The ASX is poised to give up its winning streak today after a reversal on Wall Street put a dampener on gains.
Futures imply the benchmark index will open 53 points lower, down 0.76%.
What’s happening on Wall Street?
Wall Street fell into red territory as the crypto crumble, China’s COVID environment and oil’s performance weighed on investor sentiment.
Just under three-quarters of US stocks declined overnight, while more than half traded below their 200-day moving averages.
The Dow finished down 1.95%, the S&P slid 2.08% and the Nasdaq dropped 2.48%.
Newly minted Twitter boss Elon Musk made headlines on Wednesday — he sold another 19.5 million Tesla shares, worth nearly US$4 billion.
The selloff saw Tesla stock plunge another 6%, meaning the share price has fallen more than 50% in less than a year.
Meta, on the other hand, rose 4.9% after it announced it would lay off 11,000 employees — roughly 13% of its workforce.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the layoffs represented some of the most difficult changes in the company’s history.
“We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze,” he explained.
Commodities and currencies
WTI continued its rort overnight, dipping 3.51% to kick off a two-day losing streak. Brent crude dropped 3.27% to change hands at US$85.64 a barrel.
Gold and copper didn’t fare much better, dropping 0.38% and 0.23%, respectively, as the market corrects.
Speaking at a conference in Dallas, Texas, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Thomas Barkin said he believed we’re on the back foot — not the front end — of an inflation surge.
“Commodity prices seem to be cooling, supply chains seem to be easing up, excess spending is being spent down and the Fed is raising rates and doing what we need to do about it,” he explained.
The crypto market also prolonged its tailspin overnight — Bitcoin is down 12.33%, while Ethereum fell as much as 13%. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global shed 12%.
Finally, the Aussie dollar weakened overnight to buy 64 US cents.
On the ASX
It’s all about the AGM at the top end of town — big names in Resources and Energy will regale shareholders today.
A big day ahead for Annual General Meetings (AGM). $BHP, $AMC, $ANN, $BRG, $COE, $CPU, $IFL, $JIN, $NEA & $NEC all set to meet with investors.
— CommSec (@CommSec) November 9, 2022
Meanwhile, Jervois Global is reaching out in a different way: it’s asking investors for $231 million to restart its Brazilian battery metals refinery.
In other news, Origin Energy is at the centre of a surprise $18.4 billion takeover bid lobbed by Canadian multinational Brookfield and private equity firm MidOcean Energy.
The non-binding offer values Origin at A$9 a share — up from an earlier proposal priced at A$7.95 and well above Wednesday’s A$5.81 closing price.
Origin will recommend the offer to its shareholders if it firms into a binding bid.
Finally, there’s lots happening in the boardroom this morning: Brendan Harris is stepping up as Sandfire Resources’ CEO and MD, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is taking the reins at Xero and The a2 Milk company has tapped Chopin Zhang for its chief supply chain officer role.