ASX 200 futures are trading 22 points higher, up 0.28% as of 8:30 am AEDT.
The S&P 500 slipped overnight from a record reached in the previous session, gold prices kick on after a pullback, copper prices break out above the key US$4.0 level, Macquarie downgraded three of the four big banks to Underperform, the Australian government is set to underwrite $1.1 billion in loans to support the rare earths and lithium industry and oil prices push towards four-month highs.
Let's dive in.
Thu 14 Mar 24, 8:22am (AEDT)
Thu 14 Mar 24, 8:22am (AEDT)
ASX 200 set to rise for a third consecutive session, led by resource-related stocks
Innodata withdraws bid to acquire Appen (Investing.com)
WAM loads up on Cettire, likening the ‘noise’ to Afterpay (AFR)
Westpac actively looking to replace CEO Peter King by year end (The Australian)
Australian government to underwrite close to $1.1bn in loans and grants to support rare earths and lithium (The Australian)
Centaurus Metals reinstated Speculative Buy with $0.80 target (Canaccord)
Liontown downgraded to Hold from Speculative Buy but target increased to $1.30 from $1.10 (Canaccord)
Liontown upgraded to Neutral from Underweight and target increased to $1.35 from $0.90 (Barrenjoey)
Lynas Rare Earths initiated Underweight with $5.00 target (Morgan Stanley)
Macquarie downgraded three big four banks
ANZ downgraded to Underperform from Neutral but target increased to $27 from $25
NAB downgraded to Underperform from Neutral but target increased to $32.50 from $30
Westpac downgraded to Underperform from Outperform but target increased to $26 to $25
CBA retained Underperform but target increased to $95 from $88
Major US benchmarks finished mixed overnight but mostly off worst levels
S&P 500 eased slightly following another record close in the previous session (the 17th so far this year)
Big tech was mostly lower, led by Tesla (-4.5%), Apple (-1.2%) and Nvidia (-1.1%)
Treasury yields were higher across the curve, most are on a three-day win streak
No major narrative changes following slightly hotter-than-expected CPI print – Broader disinflation trend still intact, markets still pricing in ~85 bps of rate cuts this year and analysts continue to push back against bubble talk
Copper prices soar to highest level since April 2023 (Reuters)
Oil prices up around 3% to a 4-month high as US crude stocks drop, Russian refinery attacks (Reuters)
Investors see US stock market due for a pullback, a lot of good news priced-in (Reuters)
Stripe's total payment volumes surpassed US$1tn in 2023 up 25% year-on-year (CNBC)
Toyota agrees to give factory workers biggest pay bump in 25 years (Reuters)
Volkswagen considering partnership to produce cheaper EVs to compete with low-cost Chinese rivals (FT)
Tesla shares slide after Wells Fargo downgraded the EV maker, noting “risk to volume as price cuts are having a diminishing impact” (CNBC)
Fed likely to hold until June, with rate-cut pace in focus (Reuters)
Wells Fargo joins other mega banks and changes first rate cut projection to June (Reuters)
BOJ's Ueda says wage negotiations critical in deciding when to phase out its big stimulus program (Reuters)
ECB's Villeroy notes of broad agreement to cut rates in spring (Bloomberg)
BoE Chief Bailey argues central banks need to consider how long to keep higher for longer (Reuters)
Putin says Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if Russian sovereignty is threatened (Reuters)
Ukraine continues second day of assault on Russian energy infrastructure (FT)
Israeli parliament approved 2024 budget with defense spending at all-time high (Bloomberg)
House Republicans vow to proceed with vote to ban TikTok (Reuters)
US reportedly preparing $400m weapons package for Ukraine despite blockage in Congress (Reuters)
UK economic growth rebounds in January after falling into a technical recession second half of 2023 (Bloomberg)
Thu 14 Mar 24, 8:22am (AEDT)
Solid overnight session for all-things materials and energy. We'll go through some of the key movers below.
Copper: Copper prices rallied 3.2%, breaking above the key US$4.0 level to levels not seen since April 2023. Top Chinese copper smelters jointly agreed to production cuts at some loss-making plants to cope with a shortage of the raw material, according to Reuters. The agreement comes as fees to process copper concentrate have dropped to their lowest in more than a decade. The Global X Copper Miners ETF opened 2.3% higher overnight and finished the session up 6.0%. This should drive a strong response for local copper names (not that we have many left). A few notable names to watch include Sandfire Resources (ASX: SFR), 29Metals (ASX: 29M) and Aeris Resources (ASX: AIS).
Gold: Most large cap gold names finished 2-3% lower on Wednesday after gold prices snapped a 9-day win streak. Gold prices bounced overnight, recouping most of Wednesday's pullback. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF opened 0.7% higher and finished the session up 2.4% – Marking the highest close since 2 January.
Energy: Oil prices are pushing four-month highs after US Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected 5.5 million barrel draw in gasoline inventories for the week ending 8 March. This was well-above consensus expectations of a 1.9 million barrel draw. Likewise, oil inventories experienced a 1.5 million barrel draw vs. expectations of a 1.3 million barrel increase. The drawdowns reflect an extended winter break for local refiners and some near-term tightness in US oil markets. Interestingly, Woodside (ASX: WDS) looks like it was going to fall off a cliff – Briefly touching $28.64 on Wednesday or the lowest since May 2022.
ASX corporate actions occurring today:
Trading ex-div: SRG Global (SRG) – $0.02, TPG Telecom (TPG) – $0.09, Regis Healthcare (REG) – $0.063, PWR Holdings (PWH) – $0.048, Eagers Automotive (APE) – $0.50, Southern Cross Media (SXL) – $0.01, Breville Group (BRG) – $0.16, Shriro (SHM) – $0.02, Austin Engineering (ANG) – $0.004, Embelton (EMB) – $0.15, Inghams (ING) – $0.12
Dividends paid: Eumundi (EBG) – $0.035, Resmed (RMD) – $0.048, Bell Financial Group (BFG) – $0.04, APA Group (APA) – $0.265, Count (CUP) – $0.015, EVT (EVT) – $0.14, Ansell (ANN) – $0.252
Listing: None
Economic calendar (AEDT):
11:30 pm : US Producer Price Index (Feb)
11:30 pm: US Retail Sales (Feb)
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