Swingfolio Daily
ASX briefings — Thursday 21 May 2026
Morning setup and afternoon close recap for Thursday 21 May 2026. Observations only — no trade advice.
Thursday 21 May 2026
ASX 200 set to open higher after Wall Street rally and a 5% oil slide; April jobs data due — 21 May 2026
US stocks rallied overnight — S&P 500 +1.08%, Nasdaq +1.54%, Dow +1.31% to 50,009 — as crude fell more than 5% on optimism over Iran negotiations and the VIX dropped to 17.44. Nvidia beat and raised but slipped about 2.5% after hours. SPI 200 futures rose about 1% to near 8,560, pointing to a higher ASX open after Wednesday's 1.26% fall, with April labour force data due at 11:30 AEST.
ASX 200 climbs 1.47% to 8,622 as weak jobs data trims RBA hike bets — 21 May 2026
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.47% to 8,621.7 on 21 May 2026, its best session in weeks, after April unemployment climbed to 4.5% and pared back RBA rate-hike expectations. Rare earths, lithium and copper miners rose 5–10% while energy fell on an overnight crude slide. EchoIQ led at +14.7%; Catapult extended a record-result surge.