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55m agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 8:39 pm
Market snapshot
- ASX 200 futures: +0.2%
- Australian dollar: -0.4% at 69.95 US cents
- Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.7%), S&P 500 (-0.2%), Nasdaq (-1.2%)
- Europe: FTSE (+0.8%)
- Spot gold: +0.3% to $US4,949/ounce
- Spot silver: +3.1% to $US85.84/ounce
- Oil (Brent crude): +1.8% to $US64.36/barrel
- Bitcoin: -3.3% to $US73,499
Prices are currently around 7:30 am AEDT
Live updates on the major ASX indices:
10m agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 9:24 pm
Australian steel businesses are battling cheap imports
An interesting read from our colleagues this morning, about how Australian steel companies are battling to survive as cheap imports increase competition.
“We’re running almost unprofitably at the moment and hanging in there hoping things might get better,” one company’s boss tells ABC News.
“But if it doesn’t, we’ll have to make some drastic decisions.”
More here:
43m agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 8:51 pm
Labor is considering changes to the capital gains tax
Australia’s peak body for the union movement has put out a statement this morning, following reports overnight that Labor is considering changes to key housing tax policy.
A government source told the ABC that, while a final decision had not been made, there was an appetite to pursue housing-related reform, that discussions were ongoing, and that changes to the capital gains tax had not been ruled out.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have both ruled out changes to negative gearing, which was one component of the controversial housing tax agenda Labor took to the 2019 federal election under Bill Shorten.
The ACTU says it wants capital gains tax discounts reduced from 50% to 25% and negative gearing concessions limited to one investment property with a phase-in period.
“When tax concessions push investment into property speculation instead of new housing and productive businesses, working people lose twice – through higher house prices and weaker wage growth,” Secretary Sally McManus said in a statement this morning.
The ACTU says it’ll also push for above-inflation wage increases this financial year, in part due to higher housing costs.
1h agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 8:32 pm
AUD below 70 US cents again
The Aussie dollar is currently trading at 69.95 US cents after losing around 0.4% overnight. However, CBA’s currency analysts note it is getting support from forecasts that the RBA will continue lifting interest rates this year.
“The Australian cash rate futures market continues to price about another 1½ 25bp rate hikes from the RBA by year‑end. Pricing for a May hike (our new view) has now risen to 86%,” they write this morning.
1h agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 8:30 pm
Chance of a rate hike in March: NAB
NAB’s chief economist Sally Auld spoke to the ABC yesterday to discuss the fall-out from the RBA’s rate hike on Tuesday and whether the board’s language is looking more hawkish.
“The statement on monetary policy definitely had a hawkish tone. They really emphasised they’d been surprised by inflation,” she said about this week’s public commentary from the RBA.
NAB was one of the bigger banks that called the February rate hike earlier, and it is currently joined by CBA in also predicting a May rate hike.
“This is not a situation that will be resolved by just one and done. As in, one rate hike and move on,” Dr Auld told ABC News.
“There is always a small chance they might be forced to follow up with another rate hike in March. The story could play out a little more quickly than our central case expectation.”
But she says, there needs to be “surprises” in upcoming data for a March hike, including GDP data and upcoming monthly inflation figures.
You can watch more in this TV story that aired on ABC’s The Business last night.
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1h agoWed 4 Feb 2026 at 8:13 pm
Wall Street drops on AI bubble fears
Wall Street’s tech index has dropped 1.2% overnight, as investors mull whether investment in AI has finally grown too big. The Dow, however, overall ended up.
There were losses in Advanced Micro Devices, Palantir, and other technology companies.
Google’s owner, Alphabet, fell 2.3% ahead of its quarterly results after the bell, which will give investors a fresh glimpse of how much of its massive investments in AI are contributing to its top-line sales growth.
AMD tumbled 16% after the chipmaker forecast quarterly revenue that disappointed investors, and suggested it is having a tough time competing against AI heavyweight Nvidia. NVIDIA also dropped 3.7%, and the PHLX semiconductor overall index lost 5.4%.
Want to know more about the background of these companies and concerns about a bubble? Read on.
Source link: Abc.net.au.
