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 Friday, July 25, 2025. Here’s what you should know before the ASX opens today…

At 7am AEST, ASX futures were down 0.5%, pointing to a sluggish start for Friday.

And somewhere in the ether, the spirit of Hulk Hogan flexed one last time. The wrestling icon and pop culture titan passed away at 71 in Florida last night.

Here’s what else went down while you were snuggling...

Wall Street juggles highs

Overnight in the States, Wall Street was its usual bag of mixed lollies.

The Dow Jones dropped 0.7%, thanks largely to IBM tripping over its own software sales.

Nasdaq was up 0.2%, while the S&P 500 edged up just 0.1% to hit a fourth straight record. The S&P’s record run has now logged 10 new highs in just 19 sessions.

STOCK INDICES	Value	Change
ASX 200 (previous day)	8,709	-0.32%
S&P 500	6,363	0.07%
Dow Jones	44,694	-0.70%
Nasdaq Comp	21,058	0.18%
Euro Stoxx 50	5,355	0.20%
UK FTSE	9,138	0.85%
German DAX	24,296	0.23%
French CAC	7,818	-0.41%

Wall Street veteran Ed Yardeni called it a “slow-motion melt-up,” fuelled by momentum names like Nvidia and Amazon that just keep marching higher.

Tesla, meanwhile, took a nosedive, off 11% at one point, before clawing back some ground to close down 8%.

“We probably could have a few rough quarters,” said Elon in an earnings call.

Tesla is losing tax breaks, demand is wobbly, and tariffs are eating into margins like termites in a timber yard.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan reckons markets still have legs.

Their traders say that if macro data holds up, Wall Street could go “a significant step higher.”

BP bails on Australia’s hydrogen

BP has just hit the kill switch on one of Australia’s boldest hydrogen plays, the $54 billion Australian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) up in the Pilbara.

The oil giant only jumped in two years ago, but now says the whole thing doesn’t quite fit with its shiny new “strategy reset”.

The AREH was supposed to be a renewable beast, giant solar and wind farms pumping out green hydrogen to clean up mining ops and fuel exports.

But now it joins the growing pile of abandoned hydrogen hype.

Fortescue is already taking a $150 million bath on two dud projects, and Woodside is torching $140 million on a fizzled US plan.

Oil stocks in spotlight

Early news that Chevron might resume limited production in Venezuela took the steam out of prices.

But the market found its second wind when Russia said it would slash gasoline exports to all but a few close allies.

That was enough to tip sentiment back into the green.

“The market was looking for a reason to go higher,” said Phil Flynn at Price Futures Group.

Watch for ASX oil stocks today.

And finally...

Back home, it’s a quieter Friday but still worth watching.

We’ve got quarterly earnings expected from Whitehaven Coal and Newmont.

Eyes will be on coal margins and any read-through on China demand.

Commodity/forex/crypto market prices

Price (US)	Move
Gold:	$3,368.43	-0.57%
Silver:	$39.05	-0.53%
Iron ore:	$98.27	0.16%
Nickel:	$15,470	-0.67%
Copper:	$11,611	-0.14%
Zinc:	$2,843	-0.77%
Lithium carbonate 99.5% Min China Spot:	$8,550	0.60%
Oil (WTI):	$66.16	1.39%
Oil (Brent):	$69.32	1.18%
AUD/USD:	$0.6590	0.12%
Bitcoin:	$118,665	-0.11%

What got you talking

Also in the news…

After a long winter, lithium has begun to claw its way back this month. Is this a dead cat bounce, or something more?

The next junior to make a move in the hot Murchison gold fields has emerged.

Uranium equities at the small end of the market are primed for a re-rate, on the back of a revival in the U3O8 spot price.

Health Check: Records tumble as biotech’s star quarterly reporters pick up the pace.

Trading Halts

Asara Resources (ASX:AS1) – cap raise
Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM) – cap raise
Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) – pending government project approval
Norfolk Metals (ASX:NFL) – cap raise
Painchek (ASX:PCK) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Bubalus Resources 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