ASX morning: Wall Street records, Cisco +13%, SPI futures lead 30 points above Thursday's 8,640.7 close
Sentiment: bullish SPI 200 futures: last near 8,670 vs Thursday's ASX 200 close 8,640.7 (~+0.3%)
Overnight Wall Street
- S&P 500: 7,501.24 (+0.77%) — first close above 7,500
- NASDAQ Composite: 26,635.22 (+0.88%) — record close
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 50,063.46 (+0.75%) — back above 50,000
- VIX: 17.26 (-3.41%)
The S&P 500 closed above 7,500 for the first time on 14 May 2026, with the NASDAQ also setting a record and the Dow reclaiming 50,000. The headline catalyst was Cisco (CSCO.US) +13% after a Q3 beat paired with a 4,000-role workforce reduction, which lifted networking and data-centre names across the session. A second tailwind came from the Trump-Xi summit: day-one talks ran 2 hours 15 minutes and the US approved H200 AI-chip sales to roughly ten Chinese firms — removing a hyperscaler-demand overhang that had been weighing on AI semis sentiment. VIX fell to 17.26, the lowest implied-vol read in a fortnight.
Commodities & FX (AU-relevant)
- Gold (Jun 26 future): US$4,655.40/oz (-0.64%)
- Brent: US$106.55 (+0.79%)
- WTI: US$102.02 (+0.84%)
- Copper (Jul 26): US$6.58/lb (-0.48%)
- AUD/USD: 0.7224 (-0.48%)
- Iron ore 62% Fe Qingdao spot: recently near US$105/t (TradingEconomics)
Bullion's overnight slip extends a quieter week for gold, while Brent's print sits inside the recent US$105-107 trading band, supported by ongoing references to the Strait of Hormuz blockade during the summit press readout. Copper softened modestly. The AUD/USD slide to 0.7224 is the largest single-session move since late April and translates into a modestly more favourable AUD-revenue conversion for ASX-listed USD-earners such as CSL.AU, CPU.AU, RMD.AU and JHX.AU.
Key themes for ASX open
Thursday's local session closed +0.12% (XJO 8,640.7) with banks (+1.02%) leading and IT (-2.20%) lagging — that sector profile sets up two specific dispersions into today's open.
- Tech catch-up: AU IT (XIJ) closed -2.20% Thursday while NASDAQ rallied +0.88% overnight — XRO.AU, NXT.AU and WTC.AU are the local IT-index heavyweights mapping to any catch-up reconciliation
- Cisco read-through: CSCO.US +13% extends to AU-listed data-centre and networking adjacencies; NEXTDC.AU and GMG.AU map directly to the thematic
- Banks momentum: XFJ +1.02% led Thursday, with the Dow back above 50,000 overnight — CBA.AU, NAB.AU, WBC.AU and ANZ.AU enter today as the local leadership cohort
- Energy bid: Brent at US$106.55 and WTI at US$102.02 underpin WDS.AU and STO.AU; XEJ extension would require Brent to clear US$107 intraday
- Gold miners: Bullion -0.64% overnight, but XGD already absorbed -1.42% on Thursday, so the AUD-translated drag is partly priced — NST.AU and EVN.AU enter the session with that prior-day move on the tape
Economic calendar today
- Domestic: no top-tier ABS data releases scheduled for 15 May 2026; offshore lead is the dominant input
- Offshore: Trump-Xi summit day two continues — press readouts on trade, Iran, and chip-export controls are the live wires
- US session tonight: April PPI and Industrial Production are the dated US releases on the calendar
What to watch
- Whether the XIJ open absorbs US tech strength in a single session, or the prior-day rotation away from growth into financials persists into a third day
- Brent's hold above US$105 as a clean barometer for energy-sector intraday breadth — the level matters more than the percentage
- AUD at 0.7224 is the softest read since 24 April; whether the move extends or fades over the local session shapes the USD-earner narrative
- Cisco's +13% extension into Asia trade — Japan (TOPIX semiconductor sub-index) and Korea (KOSPI semis) will set the morning tone for AU IT before the 10:00 AEST open
- Trump-Xi summit day-two communique timing: any press readout before the AU close re-prices materials and energy intraday
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