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Overnight, the influential former Federal Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he’s expecting three rate cuts in 2024 as inflation moves towards the Feds target even while the economy remains resilient, i.e. the “Goldilocks” scenario for stocks. Bullard’s outlook echoed the Fed’s messaging as opposed to the increasing market expectations that two cuts have become more likely than three, e.g. Treasury yields made new highs for the year on Monday night. Mr Bullard is indirectly quoting the old adage of “don’t fight the Fed”. However, it wasn’t the ongoing commentary from the central banker that caught our attention but rather the market’s reaction following the relatively Dovish interview—gold surged over $US30 to another all-time high while bond yields hardly moved. This has been the story of 2024, which has seen gold surge around $US300/oz while bonds have drifted lower (yields higher).

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What Matters Today: Is it time to “tweak” portfolios as hopes of RBA rate cuts fade

The ASX200 finished 1% lower on Wednesday after a hot CPI print dashed hopes of an interest rate cut into Christmas - by the end of the day, futures markets were pricing in a 20% chance of some Christmas joy for mortgage holders and arguably more telling, only one cut at most by next Christmas! Michele Bullock has been warning markets to be conservative with their dovish forecasts, and it's her crystal ball that’s now looking the clearest.

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Portfolio Positioning: The action continues to unfold on the stock and sector level

The ASX200 struggled on Tuesday under the weight of four major stocks tumbling by more than 10%, dragging the index lower from both a points and sentiment perspective. A strong banking sector couldn't dig the bourse out of trouble, as health care and IT stocks were dragged underwater by sector giants CSL and WiseTech, each sinking more than 15%.

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What Matters Today: Is the lithium sector’s recovery based on value, or short-covering

The ASX 200 advanced +0.4% on the last Monday of October, with winners and losers fairly evenly matched, but the influential banks and heavyweight resource stocks dragged the broader index higher. The combination of Friday's strong session on Wall Street following the soft CPI and optimism over a US-China trade deal lifted the local market and US futures, which were up +0.7% when the domestic day session ended.

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