ASX 200 futures are up 53pts (+0.63%) as of 8:30 am AEDT.
In a nutshell:
US stocks pushed higher intraday to finish at best levels and almost breakeven for the week
Gold hit another fresh all-time high amid a solid session for resource-related equities including copper, lithium and uranium
Pinnacle Investment Management reported 1H25 earnings and crushed market expectations
Let's dive in.
Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:21am (AEDT)
Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:21am (AEDT)
Major US benchmarks higher, finished near best levels and almost breakeven for the week
Equal-weight S&P 500 underperformed by 60 bps, reflecting strength across Mag-7 stocks including Alphabet (+2.5%), Tesla (+2.2%), Apple (+2.1%) and Amazon (+1.95%)
Markets bounced after a two-day pullback driven by Trump tariff worries, recent deals with Mexico and Canada provided some reprieve
Today's big story – China implemented retaliatory measures but most viewed them as tepid to prevent further escalation, Trump said he would speak to Xi "at the appropriate time"
Emerging market stocks vulnerable to outflows from strong dollar (BBG)
Asian tech stocks at risk of 20% drop says Morgan Stanley (BBG)
Estee Lauder is considering cutting around 11% of workforce by fiscal 2026 amid restructuring (AP)
GM's robotaxi shutdown to include around 1,000 job cuts (BBG)
Palantir jumps most in a year as ‘untamed’ demand bolsters outlook, Q2 earnings and guidance top market expectations (BBG)
NXP Semiconductors revenue guidance underwhelms amid tepid demand for industrial and automotive chips (BBG)
UBS beats profit expectations, boosts buyback plans to $3bn (FT)
ECB's Villeroy says more rate cuts are likely as inflation heads toward 2% target (BBG)
Fed's Daly sticks to cautious approach to rate cuts, says Fed can take its time (BBG)
Atlanta Fed's Bostic says it will be a while before next rate cut (BBG)
Chicago Fed's Goolsbee backs cautious stance on rate cuts amid upside inflation risk (BBG)
Markets pricing in more BOC rate cuts this year amid trade-related economic headwinds (BBG)
China announces retaliatory tariffs on US imports including 15% tariff on LNG and coal, 10% tariff on US oil and farm machinery, launches probe into Google (AX)
Beijing retaliation against Trump tariffs may so far be limited in scope to prevent escalation (FT)
Trump eyes phone call with China’s Xi, threatens to substantially increase tariffs over fentanyl (RT)
EU hopes "early engagement" may prevent US tariffs (RT)
Trump pauses tariffs on Canada and Mexico after calls with leaders of both countries (BBG)
Trump's latest backdown from tariff threat highlighting role as negotiating leverage (BBG)
Trump wants US access to Ukraine's rare earths in return for military and economic assistance (FT)
US December job openings decline to 7.6m vs. 7.92m consensus, the lowest since September and reflecting declines in business services, health care and finance (BBG)
Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:22am (AEDT)
Amcor reports Q2 revenue drop of 0.3% to $3.24bn, weighed by unfavourable impact of foreign exchange and pass-through of lower raw material costs (AMC)
BWP reports 1H25 distributable income growth of 13% to $65.6m (BWP)
Pinnacle Investment Management reports 1H25 NPAT up 150% to $75.7m and aggregate FUM up 41% to $155.4bn, management continue see no significant improvement in appetite for equities amongst institutional clients, instead flows dominated by fixed income, credit and other private market assets (PNI)
Xref reports 1H25 revenue growth of 10% to $10.9m, ARR to continue to increase as remaining clients move to new subscription agreements (XF1)
Amcor: Amcor result was largely in-line with estimates, free cash flow (both Q2 and guidance) ahead. Amcor shares rallied 5.1% on the NYSE, assuming the CDIs are 1:1, fair value should be around $16.07 for local AMC shares.
Pinnacle: Absolutely crushed 1H25 earnings expectations, NPAT of $75.7m is 60.0% ahead of Macquarie ests (as at 29-Nov-24), interim dividend of 33 cps is a 47.5% beat of 17.3 cps ests, FUM and net flows beat ests by 5.9% and 35.8%. PNI shares are up 134% in the past year but the magnitude of the beat may add further fuel to the soaring share price.
Copper, Uranium and Nickel: Solid gains for most of these overnight ETFs, reflecting better-than-feared China tariff response and a bounce from oversold levels.
Australian Finance Group upgraded to Buy from Neutral; target up to $1.85 from $1.65 (CITI)
Bellevue Gold initiated Underweight with $1.00 target (JARD)
Macquarie Technology initiated Hold with $81.70 target (JEF)
Nufarm upgraded to Buy from Hold; target up to $4.35 from $4.25 (BP)
Pepper Money upgraded to Buy from Neutral; target remains $1.55 (CITI)
Stocks trading ex-dividend:
Wed 5 Feb: None
Thu 6 Feb: Midway (MWY) – 31.43%
Fri 7 Feb: None
Other ASX corporate actions today:
Dividends paid: None
Listing: None
Earnings: Amcor (AMC), BWP Trust (BWP), Kelly Partners (KPG), Pinnacle Investment Management (PNI)
AGMs: None
Economic calendar (AEDT):
No major economic announcements.
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