (-0.04%)

• September is the worst performing month of the year for equities, with the S&P 500 down an average 0.66% since 1950

• A solid start to the year (S&P 500 up more than 10% year-to-August) and a down August has historically seen a strong September and rest of the year, up 9.0% from September and year end, according to Carson Investment Research

• Traders on edge as September kicks in amid worries risks harder to navigate now given lingering questions about Fed's anticipated interest-rate cut (BBG)

• JPMorgan strategists say equity market rally may stall near record highs even if Fed starts its highly anticipated rate-cutting cycle this month (BBG)

• Goldman Sachs says hedge funds continued to take bets against bank and financial stocks in the week to Friday (RT)

• Iron ore slumps back below US$100 a ton, as pessimism over China's economic prospects weighs on industrial commodities (BBG)

POLITICS & GEOPOLITICS

• Massive protests hit Israel after six hostages killed in Gaza, building pressure on PM Netanyahu for Hamas deal (FT)

ECONOMY

• Asia's latest factory activity data showed some loss of momentum midway through Q3, but broad continuation of growth in output and orders (RT)

• Eurozone manufacturing PMI remained in contraction in August, suggesting recovery could be some way off as demand fell at its sharpest pace this year (RT)

• UK manufacturing PMI reports strongest month since 2022 as demand at home offset a fall in exports, adding to signs of momentum in the economy (RT)

• China inventories of key raw materials piling up, evidence that economic activity remains too feeble (BBG)

ASX TODAY

• Deterra Royalties acquisition of Trident Royalties becomes effective (DRR)

• REA seeking to expand global footprint and leverage into the UK via the acquisition of Rightmove (AFR)

• Star Entertainment unlikely to receive extra tax relief from NSW Government, sources say getting additional financial support will be increasingly complicated without some level of tax relief (AFR)

• Starpharma Chairman Robert Thomas purchases 350,000 shares (SPL)

• Woodside Energy Chair Richard Goyder buys 10,000 shares (WDS)

WHAT TO WATCH TODAY

Not a whole lot going on in the aftermath of August reporting season and no US lead. Singapore iron ore futures sold off 4.1% around the time our market closed on Monday. This could see some further weakness into local names like BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue.

BROKER MOVES

• AGL downgraded to Neutral from Overweight; target cut to $12.40 from $13.75 (JPM)

• Dicker Data upgraded to Buy from Neutral; target up to $10 from $9.65 (UBS)

• Fisher & Paykel upgraded to Outperform from Neutral; target up to NZ$39.20 from NZ$27.85 (MQG)

• Motorcycle Holdings upgraded to Add from Hold; target up to $2.20 (MORG)

• NRW Holdings initiated Add with $3.85 target (MORG)

Stocks trading ex-dividend: 

• Tue 3 Sep: Endeavour Group (EDV) – $0.075, Stanmore Resources (SMR) – $0.065, Solvar (SVR) – $0.05, Peter Warren Automotive (PWR) – $0.06, Lynch Group (LGL) – $0.08, Codan (CDA) – $0.12, Iluka Resources (ILU) – $0.04, Northern Star (NST) – $0.25, Coles (COL) – $0.32, Lynch Group (LGL) – $0.08, Steadfast (SDF) – $0.103, Woolworths (WOW) – $0.97, Karoon Energy (KAR) – $0.045, Nickel Industries (NIC) – $0.025, Wesfarmers (WES) – $1.07

• Wed 4 Sep: Pacific Current Group (PAC) – $0.23, Praemium (PPS) – $0.01, Shaver Shop (SSG) – $0.055, Newmont (NEM) – $0.265, Pro Medicus (PME) – $0.22, Seek (SEK) – $0.16, Lifestyle Communities (LIC), Helia Group (HLI) – $0.15, Clearview Wealth (CVW) – $0.017, Medibank (MPL) – $0.09, Whitehaven Coal (WHC) – $0.13, Sonic Healthcare (SHL) – $0.63, Universal Store (UNI) – $0.19, Objective Corp (OCL) – $0.08, Servcorp (SRV) – $0.13, Praemium (PPS) – $0.01, Shaver Shop (SSG) – $0.01, Pacific Current Group (PAC) – $0.23

• Thu 5 Sep: Reliance Worldwide (RWC) – $0.038, Ironbark Capital (IBC) – $0.013, Laserbond (LBL) – $0.008, Nib Holdings (NHF) – $0.14, Veem (VEE) – $0.008, Beacon Lighting (BLX) – $0.038, Monash IVF (MVF) – $0.025, SDI (SDI) – $0.019, Woodside (WDS) – $1.018, GTN (GTN) – $0.017, Helloworld (HLO) – $0.06, Origin Energy (ORG) – $0.275, Schaffer Corp (SFC) – $0.45, Sky Network (SKT) – $0.109, Amcor (AMC) – $0.19, Fleetwood (FWD) – $0.025, Resimac (RMC) – $0.035, Kina Securities (KSL) – $0.034, Monadelphous Group (MND) – $0.33

• Fri 6 Sep: Summerset Group (SNZ) – $0.088, Smartgroup (SIQ) – $0.175, Cryosite (CTE) – $0.05, AUB Group (AUB) – $0.59, G8 Education (GEM) – $0.02, Generation Development (GDG) – $0.01, Aussie Broadband (ABB) – $0.04, Wisetech Global (WTC) – $0.092

Other ASX corporate actions today: 

• Dividends paid: None

• Listing: None  

• Earnings: None

• AGMs: None

Economic calendar (AEST):

No major economic announcements.