Portfolio Positioning: No major surprises in the budget as Chalmers spends big

Overnight, Jim Chalmers delivered his pre-election budget, and not surprisingly, he “splashed the cash.” The government has committed to increasing net spending by over $24bn over the next four years; the Treasurer believes his budget will cut inflation by 0.5% next FY, but financial markets were not convinced. The deficit was forecast to be around $18bn in December; already, 6-months later, the figures jumped by a whopping +55%, while the forecasted 2025 deficit is more than double economists’ previous estimates – why bother!

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Afternoon report 23/01/2025 16:53

The Match Out: ASX follows commodity prices lower

A solid session overnight in the U.S didn’t translate to the ASX today – the differentials in sector composition on full display. Resources were hit hard as lower commodity prices weighed, with the local bourse lacking a real tech sector to offset that weakness.

Morning report 23/01/2025 09:57

What Matters Today: MM’s roadmap for gold stocks through 2025

The ASX200 closed up +0.3% on Wednesday, extending January’s gain to +3.6%. Again, the market surrendered ~50% of its mid-morning rally, but a close less than 1% below its all-time high is encouraging for the bulls.

Afternoon report 22/01/2025 16:54

The Match Out: Choppy trade on a day filled with quarterlies

Another choppy session with the best of it seen early, the ASX hitting a 8455 high before tapering off in the afternoon session, though we still closed higher. Asian markets were softer despite Trump commenting about a 10% tariff on China, a far cry from the 60% suggested during the election, but that failed to have any impact on the Material sector, with a bunch of production updates the greater influence.

Morning report 22/01/2025 09:55

Portfolio Positioning: Trump’s President, let the games begin!

The ASX200 closed up +0.66% on Tuesday, but it was intra-day action that told the real story of Donald Trump's first day of his second term as President of the US. Local stocks surged over 100 points into a late-morning high - “risk-on” played out across the bourse as the index surged toward striking distance of its all-time high.

Afternoon report 21/01/2025 16:53

The Match Out: Volatility back in markets as Trump gets underway

Volatility is back as Trump gets his feet under the desk in the Oval Office; the ASX 200 trading in a broad ~100pt trading range today finishing around the mid-point as he pushed through ~100 executive orders that ranged from curtailing hiring of federal employees, freezing regulations, withdrawing the U.S. from a climate treaty to fight global warming, promoting development of domestic energy production, and taking action to reduce consumer costs, among others.

Morning report 21/01/2025 09:45

What Matters Today: US Banks love deregulation, how to play Trump’s Inauguration

The ASX200 rallied +0.45% on Monday, extending January's gain to +2.3%. Real estate and energy stocks have boosted the index, with both sectors already up over +5% in 2025. In the morning, iron ore goliaths, BHP and RIO contributed over 10 points to the market's gain, or more than 25%, as the miners slowly gather momentum, although most remain well below where they commenced 2024.

Afternoon report 20/01/2025 16:55

The Match Out: ASX rallies ahead of Trump Inauguration

Positive sentiment spilled over from the U.S in anticipation of Donald Trump’s inauguration tonight and the rumoured ~100 executive orders due to come along with it; the actions expected to address tariffs, immigration and the energy sector straight off the bat.

Morning report 20/01/2025 09:31

Macro Monday: Is an expensive market destined to fall?

Donald Trump will become President of the United States tomorrow morning (our time), and as we know, since his victory in November, equities have embraced his return to the Whitehouse. This has pushed valuations higher as momentum moves dominated 2024 with many major stocks trading well above their average P/E’s of recent years, with the banks receiving significant coverage in the press.

Alerts 17/01/2025 12:37