Afternoon report 03/11/2026 16:45

The Match Out: RBA hikes rates, stocks move higher

The ASX ultimately finished Melbourne Cup Day higher, but it was was struggling into the RBA decision, trading down around ~40 points, before rallying after the Bank delivered the widely expected 25bp hike. The split 6-3 vote, together with a more balanced message from Governor

Morning report 03/11/2026 09:43

What Matters Today: Can Rare Earth stocks recover after the US Midterm Elections?

The ASX 200 fell away on Monday ahead of the RBA and US mid-terms, with the miners and banks, the main contributors to the index's 0.6% decline. The banks slipped despite Westpac (ASX: WBC) advancing +1% following its reasonable FY26 result, despite management warning the next 12–18 months of its UNITE transformation would be challenging - UNITE is WBC’s major, multi-year technology and operational transformation program, designed to simplify how the bank operates, reduce costs and improve customer experience.

Afternoon report 02/11/2026 16:52

The Match Out: ASX slips ahead of RBA decision as Westpac bucks Big Four weakness

Aussie shares finished lower as the market braces for another RBA rate hike whilst also digesting Friday’s sharp US tech sell-off, with weakness in banks, miners and supermarkets dragging the bourse down. A solid result from Westpac sparked divergence across the banking sector, with the remainder of the Big Four closing lower, while small caps and technology stocks showed relative resilience.

Morning report 02/11/2026 09:19

Macro Monday: Here come the RBA & Mid-terms, as if it wasn’t volatile enough!

The US Tech Sector came under further pressure last week with aggressive pullbacks from the likes of Intel (-24%), Google (-13%), Palantir (-6%), Netflix (-6%), and Meta (-3%) weighing on the indices and general market sentiment. The issue last week wasn’t bond yields, but the latest earnings season exposing the growing cash-flow cost of the AI boom.

Weekend report 31/10/2026 09:27

Weekend Q&A: The “AI Trade” unwinds into the US mid-terms

The ASX 200 finished up +1.3% last week, and +1.4% for October, an impressive performance considering the volatility on overseas markets around the AI Trade. The miners bounced well, although it's going to be a tough start on Monday, while the banks also enjoyed a solid week, with ANZ, our preferred member of the “Big Four”, making a new all-time high. However, consumer-facing stocks remained under pressure, with the consumer staples (-5.1%) and consumer discretionary (-2.4%) sectors weighing on performance.

Afternoon report 30/10/2026 17:01

The Match Out: ASX higher but loses most of it’s early gains, finished up ~1.3% in October

It was shaping up to be a very strong finish to October for the ASX early today, with the index up almost 1% and briefly pushing back toward 9,000 for the first time since early September. Unfortunately, the strength didn’t last. The ASX steadily gave back most of its gains through the afternoon as weakness in global technology stocks, resources and selected growth names weighed, eventually closing ~80 points below the early session highs.

Alerts 30/10/2026 09:32

Trade Alerts – Active Growth & Income Portfolios

We are making changes to our Active Growth and Active Income Portfolios today.

Morning report 30/10/2026 09:24

What Matters Today: Three sectors where not all boats are rising/sinking as one

Firstly, we have a new data provider now feeding the Market Matters website, with the cut over completed overnight. Further enhancements to come in coming months, which will tie in our expanded data set with some interesting tools to better analysis the market as a whole and improve the navigation around the site.

Afternoon report 29/10/2026 16:47

The Match Out: Banks and REITs lift ASX as Retailers and Miners slide

The ASX posted a solid session as select rate-sensitive sectors helped the market extend gains despite a hotter local CPI print yesterday, with banks and property shares leading after Wall Street rose on the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold rates overnight. Consumer stocks remained under pressure amid softening retail updates, while Materials came off the boil slightly, with lithium names particularly soft as Chinese spodumene prices fell.

Morning report 29/10/2026 09:42

What Matters Today: Should we fade Wednesday’s hot CPI print?

After opening lower, only to reverse higher on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday's hot inflation data saw the opposite unfold as the ASX 200 lost an early morning 87-point gain to finish the day mildly lower.