Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to bounce, S&P 500 claws back early losses, Gold soars past US$3,100
ASX 200 futures are up 67pts (+0.85%) as of 8:30 am AEDT.
In this article
ASX 200 futures are up 67pts (+0.85%) as of 8:30 am AEDT.
In a nutshell:
The S&P 500 briefly hit a fresh six-month low but rallied intraday to close in positive territory
Gold prices soar past US$3,100 (or A$5,000) as Trump tariffs, rising recession risks and economic jitters drive demand for the yellow metal
Investors are rotating into defensive sectors, with the S&P 500 Staples sector up 1.63% overnight (and best performing sector YTD)
Let's dive in.
Overnight Summary
Name | Value | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
Major Indices | ||
 S&P 500 | 5,612 | +0.55% |
Dow Jones | 42,002 | +1.00% |
NASDAQ Comp | 17,299 | -0.14% |
Russell 2000 | 2,012 | -0.56% |
Country Indices | ||
 Canada | 24,918 | +0.64% |
 China | 3,336 | -0.46% |
 Germany | 22,163 | -1.33% |
 Hong Kong | 23,120 | -1.31% |
 India | 77,415 | -0.25% |
 Japan | 35,618 | -4.05% |
 United Kingdom | 8,583 | -0.88% |
Name | Value | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
Commodities (USD) | ||
 Gold | 3,157.8 | +1.40% |
 Copper | 5.0505 | -1.55% |
 WTI Oil | 71.39 | +2.93% |
Currency | ||
 AUD/USD | 0.6248 | -0.65% |
Cryptocurrency | ||
 Bitcoin (USD) | 82,458 | -0.20% |
 Ethereum (AUD) | 2,921 | +0.28% |
Miscellaneous | ||
US 10 Yr T-bond | 4.246 | -0.21% |
VIX | 22.28 | +2.91% |
US Sectors
Sector | % Chg |
|---|---|
| Consumer Staples | +1.63% |
| Financials | +1.25% |
| Energy | +1.07% |
| Materials | +1.07% |
| Utilities | +1.06% |
| Health Care | +0.90% |
Sector | % Chg |
|---|---|
| Real Estate | +0.88% |
| Industrials | +0.64% |
| Communication Services | +0.24% |
| Information Technology | +0.03% |
| Consumer Discretionary | -0.18% |
S&P 500 SESSION CHART
S&P 500 trends higher to close in positive territory (Source: TradingView)
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Major US benchmarks staged a sizeable reversal to finish mostly higher and near best levels
No major explanation behind the bounce besides month-and-quarter end rebalancing support heading into the session as well as possible talks about tariff negotiations
Flurry of solid PMI data from Germany, France, the UK and US – more broadly speaking, manufacturing continues to deteriorate while services accelerates, well-within expansion territory
US quarterly recap: Nasdaq (-10.42%), Russell 2000 (-9.79%), S&P 500 (-4.59%), Dow (-1.28%)
Goldman Sachs slashes S&P 500 forecast for second time from 6,200 to 5,700, citing higher tariffs, weaker economic growth and higher than forecast inflation, leading to EPS growth outlook cut from 7% to 3% (CNBC)
Massive JPMorgan options position partially behind added volatility to S&P 500 (BBG)
Brazilian stocks cap best quarter in years as investors flee US market seeking cheap equities elsewhere (BBG)
Gold sails above US$3,100, marking one of its most powerful rallies as Trump uncertainty drives safe-haven FOMO (RT)
Global money managers scaling back risk or rebalancing portfolios amid growing trade and growth risks (BBG)
Nikkei 225 enters technical correction territory (BBG)
STOCKS
Newsmax soars over 600% on IPO trading debut (BBG)
Cloud provider CoreWeave has tumbled 7.3% since its IPO two days ago, suffering a disappointing debut (CNBC)
Musk's xAI buying X strongest sign yet that the AI business is devouring the social media world (AX)
Blackstone considers minority investment in TikTok's US operations (RT)
TARIFFS & GEOPOLITICS
Trump ramped up threats against Russia and Iran as he pushes for deals on Ukraine and Iran’s nuclear program, targeting potential 25-50% tariffs on countries that purchase Russian crude (NBC)
President Trump to unveil reciprocal tariffs 2-Apr in White House Rose Garden (FP)
Air Canada US bookings are down 10% amid trade war with US (BBG)
Trump warns Iran of bombing over nuclear deal failure (RT)
Australian Labor takes early lead as election campaign gets underway (The Aus)
ECONOMY
China's manufacturing PMI hits 12-month high ahead of tariff implementation (RT)
UK job vacancies record fastest month-on-month growth in three years (RT)
Industry ETFs
Name | Value | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
Commodities | ||
| Gold Miners | 45.97 | +0.88% |
| Silver | 30.99 | -0.03% |
| Steel | 61.5 | -0.60% |
| Uranium | 22.92 | -0.78% |
| Lithium & Battery Tech | 38.8 | -1.45% |
| Copper Miners | 39.07 | -2.35% |
| Strategic Metals | 39.53 | -3.30% |
Industrials | ||
| Construction | 67.33 | +0.13% |
| Aerospace & Defense | 153.1 | -0.08% |
| Agriculture | 26.34 | -0.49% |
| Global Jets | 20.77 | -1.70% |
Healthcare | ||
| Biotechnology | 127.9 | -1.83% |
Name | Value | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
Cryptocurrency | ||
| Bitcoin | 18.32 | -1.82% |
Renewables | ||
| Solar | 30.46 | -1.77% |
| Hydrogen | 17.04 | -2.07% |
| CleanTech | 5.99 | -2.60% |
Technology | ||
| E-commerce | 28.55 | +0.39% |
| Semiconductor | 188.17 | -0.27% |
| FinTech | 27.56 | -0.47% |
| Cloud Computing | 20.99 | -1.08% |
| Electric Vehicles | 21.14 | -1.26% |
| Sports Betting/Gaming | 18.7969 | -1.41% |
| Cybersecurity | 32.34 | -1.52% |
| Video Games/eSports | 86.28 | -1.66% |
| Robotics & AI | 28.46 | -1.69% |
ASX TODAY
Fletcher Building’s Australian insulation operations likely to be offered up for sale amid ongoing strategic review (The Aus)
Pro Medicus launches buyback of up to 10.4m shares, program to run from 1-Apr-25 to 31-Mar-26 (its worth noting that PME shares have tumbled 33% from 19-Feb record high) (PME)
Sigma weighing convertible bond raising as part of its broader capital management strategy (The Aus)
WHAT TO WATCH TODAY
Massive overnight reversal: ASX 200 set to rally after a strong intraday rally for the Dow and S&P 500. Big disparity in sector performance (e.g. Staples +1.63% vs. Tech +0.03%). This will likely drive the same rotation dynamics on Tuesday.
Gold: Gold prices continue to run in a vertical fashion, soaring past US$3,100 for the first time on record. In Aussie dollar terms, gold rallied almost 2% to hit A$5,000. Gold miners continued to struggle to fully capture the upside overnight, with the GDX ETF up just 0.88%.
Key Events
Stocks trading ex-dividend:
Tue 1 Apr: Pengana Global Private Credit Trust (PCX) – $0.012
Wed 2 Apr: ARB Corporation (ARB) – $0.34, Harvey Norman (HVN) – $0.12.
Thu 3 Apr: Lindsay Australia (LAU) – $0.023, Ridley Corporation (RIC) – $0.048
Fri 4 Apr: FFI Holdings (FFI) – $0.10
Other ASX corporate actions today:
Dividends paid: Fleetwood (FWD), Freightways Group (FRW), HMC Capital (HMC), Mercury NZ (MCY), Wesfarmers (WES)
Listing: None
Earnings: None
AGMs: None
Economic calendar (AEDT):
No major economic announcements.
