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Wall St closed sharply lower on Wednesday as investors responded to disappointing rate outlook out of the Fed’s last FOMC meeting for the year. The Dow Jones posted its 10th straight losing session with a decline of 2.58%, while the S&P500 tumbled 2.95% and the Nasdaq tanked 3.56%. The Fed lowered the US cash rate to 4.25%-4.5% as expected at the final Fed rate meeting of the year but investors were more focused on the commentary out of the Fed that it will only cut rates twice in 2025, which is half the number of cuts previously forecast out of the US central bank.

Over in Europe on Wednesday, market closed slightly higher as investors responded to UK inflation data and awaited the Fed’s rate decision in the US. The STOXX 600 rose 0.16%, Germany’s DAX closed flat, the French CAC rose 0.26%, and, in the UK, the FTSE100 ended the day up 0.26%. UK inflation data showed inflation in the region rose to 2.6% in November which was in line with economists’ expectations.

Across the Asia region overnight, markets closed mixed on Wednesday ahead of Japan’s Central Bank interest rate decision later this week. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.72%, South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 1.12%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.95%.

The local market closed virtually flat on Wednesday with a 0.06% close in the red as a sell off in consumer discretionary and financial stocks weighed on gains from industrials and healthcare stocks. The flat reading on Wednesday was due to investors sitting on the sidelines awaiting the Fed’s final rate decision for 2024 due out over the coming days.

Vulcan Energy’s shares rose 1.9% after securing a €879 million ($1.4 billion) loan commitment for its €2.2 billion Phase One Lionheart Project in Germany. The financing, involving Export Finance Australia and seven commercial banks, will support the development of Vulcan’s geothermal lithium project.

What to watch today:

• Ahead of Thursday’s trading session on the key index the SPI futures are expecting the ASX will open the day down 1.61%, tracking Wall Street’s tumble overnight.
• On the commodities front this morning oil is down 0.34% at US$70.05/barrel, gold is down 2.22% at US$2588/ounce, and iron ore is up 0.16% at US$105.58/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has weakened against most currencies overnight to buy US$0.62, 96.31 Japanese Yen, 49.69 British Pence and NZ$1.10.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has initiated coverage of James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX) with a buy rating and 12-month price target of $64. The analyst sees James Hardie has significant growth potential in the North American market where it currently has a strong market leadership position. The analyst sees JHX is one of the most defensive and high-quality companies leveraged to the US housing market.
• Trading Central has identified a bullish signal on Humm Group (ASX:HUM) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 17-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may rise from the close of $0.69 to the range of $0.88 to $0.92 according to standard principles of technical analysis.