Market Wraps

Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to rise, S&P 500 bounces + Pinnacle, Amcor earnings

Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:38am (AEDT)

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.

Overnight Summary

Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:21am (AEDT)

Name Value % Chg
Major Indices
S&P 500 6,038 +0.72%
Dow Jones 44,556 +0.30%
NASDAQ Comp 19,654 +1.35%
Russell 2000 2,290 +1.42%
Country Indices
Canada 25,279 +0.15%
China 3,251 -0.06%
Germany 21,506 +0.36%
Hong Kong 20,790 +2.83%
India 78,584 +1.81%
Japan 38,798 +0.72%
United Kingdom 8,571 -0.15%
Name Value % Chg
Commodities (USD)
Gold 2,873.8999 +0.59%
Iron Ore 105.02 -0.72%
Copper 4.363 +0.97%
WTI Oil 72.65 -0.27%
Currency
AUD/USD 0.6259 +1.20%
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin (USD) 98,098 -3.25%
Ethereum (AUD) 4,327 -0.32%
Miscellaneous
US 10 Yr T-bond 4.513 -0.66%
VIX 16.87 -9.40%

US Sectors

Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:21am (AEDT)

SECTOR % CHG
Energy +2.18%
Communication Services +1.48%
Information Technology +1.47%
Consumer Discretionary +1.43%
Materials +0.28%
Industrials +0.07%
SECTOR % CHG
Real Estate +0.00%
Health Care -0.27%
Financials -0.28%
Consumer Staples -0.51%
Utilities -0.88%

S&P 500 SESSION CHART

SPX 2025-02-05 08-17-12
S&P 500 higher, finished near best levels (Source: TradingView)

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

  • 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)

STOCKS

  • 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)

CENTRAL BANKS

  • 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)

TRADE WAR

  • 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)

ECONOMY

  • 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

Industry ETFs

Wed 05 Feb 25, 8:22am (AEDT)

Name Value % Chg
Commodities
Uranium 28.91 +3.29%
Copper Miners 39.27 +3.26%
Strategic Metals 41.31 +2.74%
Lithium & Battery Tech 40.4 +1.94%
Silver 29.21 +1.88%
Steel 61.4124 +1.68%
Gold Miners 40.02 +1.16%
Industrials
Global Jets 26.0475 +1.51%
Agriculture 27.765 +0.45%
Construction 76.04 +0.09%
Aerospace & Defense 155.82 -0.62%
Healthcare
Biotechnology 138.81 +0.70%
Name Value % Chg
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin 22.97 -2.63%
Renewables
Solar 33.97 +2.26%
Hydrogen 21.5999 +2.13%
CleanTech 6.72 +1.82%
Technology
Electric Vehicles 23.08 +2.08%
Video Games/eSports 89.0 +1.87%
Sports Betting/Gaming 20.18 +1.66%
Robotics & AI 33.14 +1.59%
E-commerce 30.27 +1.58%
Cloud Computing 25.81 +1.53%
Cybersecurity 34.68 +1.31%
Semiconductor 216.4 +1.03%
FinTech 32.62 -1.03%

ASX TODAY

  • 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)

WHAT TO WATCH TODAY

  • 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.

BROKER MOVES

  • 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)

Key Events

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.

Written By

Kerry Sun

Content Strategist

Kerry holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He is an avid swing trader, focused on technical set ups and breakouts. Outside of writing and trading, Kerry is a big UFC fan, loves poker and training Muay Thai. Connect via LinkedIn or email.

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