A calm is settling in late-on in Week 36, with a Google, Apple anti-trust ruling swelling Wall Street and sending the Nasdaq composite ticking up; a green wave that Australian shares seem happy to catch through to Thursday open.
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The tech-heavy Nasdaq had an especially good day, buoyed +1% higher after a U.S. court ruled Alphabet and Apple can “continue current dealings.”
The whole affair was sparked by Alphabet’s $200 billion agreement to have Google be the default option on Apple’s Safari browser. Mozilla especially had been a staunch defender, warning it was “doomed” without a deal.
The Nasdaq’s surge was copied by the S&P 500, which advanced +0.5%. (The Dow barely joined the party, however, staying relatively flat.)
Europe had a similar swell, with London up +0.67% and Germany adding +0.4%. The hike on the continent came after a surprise run on longer-dated bonds was finally nipped in the bud late on Wednesday (EU time).
The ASX 200 is following both: Futures are now tipping a +0.5% jump at 10am today.
ASX stocks to watch
In a big one, as many as 12,000 Australians may have lost their superannuation after the $1.2 billion collapse of the First Guardian and Shield funds. ASX-listed advice firm Sequoria Financial (ASX:SEQ) has been trying to help those impacted and pointing them towards OFRF recovery options.
Elsewhere, Len Ainsworth’s son is demanding the Ainsworth Game Technology (ASX:AGI) directors and chief executive step down over “irresponsible and unacceptable” management of a takeover bid by Oz gaming giant Novomatic.
Over on the HotCopper forums, Haranga Resources (ASX:HAR) is catching early investor eyes after sharing an operational update on its Lincoln plans – fairly well-timed considering how beefy the gold price is getting.
And, TechGen Metals (ASX:TG1) is trending, too; The explorer booked in heritage surverys for the end of September, and forum users are liking the update.
We get some stats that could swing stocks today, with goods trade balance for July and household spending data out at 11.30am.
Buck and ore
Now – in forex, the AUD is buying 65.4 US cents.
And to commodities, all in the greenback,
Iron Ore is up +0.9%, selling at $103.40 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude plunged to $67.40,
Gold has kept climbing to today, selling at as much as $3,567 per ounce, and,
US natgas futures are up +2%, at $3.06 per gigajoule.
That’s HotCopper’s ASX Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre – good luck, happy trading.
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