Good morning traders. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the aftermarket loungers. Not much to smile about yesterday, here' hoping todays a bit better. Probably all those Kiwis on holiday that weren't propping up the market's fault.

ASX Market Report

The ASX 200 fell 76.4 points, or 1.19% which was the index's' largest single-day loss since the first day of trading this year. This came on the back of a very poor lead-in from the US markets from last week, as well as weak futures further adding to investor fears which have been fuelled by geopolitical and trade tensions.

The defensive real estate sector was the only one to see a gain for the day. The utilities sector also held up fairly well, losing 0.18%.

But the real bright spot on a dour day was the gold miners after gold futures rose again, the ASX All Ords Gold index rose a whopping 3.77% to go with Friday’s 2.63% rise. Shares in Newcrest Mining (NWC) rose 3.68%, Evolution Mining (EVN) rose 3.63%, and Northern Star rose 2.57%. There were even larger gains to be found in smaller capped stocks as 5 of the top gainers in the ASX All Ordinaries were gold stocks. Thinly traded Anglogold (AGG) rose 6.56%, Saracen Mineral Holdings (SAR) was up 6.41%, Alcaer Gold (AQG) rose 7.04%, Regis Resources (RRL) was up 7.19%, Gold Road Resources (GOR) climbed 9.55%.

Energy stocks were again amongst the weakest, weakness in Oil prices largely to blame. But it was a poor day all round, with the majority of sectors falling over one percent. The 2.41% decline in Woodside Petroleum (WPL) led the sector south, as well as declines in Santos (STO) which fell 2.37%, and a 3.41% fall in Worleyparsons (WOR).

Looks like everyone is Banking on a rate cut today, there is also the expectation amongst some that the RBA will indicate another cut later on this year. At this point, it would appear be a major shock if the cut does not come.

The financial sector fell the day before the expected rate cut, with all of the major banks suffering loses. Commonwealth (CBA) was down 0.76% to $77.91, Westpac shares were down 1.31% to $27.08, ANZ shares fell 1.22% to $27.54, and NAB was down 0.60% to $26.33.

The mining sector was down 1.55% after iron ore futures tumbled further. Heavyweight BHP was down 2.52%, Rio Tinto fell 3.18%, and Fortescue Metals (FMG) was down 3.6%.

Eclipx Group was the big winner on the benchmark index for a second day running after last weeks positively received plans to turn the company around, shares were as high of $1.50 before closing at $1.34, up 19.64% for the day.

At 7am AEST the Aussie dollar was buying 0.6977 USD, 0.5509 GBP, 0.6205 EUR, 75.41 JPY, and 1.0575 NZD.

The ASX 200 futures were pointing towards a 47 points or 7.4% fall.

Global Markets Report

In Asia, it was largely a mixed bag as tensions between the U.S. and China ramped up further. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.3%, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.92%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat, losing 0.03%, and Korea’s Kospi again outperformed by rising 1.28%.

In Europe, there was a slight bounce from Friday's tumble, as Donald Trump made his way to the UK for a few days and talked up a potential trade deal with the UK if they do eventually leave the EU. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.3%, the DAX was up 0.56%, and the London FTSE 100 rose 0.32%

The U.S. markets were a genuine mixed bag, with the Dow papering over the cracks a bit with a late rally to close flat, up 4.74 points 0.02%. The S&P 500 was down 7.61 points or 0.28%, but the major talking point was the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which plunged 120.13 points or 1.61%. The fall came on the back of reports coming out that the Department of Justice has agreed to step up anti-trust regulations, and that Facebook and Google parent Alphabet could be the ones in their sights. The likes of Amazon, Netflix, and Apple were also down following those reports.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against six major currencies, was down 0.38% to 97.24.

In commodities, WTI crude fell slightly to $52.84 a per barrel after being higher for much of the day. Gold continued its run from last week, rising 1.5% to $1324.80.

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