Australia Daily Briefing

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald both flagged the Fed's hold decision as the primary driver for the ASX 200 Thursday open. The RBA is still in a wait-and-see mode on its own rate path, and a Fed-hold that keeps US rates elevated (without cutting) gives the RBA air cover to maintain the cash rate without being accused of macro divergence. For superannuation funds with large US equity and bond allocations, a stable Fed path reduces reinvestment uncertainty. AUD/USD is the immediate read: if the dollar softens post-hold, AUD trades higher and commodity export revenues get a modest boost.

Macquarie (MQBKY) +1.50% led the ASX financial-sector session on the US rate-hold narrative and Macquarie's specific positioning in infrastructure finance — data centres and energy transition assets have been a key part of Macquarie Asset Management's global deal flow. AirTrunk CEO told ABC News that 'social licence' for data centres is essential for the AI build-out, flagging community and regulatory acceptance as the bottleneck for the AI infrastructure boom in Australia. Macquarie has significant exposure to this segment; the comment reinforces that the pipeline exists and the bottleneck is permitting rather than demand — a positive framing for Macquarie's infrastructure thesis.

Newmont (NEM) +1.14% held firm as gold proxies continue their 2026 run near record highs. Motley Fool Australia reported Macquarie is projecting a potential tripling in a lithium miner driven by strong battery/EV demand — a separate but adjacent metals story that shows the ASX materials sector is bifurcated: gold (safe-haven, monetary-stress bid) versus lithium (structural electrification demand). Gold miner comparisons are also live: Catalyst Metals +150% and Genesis Minerals surging over five years, per Motley Fool. For superannuation funds, the gold-vs-lithium allocation within materials is the current positioning question.