Morning Bell 9 December

Overnight the US markets pulled back to start the week, as investors await the Fed’s pivotal final meeting of 2025 later this week. The S&P 500 slid 0.5%, the Nasdaq slid 0.4%, while the Dow Jones slid 0.6%. 

There was mixed sentiment across other global markets - the pan-European Stoxx600 dropped just under 0.1%, as 0.1% gain for Germany’s Dax was outweighed by a 0.2% drop for the FTSE and a 0.1% drop for the French CAC.

And in Asia, the Chinese CSI gained 0.8%, the Japanese Nikkei added 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.2%.

Back in Australia yesterday, the ASX 200 opened the new trading week with a 0.1% decline, with just 3 of the 11 key sectors posting gains on the day. It was a mixed day for materials, as gold miners saw losses across the board, while lithium miners Liontown resources (ASX:LTR) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumped 15% and 6% on the day.

What to watch today:

• The ASX 200 is expected to extend its losses, with the SPI futures indicating a 0.3% drop at the open of trade.
• Moving over to commodities:
  • Crude Oil remains volatile, trading down 2% at US$58.87 per barrel, after it was announced that Iraq would resume production on one of its major oilfields, increasing oversupply worries.
  • It was a relatively stable day for previous metals, as gold has slipped 0.2% to US$4191 per ounce, and silver has seen a similar 0.2% drop to US$58.16 per ounce.
  • And iron ore is trading down 0.8% to US$106.42 per tonne.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained its hold rating on Cobram Estate Olives (ASX:CBO), after the company recently announced a $183m capital raising to fund the development of a further 1600 hectares of orchards in the US.
• And Trading Central have identified a bullish signal in Adairs Ltd (ASX:ADH), indicating that the price may rise from the close of $1.86 to the range of $2.03 to $2.07 over a period of 33 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.