Market Highlights: Gold hits US$2,500k for first time, and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Monday

The gold price has surged above US$2,500 an ounce for the first time on Friday – its highest ever level.

Pic via Getty Images

• ASX set to drop despite a rally in US stocks on Friday

• Gold hits new high, driven by expectations of monetary easing

• Highlight this week include Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole

The ASX is set to edge slightly lower when the market opens on Monday. At 8am AEST, the SPI ASX200 futures contract was pointing down by 0.2%.

US stocks finished higher on Friday as Wall Street regained almost all of the losses from earlier in the month.

The S&P 500 continued to rise for the seventh consecutive day, up by 0.2%. The blue chips Dow Jones lifted by 0.24%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged higher by 0.21%.

It was the best week of the year for all the major US indexes, and the best week for stocks since November.

This was a dramatic shift from earlier in the month when markets were hit hard by weak US jobs data, and a Japanese interest rate hike. Stocks plummeted as investors who had borrowed in low-yielding yen to invest in rising US tech stocks suddenly faced losses when the yen spiked.

Data from CME Group now shows that investors see a 66% chance of the Fed cutting rates by 25 basis points next month, while a 50 bp rate cut is considered a 33% possibility.

The gold price meanwhile surged above US$2,500 an ounce for the first time on Friday, its highest ever level.

The precious metal is up more than 20% this year, driven by expectations of monetary easing, heavy buying by central banks, and its growing appeal as a safe-haven asset.

"Gold is the ultimate hedge against those inflationary risks," said Andrew Critchlow at S&P Global.

To stocks, Nvidia, Apple, and Alphabet all gained on Friday, whereas Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon saw declines.

Shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill keep on falling, dropping another 3% following the earlier announcement that CEO Brian Niccol is leaving the company to become the new CEO of Starbucks.

Meanwwhile, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway added a few new positions and increased some of its existing ones in Q2, according to recent filings. Overall, however, the company sold more stocks than it bought, leading to a record-high cash and US Treasury holdings of US$276.9 billion.

At home, earnings season continues with Westpac, Suncorp, Ampol, and Bluescope among the companies set to release their results today.

What to expect this week

This week will be relatively quiet for economic data, but it will still be eventful. Traders will be watching several key events.

First, following last week's analysis of inflation and retail data, many economists predicted that the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates in September.

However, Fed officials have not confirmed this expectation, with recent comments being quite vague about future rate changes.

Fed Chair Powell is anticipated to offer more insight and clarity on the matter in his speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday (US time).

Investors will also be reviewing the minutes from the Fed's July meeting on Thursday morning (AEST).

Back home, the RBA will release the minutes from its August monetary meeting on Tuesday.

On August 6, the central bank maintained interest rates at a 12-year high of 4.35% and has pretty much dismissed the possibility of a rate cut in the next six months.

In other markets …

Gold price rose by 2% to a record high of US$2,507.80 an ounce.

Oil prices fell 2%, with Brent crude now trading at US$79.68 a barrel.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield retreated 3 basis points (bond prices higher) to 3.88%.

The Aussie dollar climbed higher by 0.85% to US66.70 cents.

Bitcoin meanwhile rose 0.3% in the last 24 hours to US$59,470, and Ethereum lifted by 1.6% to US$2,653.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Summit Minerals (ASX:SUM)
Recent LiDAR survey of Summit’s Equador and Juazheirinho Niobium Projects in Brazil has revealed promising new data. The high-resolution imaging identified previously unknown pegmatite trends, and confirmed that the 'Equador North' area is likely an extension of the Equador Project’s geology. The survey also uncovered new pegmatite outcrops and historical artisanal workings that had not been mapped before. Recent rock chip samples from the Equador Project show high-grade results, with significant concentrations of niobium, tantalum, and rare earth oxides. This new data suggests an expanded prospectivity for the project, particularly in the northwest and south.

Australian Critical Minerals (ASX:ACM)
ACM has completed rock-chip sampling at its Shaw and Cooletha Projects in the Pilbara, WA. The Shaw Project's samples show high iron content, with some reaching up to 61.3%, while the Cooletha Project's samples return up to 62.6% iron. The company is now expanding its sampling efforts to further explore these promising sites. The low phosphorus levels in the Cooletha samples, averaging just 0.08%, add to their potential value.

White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN)
WCN’s Great Bear Project in Northern Canada has produced impressive new assay results. Recent samples showed high concentrations, including up to 42.2% copper, 17.4 grams per tonne of gold, and 716 grams per tonne of silver. Other discoveries include a new zone of intense mineral alteration at Coyote, with gold grades up to 17.4 grams per tonne, and high copper levels at Cougar. At Viper, high-grade silver has been found, and at Payback, exceptionally high copper grades were recorded. Additional results from the remaining field samples are expected in the coming weeks.

Nuix (ASX:NXL)
Nuix has reported strong results for the year ending June 30. The company exceeded its growth targets for annual contract value (ACV) and revenue. The company achieved a 25% increase in annual contract value (ACV) and saw statutory revenue grow by 22%. During the year, Nuix successfully launched Nuix Neo, which has driven impressive growth in both new and existing customers. Nuix's underlying EBITDA grew by 18%, and overall cash flow was positive.

Gold Mountain (ASX:GMN)
GMN has reported promising results from its Itagi prospect in the Down Under Project area. The company collected 52 stream sediment samples that show significant potential for rare earth element (REE) deposits. The highest readings reached 305 ppm TREO, and there are indications of very high-grade mineralization of REE, niobium, uranium, and scandium. Next steps include identifying drill sites, conducting radiometric surveys to explore these high-grade areas further, and planning additional sampling to better understand the mineralisation.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Summit Minerals and White Cliff Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.