ASX Live News | XJO Looks to make modest gains; US Stocks up, China data today

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As the S&P500 gets more top-heavy, making your own investments starts to look safer than relying on indexes for passive gains.

The top 2 stocks in the S&P 500 (Apple & Microsoft) now represent a combined 14.4% of the index, the highest weighting for any two companies with data going back to 1980. pic.twitter.com/Tk7tB4ZkG0

— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) June 29, 2023

The ASX 200 has regained much of its early morning losses but still remains slightly down from open at –0.02% down at 7,193.8

As of 12:05pm AEST

The best individual performers:

• Downer Edi [ASX:DOW], up 3.17%
• Macquarie Technology Group [ASX:MAQ], up 2.56%
• De Drey Mining [ASX:DEG], up 2.46%
• The Star Entertainment Group [ASX:SGR], up 1.99%
• Healius Ltd [ASX:HLS], up 1.94%

The worst performers:

• Abacus Property Group [ASX:ABP], down 5.40%
• Neuren Pharmaceuticals [ASX:NEU], down 2.00%
• HUB24 Ltd [ASX:HUB], down 1.58%
• Dicker Data [ASX:DDR], down 1.56%
• Bapcor Ltd [ASX:BAP], down 1.50%

Oil prices are on track for their first back-to-back quarterly decline since 2019, as concerns about the global economic outlook and rising interest rates continue to weigh on demand.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading below US$70 a barrel on Thursday, after closing up 0.4% in the previous session.

The market has been buffeted by headwinds in recent months, including a slowdown in China’s economic growth, aggressive interest rate hikes by central banks, and a consistent discounted oil supply from Russia.

These factors have combined to create a bearish sentiment in the oil market, which has persisted despite some positive news for prices, such as Saudi Arabia’s pledge to cut production and the recent uprising in Russia.

Source: Trading Economics

The outlook for the second half of the year is mixed. Some analysts believe that the market will tighten as demand recovers and supply remains constrained. However, others believe that rising interest rates will continue to weigh on energy consumption, leading to lower prices.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in an effort to combat inflation is likely to have a significant impact on oil prices. Higher interest rates will make it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money, which could lead to lower demand for oil.

In addition, the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates could lead to a stronger U.S. dollar, which would make oil more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Overall, the outlook for oil prices in the second half of the year is uncertain. The market is likely to remain volatile, as it reacts to changes in demand, supply, and monetary policy.

ASX 200 opened slightly down today, with concerns in the market outlook slightly boosted by positive news from the US, where Banks completed their annual stress test without issue, sending bank stocks up.

The test conducted overnight showed that the 23 largest US banks were able to remain above their minimum capital requirements in a hypothetical ‘crash scenario’ with projected losses of $541 billion.

Chinese manufacturing data is out late this morning, and NZ private sector credit score out at 11:30am.

The start of the second half of the financial year will see some changes as of July 1^st:

• Increase in Australia’s minimum wage to $23.23 per hour
• New parents will be able to claim an extra 20 weeks of paid parental leave
• Age pension will increase to 67
• Expansion of the first homeowner’s scheme eligibility to friends, siblings and other family members to jointly apply

All figures shown are from 10:00am AEST

• $AUD up +0.08% at 66.81 US cents
• ASX futures up +0.19% to 7,166.5
• S&P 500 up +0.45%
• NASDAQ down -0.0031%
• DOW up +0.80%
• FTSE down -0.38%
• STOXX up +0.096%
• SSE up +0.72%
• Bitcoin up +0.95% to $US 30,432.77
• Spot gold up +0.05% to $US 1,914.74
• Iron ore up +0.04% to $US 112.64
• Brent Crude up +0.38% to $US 74.31pb

Good morning investors!

Kiryll here, taking you through the final day of 1HFY23.

Here’s today’s AI image of everyone celebrating the end of the first half.