Morning traders. Thanks loungers, especially @Ravgnome.
Outlook for the day: Firmly negative after rates worries weighed on Wall Street and commodity markets.
ASX futures: down 83 points or 1.06%
Overnight themes:
US stocks slid as economic data added to worries that the next move in interest rates could still be higher, offsetting tech gains after Nvidia smashed earnings expectations.
The Dow tumbled 1.53% or more than 600 points to its heaviest loss of the year. A broad sell-off lowered all 30 component companies. Boeing and Intel were the biggest drags.
The broader S&P 500 lost 0.74% as a 0.56% rally in tech stocks helped offset losses across the other 10 sectors.
A 9.32% jump in Nvidia helped limit the Nasdaq Composite's loss to 0.39%. The chip-maker's shares closed above US$1,000 for the first time after it beat revenue guidance expectations and announced a stock split.
The market soured as positive economic news was interpreted as adding to inflationary risks and the danger of higher rates. A measure of business activity last month was the hottest in two years. Adding to worries, an increase in price inputs signalled a possible up-tick in inflation in future months. A separate report showed claims for unemployment benefits were lower than expected last week, indicating demand for labour remained robust.
"Anything that looks like good news is still being greeted as bad news, which shows we're still in this sort of Fed relief rally period where the market's generally happy that interest rates have stopped going up, but the worst thing would be for interest rates to continue going up at this point" - Brian Nick Senior Investment Strategist at The Macro Institute (per Reuters).
Rate-sensitive sectors suffered most as treasury yields continued to rally in response to Wednesday's hawkish Federal Reserve minutes and the odds on a September rate cut contracted to 52% from around 67% a week ago. Real estate slumped 2.16%, utilities 1.7% and consumer discretionary 1.52%.
Small caps were notably weak. The Russell 2000 shed 1.6%.
Copper declined for a third straight session amid reports of profit-taking and reluctance among buyers to purchase near record levels. Benchmark prices on the London Metal Exchanged dropped 0.58% to US$10,359 a metric ton. Other base metals also fell. Lead reversed 0.8% from a two-year high. Iron ore joined the retreat, dropping 1% from Wednesday's three-month peak.
Brent crude dipped below US$81 a barrel for the first time in almost three months as the threat of further US interest rate hikes dented buying interest. Benchmark prices dropped for a fourth day, settling 0.7% weaker at US$81.36 a barrel after trading as low as US$80.93.
Gold retreated further from record levels as surges in the US dollar and treasury yields undermined demand for alternative stores of wealth.
Key events today:
US revised consumer sentiment - tonight
US durable goods - tonight
S&P 500: down 39 points or 0.74%
Dow: down 606 points or 1.53%
Nasdaq: down 66 points or 0.39%
Dollar: down 0.19% to 66.05 US cents
Iron ore (Dalian): down 1% to US$125.17
Brent crude: down 54 US cents or 0.66% to US$81.36
Natural gas (US futures): down 6.26% to US$2.66
Gold: down US$55.70 or 2.33% to US$2,337.20
Silver: down 79 US cents or 2.55% to US$30.12
NYSE Arca Gold Bugs: down 2.18%
Bitcoin: down 2.79% to US$67,578
Copper (LME): down 0.58% to US$10,359
Nickel (LME): down 1.28% to US$10,090
Uranium (spot price): down 0.27% to US$92.25
Lithium carbonate (China spot): down 0.45% to US$14,697
