Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to rise, S&P 500 at record highs, Nasdaq marks longest win streak since 1992

ASX 200 futures are up 82 pts (+0.91%) as of 8:30 am AEST.

In a nutshell:

• S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell all closed at fresh all-time highs

• Nasdaq is now on a 13-day win streak, the longest since 1992 and the fifth longest streak on record

• Volatile US-Iran developments, with Trump initially announcing the Strait of Hormuz is "fully open"

• Iran later re-closed the Strait, noting the US naval blockade as a ceasefire violation

• Brent dipped 5.9% on Friday to US$92.41 a barrel, but well-off session lows of -12.3%

Let's dive in.

Overnight Summary

Mon 20 Apr 26, 8:24am (AEST)

Name	Value	% Chg
Major Indices
S&P 500	7,126	+1.20%
Dow Jones	49,447	+1.79%
NASDAQ Comp	24,468	+1.52%
Russell 2000	2,777	+2.11%
Country Indices
Canada	34,346	+0.86%
China	4,051	-0.10%
Germany	24,702	+2.27%
Hong Kong	26,160	-0.89%
India	78,494	+0.65%
Japan	58,476	-1.75%
United Kingdom	10,668	+0.73%

Name	Value	% Chg
Commodities (USD)
Gold	4,833.56	-0.90%
Copper	6.01	-1.56%
WTI Oil	83.85	-11.45%
Currency
AUD/USD	0.7133	-0.51%
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (USD)	74,054	-2.37%
Ethereum (AUD)	3,174	-3.85%
Miscellaneous
US 10 Yr T-bond	4.246	-1.46%
VIX	17.48	-2.56%

S&P 500 SESSION CHART

S&P 500 gapped up, finished off best levels (Source: TradingView)

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

• Major US benchmarks sharply higher, closed a little off best levels

• S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 all logged fresh all-time highs, with the Nasdaq recording a 13th straight winning session, its longest streak since 1992 and tied for the fifth longest win streak on record

• US weekly recap: Nasdaq (+6.84%), Russell 2000 (+5.56%), S&P 500 (+4.54%) and Dow (+3.19%)

• Big equity rally this week off the back of possible a US-Iran nuclear deal and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, aggressive systematic CTA buying, a flurry of upbeat AI demand/capex updates, big bounce in private equity and software stocks and still-solid Q1 earnings

• Brent tumbled 5.9% to US$92.41 a barrel but off session lows of -12.3% 

• Retail trader baskets on track for best month vs. mutual fund favourites since 2020, with photonics and quantum computing flagged as hot speculative themes (BBG)

IRAN & ENERGY

• In a nutshell: Trump announced the Strait was fully open and "ready for full passage", but noted US naval blockade will remain in "full force". A $760m oil short was placed 20 mins before this announcement. Vessel traffic very briefly surged, before Iran flagged the blockade as a ceasefire violation. Strait was later shut, vessel activity back to a halt, US boarded Iran-linked tankers and Brent is up 3.8% to US$95.9 so far this morning (still down 2.3% in the last two sessions)

• US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance seized the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Touska in the Gulf of Oman Sunday (CNN)

• Iran re-closed the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, citing US "breaches of trust" under the ceasefire, after briefly declaring it open Friday. Iranian gunboats fired on two India-flagged tankers, forcing them to turn around (CNN)

• Trump says US negotiators including Vance, Witkoff and Kushner would travel to Islamabad for a second round of talks Monday, and threatened to "knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran" if no deal (NPR)

• Netanyahu said at a Jerusalem press conference Sunday the Iran war is "not over yet" and that "any moment could bring us new development" (CNN)

STOCKS

• Apple iPhone shipments in China rose 20% year-on-year in Q1 2026, the strongest growth among major vendors, lifting market share to 19% and closing the gap with Huawei at 20% (RT)

• BNP Paribas upgraded Apple to outperform from neutral Friday, citing China strength ahead of earnings in two weeks (CNBC)

• S&P 500 consumer discretionary was Friday's best sector up 2.5%, led by cruise names Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival all surging more than 9% on Iran de-escalation hopes (CNBC)

• AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems filed publicly for a US IPO Friday, while Fervo Energy, Liftoff Mobile and KKR-backed GMR also filed (BBG)

TARIFFS & TRADE

• US Customs and Border Protection scheduled to launch Phase 1 of the CAPE system within ACE today, opening the IEEPA tariff refund process for importers of record and customs brokers (RS)

• Bessent launched a G20-IMF-World Bank initiative on fertiliser supply chains, warning Gulf disruptions threaten to push an additional 45 million people into food insecurity (RT)

CENTRAL BANKS

• ECB Kazaks warned central bankers are navigating a "layer cake of shocks" and must stay vigilant for second-round inflation effects from the oil shock (CNBC)

• ECB's Villeroy said at IMF Spring Meetings the ECB is "better off to wait than rush into rate action" (BBG)

• IMF’s Georgieva notes "the single most important development in the global economy happened between the US and Iran" and flagged optimism is fragile (RT)

ECONOMY

• IMF cut its 2026 global growth forecast to 3.1% from 3.3% in its April World Economic Outlook, and warned the economy is drifting towards a more adverse 2.5% scenario as oil supply disruptions bite (BBG)

• IMF and World Bank pledged up to a combined $150bn in new financing for developing countries hit hardest by the energy shock, and re-engaged with Venezuela's acting government after a seven-year pause (RT)

• China Q1 2026 GDP rose 5.0% year-on-year, accelerating from 4.5% in Q4 2025 and beating expectations, with Q1 exports up 14.7% year-on-year. NBS flagged "volatile" external conditions ahead (CNN)

• China PPI turned positive in March for the first time in more than three years, rising 0.5% year-on-year as soaring oil prices lifted factory-gate inflation (CNN)

ASX TODAY

• Forrestania Resources continues to investigation potential acquisitions in and around its existing project areas (FRS)

• Lindian Resources secures 12-month fixed-price diesel supply agreement at US$2.83/litre for its Kangankunde Rare Earths Project (LIN)

• NAB expects 1H26 credit impairment charges of $706m vs. $485m a half ago (NAB)

• NextDC reports contracted utilisation up 60% since 31-Dec-25 to 667MW, over the same period order book has jumped 83% to 544MW, FY26 capex guidance increased to $2.7-3bn vs. prior $2.4-2.7bn, while revenue and EBITDA guidance remains unchanged (NXT)

• NextDC launches $1.5bn 1-for-5.4 pro-rata entitled offer at $12.70 per share (10% discount to last close), proceeds will be used to invest in capacity to support delivery of order book (NXT)

WHAT TO WATCH TODAY

• Whippy markets: Very volatile weekend developments, with Iran reportedly not taking part in a second round of negotiations with the US. Commodity markets starting to reverse last Friday's move, where oil dipped but opened ~3% higher this morning. Likewise with gold, which gained 1.05% on Friday, now down 1.08%. While the US market largest digested the optimism surrounding the Strait reopening, we're likely to deal with the flurry of mixed headlines.

BROKER MOVES

• TechnologyOne downgraded to Hold from Buy; target up to $31 from $29 (Bell Potter)

• Whitehaven Coal upgraded to Outperform from Neutral; target is $9.50 (Macquarie)

Stocks trading ex-dividend: 

• Mon 20 Apr: Washington H Soul Pattinson (SOL) – $0.48

• Tue 21 Apr: MFF Capital Investments (MFF) – $0.10

• Wed 22 Apr: Shriro Holdings (SHM) – $0.02

• Thu 23 Apr: Steamships Trading Co (SST) – $0.181  

Other ASX corporate actions today:       

• Dividends paid: Kelsian Group (KLS), New Hope (NHC)

• IPOs: None

• AGMs: None

Economic calendar (AEDT):

No major economic announcements.