Day traders' after-market lounge July 18

Thanks afternoon crew.

End-of-day summary:

Australian shares backed off record levels after a tech sell-off-on Wall Street, a third of day of iron ore falls and unexpectedly strong jobs growth that appeared to elevate the risk of another rate hike.

The ASX 200 dropped 21 points or 0.27% from yesterday's all-time closing high.

The tech sector slumped 3.39% from its highest level since November 2021 following the Nasdaq's worst night in more than a year and a half. The tech-heavy US index tumbled 1.85% overnight after Bloomberg alleged the White House was considering tougher tariffs on semiconductor chips.

Fortescue Metals, Rio Tinto and BHP fell as benchmark iron ore in China declined 1.2%. Ore prices have fallen this week in the wake of soft Chinese GDP data.

Today's selling accelerated after a mid-morning report showed the economy created more than twice as many jobs last month as economists predicted. Some economists feel recent data leave the RBA no choice but to raise official rates to contain inflation.

“It is becoming a lot clearer with inflation at 4 per cent and showing no signs of slowing that the RBA is going to have to capitulate at some point and increase rates. This is the only way to push inflation back into the RBA’s target range,” said VanEck’s head of investments, Russel Chesler (source: the AFR).