Outlook for the day: Sharply negative following further weakness in US stocks and key commodity prices.
ASX futures: down 87 points or 1.09%
Overnight themes:
US stocks sank as Wednesday's tech-led selling broadened to encompass almost all sectors.
The Dow's string of record highs ended with a reversal of 1.29%.
A day after its biggest loss since 2022, the Nasdaq declined 0.7% as investors continued to dump the high-flying megacap tech stocks that fuelled this year's rally. Apple and Alphabet both lost more than 1.8%.
The S&P 500 shed 0.78% as ten out of eleven sectors declined.
"What's different from yesterday is you did see money going into other sectors... but today it’s a pretty broad selloff" - Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder (per Reuters).
Wall Street's "fear gauge", the VIX or volatility index, climbed to its highest since May.
The Russell 2000 index of small caps declined for a second day after charging up 11.5% in five sessions. The index retreated 1.85% overnight.
A mixed night for corporate earnings saw Domino's Pizza tumble 13.57% after a sales miss, while a profit beat boosted house-builder Horton 10.1%.
Energy was the only S&P sector to weather the storm, rising 0.33% as crude prices mostly held their ground.
Healthcare was the worst of the sectors, diving 2.29% as traders took profits on two days of strong gains. The two sectors with the biggest weighting on the ASX - financials and materials - fell 1.28% and 1.02%, respectively.
ASX heavyweights BHP and Rio Tinto tracked declines in commodity prices in overseas trade. Iron ore hit a three-week low as the prospect of a revived trade war between China and the USA added to headwinds that also included evidence of softening steel demand and a lack of meaningful stimulus measures from China's Third Plenum. Benchmark ore dropped 1.65% in China. Copper slumped 2.74% to a three-month low in London. Other industrial metals also retreated.
"Copper is being hammered. Nothing new is coming out from Beijing" - Alastair Munro, senior base metals strategist at brokerage Marex (per Reuters).
Key events today:
(No major data scheduled)
S&P 500: down 44 points or 0.78%
Dow: down 533 points or 1.29%
Nasdaq: down 126 points or 0.7%
Dollar: down 0.36% to 67.05 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): down 1.65% to US$110.99
Brent crude: down 3 US cents or 0.04% to US$85.11
Gold: down US$3.50 or 0.14% to US$2,456.40
Silver: down 15 US cents or 0.49% to US$30.22
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 1.64%
Bitcoin: down 0.55% to US$63,843
Copper (LME): down 2.74% to US$9,371
Nickel (LME): down 0.51% to US$16,425
Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF: down 0.91%
Uranium (spot): down 0.83% to US$85.50
BHP: down 1.53% (US); down 1.05% (UK)
