Portfolio Positioning: Less than 24 hours until we hear the eagerly awaited news from the Fed

The Match Out: ASX inches higher again, New Hope (NHC) reports solid result
The market managed to grind out a gain today, helped along by the miners, with particularly strong showings from gold, iron ore and uranium as all three surged on different drivers – we’re taking a breather on gold and took a profit on our Evolution Mining position. Not a lot happening on the macro side to move markets today as all eyes await the Fed rate decision on Thursday, though bits and pieces on the stock front kept things interesting across the retail and resources space.
Trade Alerts – Active Growth & International Equities Portfolio
We are amending two portfolios this morning.
What Matters Today: Is it time to fade the weakness in the global healthcare sector?
The ASX 200 slipped 0.1% on Monday as investors continued to “buy the dip”, allowing the market to recover from an initial 0.8% fall. The winners managed to outnumber the losers on the main board, but weakness in heavyweights CBA, BHP and CSL was enough to drag the index into negative territory, albeit just.
The Match Out: ASX sells off early, rallies to narrow losses
The local market kicked things off on the backfoot down ~60pts before it flipped the switch straight after the open and reversed most of the losses though couldn’t claw its way back to positive territory. Profit-taking in gold stocks and weakness in healthcare kept the ASX in the red despite strength across lithium names.
Macro Monday: The Fed takes centre stage this week
The S&P 500 has surged more than 30% from its April lows, fuelled by expectations that the Fed will cut rates several times this year, with a 25-basis-point move widely seen as a certainty on Wednesday.
Weekend Q&A: The ASX200 drifts while US indices post fresh all-time highs
The ASX200 ended last week largely flat, holding September's current pullback to 1.2%. It may have been a quiet week on the index level, but it wasn’t on the sector level, with solid gains by the rate-sensitive tech, real estate, and utilities sectors while the energy sector fell 4.5% as OPEC+ maintained its elevated supply. It was disappointing to see the local index drift while US indices punched higher, although a number of majors trading ex-dividend did weigh locally. The heavyweight miners slipped slightly after mining giants Anglo American / Teck Resources agreed to merge, forming a ~$53 billion copper powerhouse.
The Match Out: ASX finishes the week strong, banks and financials rally
The ASX had a solid end to the week, with a broad-based rally following on from Wall Street’s record-setting session overnight. Expectations that the Fed will move on rate cuts as soon as next week helped fuel gains in financials and miners, while gold continued its charge toward fresh highs, offsetting weakness across the energy names.
ETF Friday: Looking at three ‘vanilla’ equity ETFs traded on the ASX
The ASX 200 retreated 0.3% on Thursday, with the losses in the banking sector catching the eye after Bendigo (BEN) became the third bank this week to announce job cuts.
The Match Out: September weakness continues while Gold stocks breakout again
The market gave back some ground today on weakness in banks and healthcare, despite strength across gold and stabilisation for lithium stocks that took a bath yesterday. There was also a host of defense wins across various companies, driving gains in most.