What Matters Today: Three themes in focus post the Blue Wave
The Match Out: Shorts are for the beach today! ASX rips 2.6%
A huge day for Aussie equities, with the ASX bouncing strongly following the US mid-term elections, a pullback in oil and lower bond yields. Technology led the charge, surging around 10%, while Materials ripped 7.5% higher - 8 of the 11 sectors finishing in the green. Energy and Financials were the notable laggards. Energy weakness was understandable as oil prices cooled, while NAB’s soft FY26 result was enough to put the kibosh on the banks, making the broader market move even more impressive.
What Matters Today: Market opportunities post the US mid-terms
The ASX 200 followed the US futures aggressively lower on Wednesday as it became clear that President Trump and the Republicans had lost control of both the Senate and House; the bookies got it correct.
The Match Out: ASX slides as US midterm results spark fears on growth outlook
Local shares moved lower through the day as US midterm results trickled in, with the Democrats taking control of the senate and triggering fears of tighter regulation across the AI and data centre industries, sending US futures lower and weighing on technology-linked miners.
Trade Alerts – Active Growth & Emerging Companies Portfolios
We are making changes to the Active Growth & Emerging Companies Portfolios today.
Portfolio Positioning: Five & done for the RBA?
Yesterday brought us the Melbourne Cup and another 0.25% rate hike by the RBA, taking the cash rate to 4.85%, its highest level in 18 years. The hike was totally expected, but overall the rhetoric from Michele Bullock supported our view that rates will now be on hold well into 2027, with the next move more likely to be a cut.
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
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.
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.
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.