It’s starting to look like a flat Wednesday, with Aussie futures now pointing to a near-unnoticeable 0.03% drop for the bourse at open today.

We finally got Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s latest stance on cuts in the U.S. overnight: He said the central bank “does not need to be in a hurry to adjust” – and Wall Street shares ticked higher after the speech.

While only modest gains, all three major U.S. indices did add as much as 0.3%.

Back home, index leader Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) shared its half-year results with aplomb; the ‘big four’ bank beat expectations with $5.31B in cash profits.

Earlier, VanEck warned CBA’s “Cinderella story” has to end – but it didn’t happen today.

It may be enough to see the bourse go green today, though only time will tell.

Suncorp Group (ASX:SUN) has charted success too, reporting $1.1B in profit and unveiling a plan to roll out a special dividend for investors; around 22c per share, fully franked, as well as March’s 41c. A buyback is also on the cards.

Other ASX-listed companies also teed up to release half-year reports include Amotiv Limited (ASX:AOV) – formerly GUD Holdings – and AGL Energy (ASX:AGL).

Regional Express Holdings (ASX:REX) may have to look elsewhere for saviours too after Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley opposed the government’s plan to buy Rex Airlines, saying it would cost taxpayers a little too much.

On the HotCopper forums, EMVision Medical Devices (ASX:EMV) has emerged as an early morning watch after landing U.S. ethics approval.

Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 62.9 US cents.

To commodities, which are in the greenback,

Iron Ore has dropped 1.14% to $105.95 a tonne in Singapore,

Brent Crude is trading at $76.81,

Gold has held its ATH at $2,905 per ounce, and, 

US natgas futures are at $3.51 per gigajoule.

That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.