It was a slow day on Wall Street, with the Nasdaq ending its seven-session streak of record closing highs, and the S&P 500 closing lower despite reaching the 5,500-point mark for the first time.
Salesforce’s 4.3% increase helped the Dow Jones index rise by 300 points or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 slid 0.3% and the Nasdaq fell 0.8%.
Microsoft back in charge
The big news is that ‘world’s biggest’ debutant Nvidia has been bumped off the throne by Microsoft, in a tussle for the title of most valuable company in the world.
The chipmaking giant dropped 3.5% following its all-time high earlier in the week.
Meanwhile, what goes up, must come down – Apple fell 2.2%. Gilead Sciences surged 8.5% on positive trial results for its HIV prevention shot, proving that when bioscience breaks ground, investors will still stump up.
The Aussie share market looks set to make weak gains, with futures pointing to a 0.1% lift to 7,766 points early this morning.
Europeans welcome rates decisions
In the UK and Europe, central banks took centre stage, with several national rates decisions on the agenda.
The Bank of England (BoE) maintained its rates, mirroring Norway’s central bank, while the Swiss National Bank (SNB) cut rates for the second time this year.
The BoE’s hint at potential future rates cuts injected optimism into UK markets.
European markets surged thanks to technology and real estate stocks.
Switzerland’s index rose 0.6% after the SNB reduced rates by 25 basis points. Norway maintained its rate at a 16-year high of 4.5%, with expectations of a cut in 2025.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.9%, while the UK FTSE 100 increased by 0.8% as the BoE held rates but signalled potential cuts.
In US economic data, initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 238,000, housing starts dropped 5.5% in May, and building permits fell 3.8%. The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index dipped to 1.3 in June.
US government bond yields rose, anticipating new supply.
Currencies and commodities
Currencies weakened against the US dollar. The Euro fell to US$1.0700, the Australian dollar dipped to 66.55 US cents, and the Japanese yen eased to JPY158.90 per US dollar.
Global oil prices climbed as the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a significant decrease in crude inventories.
Brent crude rose by 0.8% to US$85.71 a barrel, while US Nymex crude increased by 0.7% to US$82.17 a barrel.
Base metal prices were on a general upward trajectory, with copper futures gaining 1.2% and aluminium futures lifting 1%.
Gold futures rose 0.9% to US$2,369 an ounce as investors betted on US interest rate cuts. Iron ore futures edged up to US$107.15 a tonne.
What’s happening in small caps?
It’s shaping up to be a quiet day on the markets today, but you can read about the following news and more on Proactive throughout the day:
- Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) has received further results from its drilling program at the Northern Molong Porphyry Project in Central New South Wales, where it’s testing the highest priority targets across the tenement package.
- Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL, OTC:PLLTL) Inc has celebrated the efforts of its partner Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX:SYA), which generated broad, high-grade lithium results of up to 25.35 metres at 1.76% lithium from drilling at the North American Lithium operation in Quebec, Canada.
- Strickland Metals Ltd (ASX:STK) has announced several executive and non-executive board changes to drive the next stage of exploration and resource growth at its Rogozna Project in Serbia and the Yandal Project in WA.
- GWR Group (ASX:GWR) Ltd has delivered an update on the operations at the Prospect Ridge Magnesium project in northwest Tasmania, where it is drilling, kicking off a scoping study and pursuing project acquisition.