ASX set to climb as Wall Street rises; $A over US70c

The US stock market is rising following strong profit reports for Equifax, Hasbro and other companies, while oil prices ease back after nearing their highest levels since the war with Iran began.

The S&P 500 added 0.4 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 539 points, or 1 per cent, as of 1:48 p.m. Eastern time, while more swings for the artificial-intelligence industry had the Nasdaq composite up a more modest 0.2 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket is set to advance, with futures at 4.57am AEDT pointing to a rise of 34 points, or 0.4 per cent, at the open., The ASX lost 0.3 per cent on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was trading higher at US70.03¢.

Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term, and several companies delivered results for the latest quarter that were better than analysts expected. Big expectations for growth generally are what have allowed the US stock market to hit records recently despite worries about high inflation, higher interest rates and other challenges weighing on Wall Street.

Equifax rallied 10.6 per cent for one of the market’s biggest gains after reporting a bigger profit for the summer than analysts expected, despite high mortgage rates slowing some parts of its business.

Hasbro climbed 9.3 per cent after the toy company said its Magic: The Gathering game made more than $US600 million during a quarter for the first time. 3M rose 5.8 per cent after the company behind Ace bandages and Scotch-Brite sponges likewise reported a stronger-than-expected profit, even as shoppers broadly feel discouraged by high inflation.

Stocks also got a lift after the price for a barrel of Brent crude erased an early gain to fall 0.8 per cent to $US108.70. Earlier in the morning, it got near $US112 and approached its highest price since the war with Iran began in late February.

The drop in oil prices will relieve some of the pressure on inflation, if it lasts. Brent’s price has been yo-yoing between $US97 and $US112 per barrel this month on uncertainty about when the energy industry will return to normal.

For now, airlines and other companies with big fuel bills enjoyed the benefit of Tuesday’s drop. American Airlines rallied 4.4 per cent, and United Airlines flew 2.8 per cent higher.

Another winner was Braze, a customer engagement platform. Its stock soared 51.5 per cent to $US45.51 after Salesforce said it would buy the company for $US47.50 in cash for each share. Salesforce fell 1.4 per cent.

Keeping the market in check was General Motors, which sank 8.2 per cent despite reporting a bigger profit than analysts expected. It also announced a program to send up to $US20 billion to investors by buying back its stock.

The pressure is on companies to deliver bigger profits not only now, but also in the future. GM gave a forecasted range for profit over the full year of 2026 whose midpoint fell short of analysts’ expectations.

AI stocks, meanwhile, continued to swirl. They’ve been at the center of the market’s recent uneasiness, as euphoria around the technology’s boom gives way to worries that high interest rates in the bond market will slow the borrowing that’s allowed companies to buy so many AI chips. Last week was the US stock market’s worst since June because of weakness for AI-related companies.

CoreWeave has been particularly shaky. It initially fell more than 6 per cent at the start of Tuesday’s trading, only to swing to a gain of 5 per cent before pulling back to a rise of 2.3 per cent.

Such reversals are nothing new for the company, which has borrowed money to buy AI chips that it rents out to customers over the cloud. A day earlier, it careened between a gain of 7 per cent in the morning and a loss of 3.5 per cent in the afternoon following last week’s tumble of roughly 25 per cent.

Tuesday’s struggles for AI stocks began in Asia, where a South Korean AI company, Elice, confronted a rough welcome to the stock market. Its stock dropped 32 per cent in its first day of trading in Seoul. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 3.7 per cent overall.

In other stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe pared bigger losses from earlier in the day. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.4 per cent, and the FTSE 100 in London fell 0.3 per cent.

A day earlier, indexes fell sharply across Europe following violent protests that could ultimately force governments on the continent to increase their spending to ease voters’ anger. That in turn could put more pressure on their bond markets, which are already strained because of worries about heavy debt loads and strained budgets.

AP

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