ASX 200 set to rise Monday, following New York’s rally
US traders optimistic after Michigan survey, easing inflation concerns
Approval for Ether ETFs opens door for Blackrock, VanEck, and Ark 21Shares
The ASX 200 is poised to rebound when the market opens on Monday after a rally in in New York. At 8am AEST, the ASX200 futures contract was pointing up by +0.6%.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose by +0.7%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was flat, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged by +1.1%.
US traders pivoted after the closely-watched Survey of Consumers from the University of Michigan showed that about 38% of Americans expect the unemployment rate to jump in the year ahead.
The survey also found that Americans are a bit less worried about inflation than they were earlier this month, raising hopes that interest rates might be cut later this year.
“This is a bounce where people are like, maybe things aren’t as bad as we thought, maybe there’s room for the Fed to cut rates and the economy’s going to be OK, and we’re not completely falling apart,” said Rob Haworth of U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
To stocks, Alphabet (Google) rose almost 1% after saying it will not be rolling back its AI Overview feature, launched earlier this month, which gave some strange and incorrect answers that were widely shared on social media.
Google instead said it was going to work on improving this new AI search tool.
Workday, the corporate software company, plunged -15% after lowering its full-year subscription forecast in its Q1 results.
Meanwhile, spot Ether ETF is moving closer to being approved.
The SEC’s approval now allows companies like Blackrock, VanEck, and Ark 21Shares to launch their own Ethereum ETFs. This could reduce regulatory scrutiny and make investors more confident in Ethereum.
Could Ether ETFs pull in same amount as Bitcoin ETFs?
The approval for spot Ether ETF followed the approval of spot Bitcoin ETF in January this year.
Bitcoin ETFs have amassed US$57 billion in assets, which has motivated companies like VanEck, ARK Investment Management, BlackRock, and Fidelity to compete to be the first to launch Ethereum ETFs.
“If you sell your bitcoin to Blackrock, you probably won’t be getting it back,” said Alex Leishman, CEO of trading platform, River.
Lara Crigger from VettaFi however thinks Ether ETFs might not pull in as much money as Bitcoin ETFs.
“Although Ether has more use cases, it’s a much smaller market than Bitcoin, with lower awareness and name recognition among the general investing public,” she said.
To other markets …
Gold price rose by +0.07% to US$2,335.14 an ounce.
Oil prices was flattish, with Brent crude now trading at US$82.18 a barrel.
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield fell by 2 basis points (bond prices higher) to 4.46%.
The Aussie dollar lifted by +0.4% to 66.35 cents.
The iron ore price retreated by -2% to US$119.55 a tonne.
Bitcoin meanwhile slipped by -0.7% in the last 24 hours to US$68,633, while Ethereum rose by +3% to US$3,841.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
Hammer Metals (ASX:HMX)
Hammer struck a deal with South32 Group Operations, a subsidiary of South32 (ASX:S32), allowing S32 to have the chance to take up to 80% ownership of HMX’s Isa Valley Project in North-West Queensland and become partners in a joint venture. The Project covers parts of the Mount Isa Fault, totalling about 320 square kilometres within the larger 2,800 square kilometers Mount Isa Project. These areas are thought to have a lot of potential for lead-zinc-copper mineral deposits, similar to what’s found at the Mount Isa and George Fisher-Hilton sites.
Solstice Minerals (ASX:SLS)
SLS reported that ongoing historical data compilation, targeting and field work has unveiled two historical copper prospects on its Cosmo Exploration Licence E31/1175. Three samples were collected in the field, with two of the samples returning strong metal values including peak results to 25% copper, 6.12g/t gold and 136.75g/t silver.
EMvision Medical Devices (ASX:EMV)
EMV shared further positive interim analysis from the latest phase of its clinical trials. Stage 2 interim data analysis confirmed positive results from EMV’s AI algorithm. The algorithm displays an ability to answer the clinical question of ischaemia or not (‘clot or not’), including early onset hyperacute ischaemic stroke which is often challenging to detect.
Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ)
CCZ’s chief geologist, Joel Logan, has formulated a comprehensive, 3-day surface sampling campaign that will concentrate on 8 areas across the Big One Deposit, with historical anomalous surface copper and/or high conductivity zones. The data should aid in confirming earlier observations from soil and rock chip sampling, where similar mineralised faulting through the Big One Deposit trends north directly through the focus area.
Eden Innovations (ASX:EDE)
Eden reported first sales of commercial concrete to three Holcim plants (one in USA and two in Ecuador) for a total of US$111,325 worth of EdenCrete Pz7. These orders came after two years of rigorous trials for the EdenCrete Pz product range. These trials tested the product in both new and standard concrete mixes, often using higher percentages of low-cost, environmentally friendly pozzolanic cement materials.
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