Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning! Here’s everything you need to know before the ASX flings open its doors and begins trading today.

Everything you need to know before the ASX opens. Pic: Getty Images.

Good morning everyone and welcome to Rise and Shine on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST, ASX futures were down 0.1%, pointing to a soft start on Wednesday.

Here’s what went down while you were snoring...

Wall Street stutters as Fed looms

Wall Street lost a bit of its recent swagger overnight.

The Dow slipped 0.46%, the S&P 500 nudged down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq gave up 0.38%, breaking a six-day winning streak.

STOCK INDICES	Value	Change
ASX 200 (previous day)	8,705	0.08%
S&P 500	6,371	-0.30%
Dow Jones	44,633	-0.46%
Nasdaq Comp	21,098	-0.38%
Euro Stoxx 50	5,379	0.78%
UK FTSE	9,136	0.60%
German DAX	24,217	1.03%
French CAC	7,857	0.72%

Traders were jittery ahead of the Fed’s interest rate decision due Thursday morning our time (more on this later).

Elsewhere, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said trade talks with China are still alive, but Trump holds the final say.

“Adding an extra 90 days is one option,” Bessent said.

In stock news, Novo Nordisk plunged 23% after issuing a gloomy outlook for its weight-loss drug sales, and surprising the market with a low-key CEO appointment.

Elsewhere, Spotify shares fell over 11% after CEO Daniel Ek defended the company’s slow approach to price hikes.

Starbucks served up its sixth straight US sales drop, with same-store sales down 2% again.

And Big Tech’s earnings parade continues, with Microsoft and Meta on deck tonight, followed by Apple and Amazon tomorrow.

“Big Tech retains an outsized role in keeping overall SP500 performance healthy,” said Barclays strategist Venu Krishna.

ASX oil stocks in focus today

Trump has thrown another firecracker, this time aboard Air Force One.

Speaking to reporters, he said Russia has 10 days to strike a ceasefire deal in Ukraine, or risk fresh US tariffs.

“We’ll be looking at secondary sanctions if they don’t reach a truce,” he said.

That was enough to jolt oil markets into gear. Brent crude jumped almost 4%, while WTI saw its biggest gain since June.

Oil traders are now factoring in tighter Russian fuel supply and new EU sanctions.

Watch for ASX oil stocks again today.

All eyes on Jerome

The Fed Reserve’s two-day meeting wraps tonight, with the rate decision due at 4am AEST, and Powell stepping up to the mic at 4.30am.

Nobody expects a rate cut, but the market is squinting hard for clues about September.

Goldman Sachs is still betting on three cuts this year: “September, October and December,” said analyst Jan Hatzius.

Meanwhile, Principal’s Seema Shah reckons cuts won’t resume until late Q4 unless Powell suddenly channels his inner dove.

And finally...

Closer to home, today’s big swing factor is the monthly CPI report due at 11.30am AEST.

Markets are betting it will confirm a cooling trend, and potentially lock in an August RBA rate cut.

“We don’t think Q2 CPI data will stand in the way of an August cut,” said a note from NAB.

NAB expects another two cuts by February, bringing the cash rate to 3.1%.

Also today, we’ll get results from Pilbara Minerals, Mineral Resources, and Champion Iron, before Rio Tinto takes centre stage.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

Price (US)	Move
Gold:	$3,326.43	0.35%
Silver:	$38.20	0.08%
Iron ore:	$98.67	0.12%
Nickel:	$15,325	0.62%
Copper:	$11,283	0.84%
Zinc:	$2,816	0.02%
Lithium carbonate 99.5% Min China Spot:	$8,550	0.60%
Oil (WTI):	$69.27	3.83%
Oil (Brent):	$72.67	3.76%
AUD/USD:	$0.6509	0.12%
Bitcoin:	$117,349	-0.50%

What got you talking

Also in the news…

European pharma companies are breathing a sigh of relief after the Trump administration posed a 15pc tariff, rather than 200pc.

With Virgin shares holding nicely at cruising altitude, is now the right time for Brisbane-based private oncology drug developer Qbiotics to debut?

Trading Halts

Astute Metals (ASX:ASE) – cap raise
Catalina Resources (ASX:CTN) – exploration results
IRIS Metals (ASX:IR1) – cap raise
Noviqtech (ASX:NVQ) – quantum computing deal and cap raise
Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) – cap raise
Sequoia Financial Group (ASX:SEQ) – price query response
Strategic Energy Resources (ASX:SER) – cap raise
TechGen Metals (ASX:TG1) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Elevate Uranium is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens