The ASX200 is set to continue the week’s falls today, with futures tipping it’ll be down 0.64 per cent.
US jobs data was strong, another indicator suggesting interest rates are not imminent. The Nasdaq and S&P500 were down – for the fifth day in a row – and the Dow Jones was up 0.58%.
Back home and in stocks to watch today: Richard Goyder will leave Qantas (ASX:QAN) earlier than planned. The outgoing chair will leave next week, instead of in July. Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) is proceeding with the compulsory acquisition of gold and silver miner OreCorp (ASX:ORR) as it now holds just under 95 per cent of its shares and Metalicity (ASX:MCT) is getting ready to drill for gold at Yundamindra – the first exploration drilling there in a decade.
Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) cash balance is down to $1.8 billion in Q1 of this year versus $2.1 billion in the December quarter last year and prices for lithium sales fell to US$800 a dry ton from $1,100 in Q4.
The news comes only one day after Citigroup issued a note where one analyst posited lithium fundamentals do not support a bull case, despite a slight recent uptick in prices.
Bitcoin is rallying ahead of the Bitcoin halving event, which will occur in the early hours of tomorrow morning Australian time, and has historically seen monumental rises in the value of Bitcoin.
It happens about every four years to maintain the scarcity and value of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is up 3.7 per cent. You can see an interview about this event with Pav Hundal of crypto platform Swyftx here at HotCopper and The Market Online.
The Australian dollar is down – worth 64.1 cents, gold is up about half a per cent to US$2379.20, iron ore is above US$107.30, brent crude has slid this week, to be around US$87 a barrel and natural gas is just below US$1.75 per million British thermal units.