Welcome to the end of the trading week. The ASX200 is tipped for a green day with futures up +0.55% near 8.30am AEDT.
Both the NASDAQ and S&P500 posted modest gains overnight, up +0.3% and +0.09% respectively.
That came following mixed US economic data suggesting that the labour market is softening, even though jobless claims fell more than expected.
The United States also posted a quarterly GDP growth rate of only 1.4% overnight, down from 3.4% in the prior corresponding period.
Sticking with the US theme, we get PCE inflation data from the States tonight, but any impact on ASX trading psychology won’t be evident until Monday.
Looking at the ASX,
The ANZ-Suncorp merger has been approved, meaning the $4.5B deal can go ahead with an expected conclusion date of 31 July.
The deal, announced in 2022, means ANZ can now buy out Suncorp (ASX:SUN), one of Australia’s major insurers.
Elsewhere, the bourse gets a new contender this morning with a company called Alfabs Australia (ASX:AAL) listing at 25 cents per share.
The company focuses on underground mining engineering and equipment rentals.
Finally, M3 Mining (ASX:M3M) has announced the discovery of gold anomalies at its Edjudina gold project.
The company now has a 4.5km long stretch of electromagnetic targets of interest to hunt after.
In forex, the AUD has lost some strength, back to buying 66 US cents.
In commodities, brent crude has jumped over US$86 a barrel as Israel threatened to attack Lebanon once again, while gold staged a 1.25% jump to US$2,326 per ounce. Iron ore fell overnight to US$105.65 per tonne, and natural gas futures are worth US$2.70 a gigajoule.
That’s market open, we’ll be with you later for an update.