The local share market is likely to make a promising start this morning, with futures up 0.5% to 7,761 points.
There were mixed fortunes on Wall Street overnight as Nvidia continued to slide from its peak last week, when for a hot minute it was the most valuable company in the world.
Nvidia continues descent
The company slid for the third session in a row, this time by 6.7%, dragging the Nasdaq down more than a percentage point at close. The chipmaking giant’s market capitalisation now sits at a paltry US$2.9 trillion.
Other semiconductor stocks, including US-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Broadcom, Marvell Technology and Qualcomm, also fell between 3.5% and 5.7%, dragging the chip stocks index down 3%.
Super Micro Computer plummeted 8.7% while ResMed tumbled 11.5% following news that Eli Lilly's weight loss drug, tirzepatide, reduced the severity of sleep apnea.
Conversely, energy stocks such as APA Corp, Baker Hughes and SLB all moved up around 4% with rising oil prices.
The less tech-saturated Dow Jones fared better, climbing 261 points, or 0.7%, as investors rotated out of artificial intelligence (AI)-linked stocks, anticipating potential interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve later this year. Goldman Sachs helped to boost the index, surging 2.7%.
The S&P 500 was slightly down -0.3% to 5,447 points.
European shares were buoyant – particularly banks which were up 1.7% led by gains in Italian lenders BPER, UniCredit and Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which increased between 3.8% and 4.9%.
Automobile shares rose 1.5% as the European Union and China agreed to discuss planned tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).
Despite the Ifo Institute reporting a decline in its German business climate index to 88.6 in June from 89.3 in May, the continent-wide FTSEurofirst 300 index rose by 0.7%. The UK FTSE 100 index ended 0.5% higher.
Currencies and commodities
Currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade.
The Euro rose from US$1.0695 to US$1.0744, the Australian dollar lifted from US$0.6636 to US$0.6667 and the Japanese yen fell from 159.07 yen per US dollar to JPY159.81.
Global oil prices increased by about 1% due to strong summer driving demand and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with Brent crude rising US$0.77 to US$86.01 a barrel and US Nymex crude gaining US$0.90 to US$81.63 a barrel.
Base metal prices were mixed, with copper futures up 0.7% and aluminium futures down 0.4%.
The gold futures price rose US$13.20 to US$2,344.40 an ounce, supported by a weaker US dollar. Spot gold was near US$2,333 an ounce.
Iron ore futures dropped US$0.41 to US$106.55 a tonne, their lowest in over two months, amid weak steel consumption signals from China.
Market snapshot
- Australian dollar: steady at 66.57 US cents.
- S&P 500: -0.3% to 5,447 points.
- Nasdaq: -1.1% to 17,496 points.
- FTSE: +0.5% to 8,281 points.
- EuroStoxx: +0.7% to 518 points.
- Spot gold: +0.5% to $US2,332/ounce.
- Brent crude: +1% to $US86.12/barrel.
- Iron ore: -1.8% to $US103.30/tonne.
- Bitcoin: +0.4% at $US59,702.
Source: ABC
What’s happening in small caps?
The S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) was down 27.50 points or -0.92% to 2,977.10 overnight.
News is starting to trickle in this morning, and you can read about the following and more throughout the day:
- Tolu Minerals Ltd (ASX:TOK) has started an airborne MT geophysical survey over its PNG projects, including the Tolukuma Mining Lease and on New Britain Island, which should continue for the next three months.
- Highfield Resources Ltd (ASX:HFR) has made progress in securing the remaining funding for Phase 1 of the Muga Potash Mine in northern Spain, which the company says is set to deliver a new global and secure source of potash, a critical input in fertilisers to increase crop yields.
- Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has fielded further positive results in its search for new copper-gold deposits from the auger geochemical sampling program in the Eastern Group tenements 40 kilometres southeast of Nyngan in central NSW.
- Dynamic Metals Ltd (ASX:DYM) has received results from a recent soil sampling program completed at the Lake Percy Project, which covers the northern extents of the Lake Johnson greenstone belt in the Goldfields of Western Australia.