The pattern repeats. yesterday, the ASX hit a new all-time high. Overnight, US markets tumbled.
The pendulum has swung toward the bears once again. ASX Futures are down 134.5 points or 1.67% this morning.
Tech earnings reports mostly disappoint
Tech stocks were a major detractor overnight, with yesterday’s optimism for chip manufacturers turning to gloom – Arm Holdings’ less-than-stellar revenue coupled with a forward revenue warning from Qualcomm due to trade curbs took the wind out of their sails.
Nvidia undid much of yesterday’s progress, sliding 6.7%. Arms Holdings fell 15.7% and Qualcomm 9.4%.
Apple and Amazon suffered ahead of earnings reports released after the US market close, falling 1.7% and 1.6% respectively. Amazon is feeling the pinch as discretionary spending slumps, while Apple beat its earnings forecast despite notching the worst iPhone sales in years.
Holding firm against the sea change was Meta Platforms, which gained 4.8% on strong sales numbers in its reporting.
Moderna took a massive 21% hit to its stock price after slashing its forecasts for 2024 sales of Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus vaccines by up to 25%.
Economic vanguards JP Morgan and Boeing led the indexes down, falling 2.27% and 6.45% respectively.
The Dow slid 1.2% or 495 points, the Nasdaq 2.3% or 405 points and the S&P500 1.4%.
European markets
Indices in the Euro zone also fell overnight, with bank shares down 4.5% in their biggest slide since early last year.
The Bank of England finally made its first rate cuts, sending HSBC tumbling 6.5% after lowering the Bank rate to 5% from 5.25%.
Weakness in French retail data led Societe Generale down 9% as the bank cut its guidance for net retail interest income.
The UK FTSE100 slipped 1% and the FTSE300 1.3% as the DAXX slipped 2.3%.
Currencies and commodities
The US dollar strengthened overnight.
The Euro fell from US$1.0827 to near US$1.0790. The Australian dollar dropped from US65.59 cents to about US64.95 cents. The Japanese Yen fell from JPY149.45 per US dollar to end near JPY149.35.
Oil prices fell after the assassination of Hamas’ leader in Iran had less impact on the regional situation than expected.
Brent crude dropped US$1.32 or 1.6% to US$79.52 per barrel, while US Nymex crude fell by US$1.60 or 2.1% to US$76.31 per barrel.
Base metals fell, but iron ore rose. Copper futures slipped 2.2% on weak data from Chinese factories. Aluminium fell 0.6%.
Iron ore rose US$2.73, or 2.7%, to US$102.83 per tonne as Rio Tinto’s optimistic demand forecasts coupled with hopes for further stimulus in China lent momentum.
Gold rose once again, lifting 0.3% or US$7.80 to US$2,480.80 per ounce, lifted by the strong US dollar. Spot gold traded near US$2,445 per ounce at the US close.
On the small cap front
The ASX Small Ordinaries followed the ASX200 up yesterday, gaining 0.41% or 12.6 points.
The index is currently sitting 1.29% off it’s 52-week high, although it may fall today as the larger ASX slips.
You can read about the following and more on our website throughout the day.
- Astral Resources NL (ASX:AAR) has fielded strong drilling results with broad intersections up to 38 metres at 2.12 g/t gold from the Kamperman prospect, ahead of a resource upgrade for the larger Feysville Gold Project.
- Cadoux Ltd (ASX:CCM, OTCQB:FYIRF) has advanced feasibility studies and market development for its high purity alumina projects and is working toward a feasibility study for its Minhub project.
- Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM) is processing 19,000 metres of historical diamond drill core from the Ivigtût project area and is working toward a mining licence for the Ivigtût and Grønnedal prospects.
- Botala Energy Ltd (ASX:BTE) has completed the acquisition of the Serowe CBM Project and signed a heads of agreement with AAAS Energy to develop a 250MW solar project.
- Gold Hydrogen Ltd (ASX:GHY) is in the midst of analysing data from a 2D seismic survey over the Ramsay Project, with the goal of optimising drilling locations and well designs across the Yorke Peninsula.