ASX NEWS LIVE | ASX to Rise with Wall St; Rio Tinto Buys Arcadium Lithium for $9.9b

Good morning. Charlie here; we’re all hands on deck for some services upcoming for our readers, so I’ll provide an update today and get back to this blog tomorrow.

The ASX 200 opened up +0.50% to 8,228.7 as the local sharemarket follows Wall Street higher as healthcare and technology stocks continue to hold up the bulk of the market.

China watchers and commodity markets have been subdued since the underwhelming stimulus promises made at a big policy meeting earlier in the week in Beijing.

Overnight oil prices once again fell as the weaker demand narrative joined with a sense of calm about the risks of a wider conflagration in the Middle East.

Despite this, the risk of a broader war still simmers. Israel’s defense minister warned yesterday that its country’s retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack would be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising,’ while it continues to expand its operations into Lebanon.

Investors will be keeping a close eye on the US inflation print due out tonight at 11:30pm AEST.

On the ASX, the big news was the $9.9 billion takeover deal of Arcadium Lithium by Rio Tinto. Rio payed a 90% premium on the share price. Despite this large premium, this big number has been due to the falling share price of the recently formed Arcadium as lithium prices continue to sit at lows. Is this the time for a comeback for lithium stocks?