Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to fall, Nasdaq soars while Dow lags, Gold at all-time highs

The Nasdaq recovers all of yesterday's inflation-fuelled weakness while the Dow continued to edge lower, US producer prices came in softer-than-expected in March, gold rallies to yet another all-time high and Apple is planning a major overhaul to its Mac lineup.

Let's dive in.

S&P 500 SESSION CHART

S&P 500 shakes early weakness to finish at best levels (Source: TradingView)

MARKETS

• S&P 500 recovers from early weakness (-0.42%) to finish higher and near best levels

• Nasdaq is now up 0.8% since yesterday's inflation report

• Dow down 3.4% this month, marked lowest close since 15-Feb

• Tech stocks lifted the market higher, led by Apple (+4.2%) and Nvidia (+4.1%)

• Gold prices soared to another fresh all-time high of US$2,374

• Markets now pricing in two Fed rate cuts in 2024 following hotter CPI (Bloomberg)

• Soft-landing hopes in danger as traders hedge for hotter inflation (Bloomberg)

• Emerging market currencies post largest slump in three weeks after US CPI (Bloomberg)

• Inflows into active US ETFs surge past previous records (FT)

• Copper price rises to 15-month high on optimism of China manufacturing rebound (Nikkei)

ASX TODAY

• ASX 200 set to fall (as we don't have any megacap tech stocks to lift the index higher)

• Tech stocks have a strong lead in from Wall Street while bank stocks could ease

• Gold miners set to have a strong session after prices for the underlying commodity continued to push higher, Gold Miners ETF rallied 2.29% overnight

• Austal suitor Hanwha launches coast-to-coast charm offensive (AFR)

• Incitec Pivot’s drawn-out fertiliser sale rounds the finish line (AFR)

• KKR in pole position to acquire Perpetual’s Corporate Trust and Wealth Unit (The Australian)

INTERNATIONAL STOCKS

• Microsoft to reveal new AI tools for use on PCs and in cloud at annual Build conference in May (CNBC)

• Apple's entire Mac line up being overhauled with a new line of in house M4 chips focused on AI (Bloomberg)

• Nike looking to Olympic Games in Paris this summer to put focus back on its performance products (Reuters)

• Ford slashing prices on some F-150 Lightning variants (YahooFinance)

CENTRAL BANKS

• Cooler PPI report puts July cut back into play (Reuters)

• Highest supercore inflation in 11 months complicating Fed's rate cut path (CNBC)

• Fed Williams says he sees no need to change policy in the very near term (Bloomberg)

• Fed’s Barkin says the Fed is not yet where it wants to be on inflation and the latest data does not increase confidence that disinflation is taking hold (Reuters)

• ECB holds but signals it could cut in June, though some members argued for cuts this month (FT)

GEOPOLITICS

• Major Russian air strikes destroy Kyiv power plant (Reuters)

• Biden pledges closer ties with Japan and the Philippines to counter China's increasing influence in the Pacific (Axios)

• South Korea President Yoon's party suffers heavy defeat in parliamentary elections, offers to resign (Reuters)

ECONOMY

• US producer prices rose 0.2% month-on-month in March, less than expected (Bloomberg)

• China inflation falls by more than expected as industrial prices slump (Bloomberg)

• Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley upgrade China GDP growth forecasts (Reuters)

Companies trading ex-dividend: 

• Fri 12 April: Kogan (KGN) – $0.075

• Mon 15 April: WAM Active (WAA) – $0.03, Cadence Capital (CDM) – $0.03, SDI (SDI) – $0.015, New Hope (NHC) – $0.17

• Tue 16 April: WAM Global (WGB) – $0.06

• Wed 17 April: Washington H Soul Pattinson (SOL) – $0.40 

• Thu 18 April: The Reject Shop (TRS) – $0.10, WAM Capital (WAM) – $0.077, Horizon Oil (HZN) – $0.015 

Other ASX corporate actions today: 

• Dividends paid: Embelton (EMB) – $0.15, Cash Converters (CCV) – $0.01, Enero Group (EGG) – $0.03, Super Retail Group (SUL) – $0.32, COG Financial Services (COG) – $0.04, Southern Cross Media (SXL) – $0.01, Vita Life Sciences (VLS) – $0.06, SRG Global (SRG) – $0.02, Seven Group (SVW) – $0.23, Westgold (WGX) – $0.01, Perenti (PRN) – $0.02, Peet (PPC) – $0.015, QBE Insurance (QBE) – $0.48, IVE Group (IGL) – $0.095, Wiseway Group (WWG) – $).002, TPG Telecom (TPG) – $0.09

• Listing: Far Northern Resources (FNR) – 11:00 am

Economic calendar (AEST):

• 2:00 pm: China Balance of Trade (Mar)

• 5:00 pm: UK GDP (Feb)

• 1:00 am: US Consumer Sentiment (Apr)