ASX takes a breather; Zip surges, Guzman y Gomez shares roasted

Ingham’s was the day’s biggest loser. Shares in the wholesale chicken supplier crashed 20.3 per cent to $2.83 after it released a disappointing set of full-year results, with a 1.5 per cent year-on-year decline in revenue to $3.15 billion. In Australia, the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell 3.4 per cent to $183.7 million, coming in below estimates.

Guzman y Gomez also plummeted, 18.2 per cent, after its earnings missed expectations. The fast food chain has shed 19.4 per cent of its share price despite unveiling a 23 per cent gain in network sales, more than doubling net profits to $14.5 million, and declaring a maiden dividend of 12.6¢ fully franked.

The much-hyped burrito chain’s results missed RBC Capital Markets’ estimates by 7.5 per cent and consensus by 3.1 per cent, with the first seven weeks of fiscal 2026 trade (3.7 per cent comparable sales) coming in lower than analyst consensus estimates of 7.6 per cent.

Healthcare stocks were weak, fading 2.4 per cent, with losses across the segment that is down almost 10 per cent for the week after an earnings miss from sector giant CSL (down 4.2 per cent). Monash IVF Group shares tumbled 13.7 per cent after it reported underlying net profit of $27.4 million, down 8.1 per cent on the previous year.

Financial stocks were flat, with CBA (down 0.6 per cent) dragging on the sector. ANZ shed 0.2 per cent, Westpac added 0.7 per cent and NAB was up 0.2 per cent.

The materials sector finished in the red, down 0.5 per cent. BHP (down 0.1 per cent), Rio Tinto (down 1.1 per cent) and Fortescue (1.1 per cent weaker) all edged lower.

The lowdown

Australia’s sharemarket is taking a breather after three straight weeks of gains and cracking 9000 points for the first time on Thursday ahead of a key central banking conference at the weekend.

Financials and consumer discretionary stocks outperformed this week, each up more than 4 per cent thanks to some impressive financial scorecards and signs of rebounding consumer confidence in the broader economy.

While the local bourse hung on to some of the week’s historic gains, all eyes are on the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium this weekend for hints of the central bank’s appetite for interest rate cuts.

“It was fairly modest pullback today in the context of things,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda said.

“But, quite simply, the next cue is going to come from this speech, and we’ll only know that about midnight tonight and then see how we open on Monday.”

The local bourse has largely ignored Wall Street weakness this week, as slow economic growth and tariff impacts in the US feed worries of stagflation in the world’s largest economy.

“Investors are keen for a rate cut in the US, and are cautious ahead of a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell tonight from the central bankers’ meeting in Wyoming,” Moomoo dealing manager Jimmy Tran said.

“It’s expected he’ll indicate a direction on rates, which will cement or allay concerns.”

The Federal Reserve’s annual conference, hosted by the Kansas City Fed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, began on Thursday evening (Friday AEST) with a dinner for the central bankers, economists and journalists who have flown in from around the world.

Fed watchers and investors will be listening for any hint of what policymakers may do at their September meeting. The US central bank may be on the cusp of again lowering interest rates, after keeping them on hold this year to gauge how tariffs would affect the economy. Powell could indicate this week if his colleagues are leaning one way or the other. With inflation above the Fed’s 2 per cent target even as hiring is cooling, officials have so far been divided on how soon cuts can come.

Market pricing shows investors expect a rate cut in September, followed by at least one more later this year. US President Donald Trump, a frequent critic of the Fed, has demanded that Powell and his colleagues lower rates significantly, with some in the administration calling for an outsize half percentage point cut next month.

“Ahead of chair Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, markets appear overly hopeful for a dovish shift,” said Rajeev De Mello, chief investment officer at Gama Asset Management. “We expect the Fed to maintain a cautious, data-driven stance.”

Traders are betting on a nearly three-in-four chance that the Fed will lower its main interest rate at its next meeting in September, data from CME Group shows.

A cut in interest rates would be the first of the year and give investment prices and the economy a boost by potentially making it cheaper to borrow to buy cars or equipment. But it could also risk worsening inflation.

The Fed has been hesitant to cut interest rates this year, fearing Trump’s tariffs could push inflation higher, but a surprisingly weak report on jobs growth earlier this month suddenly made the jobs market a bigger worry. Trump, meanwhile, has angrily pushed for cuts to interest rates, often insulting Powell while doing so.

With AAP, AP

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