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 22, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST, ASX futures were up 0.4%, a solid pointer to a green open on Wednesday.

Here’s everything that went down while you were snoring...

Wall Street’s record run hits speed bump

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 barely squeaked out a gain, up just 0.06%, while the Dow climbed 0.4% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.4%.

The S&P still managed to nab a fresh record close, but the tech sector, which has been dragging the whole thing uphill lately, finally showed signs of fatigue.

STOCK INDICES	Value	Change
ASX 200 (previous day)	8,677	0.10%
S&P 500	6,310	0.06%
Dow Jones	44,502	0.40%
Nasdaq Comp	20,893	-0.39%
Euro Stoxx 50	5,290	-0.98%
UK FTSE	9,024	0.12%
German DAX	24,042	-1.09%
French CAC	7,744	-0.69%

Nvidia and Meta wobbled ahead of key earnings from Tesla and Alphabet, due out after tonight’s US close.

Still, more than 400 stocks in the S&P 500 rose, with defensive sectors like healthcare and materials holding up the tent poles.

Fundstrat’s Mark Newton reckons the S&P 500 could hit 6,400 before it hits real resistance. That’s about 90 points from last night’s close, and frankly, no one’s betting against it.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s got a cyber headache. It’s pointing the finger at Chinese state-backed hackers for exploiting SharePoint software holes to snoop on companies and government outfits across the globe.

Elsewhere, OpenAI and Oracle are beefing up their AI arsenal, teaming up to build a jaw-dropping 4.5 gigawatts of extra US data centre grunt.

It’s a full-blown grid to fuel the next wave of artificial intelligence muscle.

Meme stock fever’s back, baby

Something very 2021 crept back into the market - meme stocks.

US department store retailer Kohl’s Corp' stock surged 105% intraday before closing 38% higher last night, dragged into the limelight by the Reddit crowd.

Opendoor was last week’s darling, up more than 300% over six sessions before finally cooling off.

“I’ve been seeing signs of a ‘flight to crap’ recently,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers.

It’s retail traders piling into heavily shorted, low-price stocks with the same fever energy as the original GameStop rebellion.

Powell in the firing line, again

The pressure’s cranking up on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, again.

Economist Mohamed El-Erian reckons Powell should quit to protect the Fed’s independence.

In a pointed post, he wrote: “If Chair Powell's objective is to safeguard the Fed's operational autonomy… then he should resign.”

But Treasury boss Scott Bessent stepped in to back Powell, saying, “There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now.”

Trump, of course, disagrees. He’s been on Powell’s case for months and reiterated overnight that Powell’s “done a bad job”, but will be “out pretty soon anyway - in eight months.”

Iron ore on a climb

While Wall Street was fidgeting, iron ore just kept climbing.

Dalian futures jumped to the highest since February, and Singapore contracts weren’t far behind.

It’s being driven by news out of China, with a new US$167-billion hydropower mega-project in Tibet stirring hopes for a fresh round of steel-hungry infrastructure builds.

That said, Beijing’s been making noises about cutting overcapacity in the steel sector, which could cap the upside.

And finally...

Locally, we’ve got earnings rolling in from Iluka Resources, Woodside Energy, and Paladin Energy.

Tonight, all eyes turn to Tesla and Alphabet’s June quarter results - the first of the Magnificent Seven to step into the earnings confessional.

As Kathleen Brooks at XTB put it, Alphabet will be a “key litmus test” for whether all this AI hype is translating into actual money.

Investors are hoping the pudding tastes as good as it’s been hyped.

Read more here: Big Tech braces for judgment week, as JPMorgan flags extreme crowding

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

Price (US)	Move
Gold:	$3,431.41	0.96%
Silver:	$39.29	0.94%
Iron ore:	$97.84	0.64%
Nickel:	$15,530	0.13%
Copper:	$11,468	2.43%
Zinc:	$2,857	0.41%
Lithium carbonate 99.5% Min China Spot:	$8,550	0.60%
Oil (WTI):	$65.45	-0.76%
Oil (Brent):	$68.72	-0.71%
AUD/USD:	$0.6555	0.28%
Bitcoin:	$119,622	1.84%

What got you talking

Also in the news…

Health Check: Bug buster Genetic Signatures’ US expansion is a jumbo-sized task.

Dr Boreham’s Crucible: After major setback, Percheron ploughs new direction.

What impact will Chris Bowen’s gas review have on ASX explorers?

Trading Halts

American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) – cap raise
I Synergy Group (ASX:IS3) – ASX price query
Octava Minerals (ASX:OCT) – cap raise
Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) – cap raise
West Coast Silver (ASX:WCE) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Alterity Therapeutics 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.