Morning Bell 23 September

Wall Street started the new trading week with some fresh records as big names like Nvidia boosted investor optimism about the future of AI. The S&P500 rose 0.44% to hit a fresh record high at the close while the Nasdaq jumped 0.7% and the Dow Jones ended the day up 0.14%. Nvidia shares rose 3.9% on Monday after announcing a partnership with OpenAI through the investment of $100bn to build out data centres. 

Across European markets overnight it was mostly a sea of red as investors continue to assess President Trump’s visa crackdown. The STOXX 600 fell 0.5%, Germany’s DAX lost 0.48%, the French CAC fell 0.3% and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.11%.

Across Asia markets on Monday, markets closed mixed as investors in the region also responded to Trump’s hefty H-1B visa fees. Indian tech stocks fell overnight 3% in response to the newly imposed visa fees, while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.99%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.76%, and South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.68%.

Locally to start the new trading week, the ASX200 posted a 0.43% gain amid a boost in commodity prices driving a rally for materials stocks, especially in the form of gold after the price of the precious metal hit yet another fresh recover overnight over US$3700/ounce.

Regis Healthcare (ASX:REG) shares plunged 26% on Tuesday after the company warned that the Federal Government’s 4.7% funding increase for aged care was below expectations and won’t cover rising staff costs, creating a funding gap. As a result, Regis downgraded its earnings outlook, guiding to only modest EBITDA growth (3–7%) for FY2025, disappointing investors and sparking a sharp sell-off on Monday.

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 0.13% lower at US$62.32/barrel, gold is up a further 1.71% to a fresh record US$3747/ounce and iron ore is trading 0.05% at US$105.49/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has strengthened against the greenback to buy 66.02 US cents, 97.50 Japanese yen, 47.06 British pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 12 cents.
• Ahead of Tuesday’s trading session the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day up 0.19% tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight. 

Trading ideas:

• Bell Potter has initiated coverage of Generation Development (ASX:GDG) with a buy and a 12-month price target of $8.20. Generation Development Group (GDG) is a financial services company that offers a range of tax-effective investment solutions, annuities, managed accounts and research services. The analyst sees GDG as a Buy due to its transformative earnings growth, strategic acquisitions, strong managed accounts positioning, supportive regulatory tailwinds, and a major vote of confidence from BlackRock, all pointing to a long runway for scalable, high-margin growth.
• And Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Acrow (ASX:ACF) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 337-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $1.06 to the range of $1.30 to $1.36 according to standard principles of technical analysis.