Biden awards US$2.8b for EV battery production: Novonix (ASX:NVX) allocated US$150m

 

Stocks moved lower on Wednesday as Wall Street struggled to extend its rally, amid a sharp rise in Treasury yields.

The US earnings season however is off to a solid start, but Treasury yields remain high and rose on Wednesday, suggesting that recession fears are still intact. The 10-year Treasury yield jumped sharply on Wednesday and traded as high as 4.136 per cent, the highest level since July 2008. This risk free rate of just over 4 per cent is now the benchmark for investors willing to take risk in the equity markets.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.9 per cent. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.7 per cent. The Dow slipped 98 points, or 0.3 per cent. The losses ended a two day winning streak, though all three averages are still up for the week.

Across the sectors, the impact of higher rates is being now seen in the housing market, where housing starts fell faster than expected in September according to the Census Bureau.

The big news overnight was the awarding of US$2.8B in grants for EV battery production from the Biden administration with the grants subject to some further negotiations.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) is set to receive $149.7 million to build a facility in North Carolina to lightly process rock containing lithium from a mine it is trying to reopen.

The ASX listed Novonix (ASX:NVX) will receive $150m which will be dedicated to the construction of a 30,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) US manufacturing facility.

Talon Metals Corp (TSE:TLO) will receive $114.8 million to build a processing plant in North Dakota in a strategy shift for the company, which has a nickel supply deal with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). 

Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX:PLL) is receiving $141.7 million to build its own lithium processing facility in Tennessee, where the company will initially process the metal sourced from Quebec and Ghana.

The privately owned – Lilac Solutions the tech partner of Lake Resources received $50 million for a demonstration plant for so-called direct lithium extraction technologies. 

Currencies

The Dollar index was up 0.7 per cent, with Euro and Sterling weakness in focus.

One Australian dollar has weakened compared to the US dollar yesterday, buying 62.72 US cents, 55.88 Pence Sterling, 93.98 Yen and 64.16 Euro cents.

Commodities

Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1.3 per cent fall.

Gold lost $21.90 or 1.3 per cent to US$1634 an ounce.

Silver fell $0.19 or 1.1 per cent to US$18.41 an ounce.

Copper lost $4.00 or 1.2 per cent to US$332.20 a pound.

Oil gained $2.94 or 3.6 per cent to US$85.76 a barrel.

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.7 per cent fall. 

Figures around the globe

Across the Atlantic, European markets closed lower. Paris fell 0.4 per cent, Frankfurt lost 0.2 per cent and London’s FTSE closed 0.2 per cent lower.

In Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.4 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.4 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 1.2 per cent.

Yesterday, the Australian sharemarket added 0.3 per cent to close at 6801.

Ex-dividends

Kelly Partners Group (ASX:KPG) is paying 0.3993 cents fully franked
Plato Inc Max (ASX:PL8) is paying 0.55 cents fully franked

Dividends payable

Energy One (ASX:EOL)
Horizon Oil (ASX:HZN)
Lovisa Holdings (ASX:LOV)
Nine Entertainment Co (ASX:NEC)
Ten Sixty Four (ASX:X64)

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
Copyright 2022 – Finance News Network

Source: Finance News Network