ASX to edge higher; Wall Street slumps as bank and tech stocks fall
The heaviest weights in the market were technology stocks, which have given back some of the big gains they made from the AI technology craze in recent years. Nvidia fell 2.1 percent and Broadcom fell 4.6 percent.
Still, most stocks on Wall Street rose as they fell, and the strongest forces protecting the S&P 500 from bigger losses were Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.
Exxon Mobil rose 3.5 percent and Chevron rose 2.7 percent; The barrel price of benchmark US crude oil increased by 1.3 percent, bringing its gain for the year to over 7 percent.
Oil prices rose as protests grew in Iran, a member of the OPEC group that helps set crude oil prices. Protests could disrupt production and tighten crude oil supplies.
In addition to the increase in oil prices, the price of gold also increased by 0.9 percent, moving towards a record, and this was another signal of uneasiness in the financial markets.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell as investors sought investments they viewed as safer. Various reports on the US economy were also mixed.
Shoppers spent more at U.S. retailers in November than economists expected, one said. This could be an encouraging signal about the main engine of the U.S. economy, but economists have noted that some worrying signals lie on the surface.
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A separate report said prices rose modestly at the U.S. wholesale level in November. This follows a report released Tuesday that said U.S. consumer-level inflation was near economists’ expectations last month but remained above the Fed’s 2 percent target.
A third report said occupied home sales were stronger last month than economists expected. Taken as a whole, the data did little to change Wall Street’s expectation that the Fed will cut its key interest rate at least twice this year to support the job market, according to CME Group; It will probably start around June.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.14 percent from 4.18 percent on Tuesday (US time).
In foreign stock markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index reached a new record with an increase of 1.5 percent, as expectations increased that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi might call a general election soon.
Indices were mixed elsewhere. Stocks rose 0.6 percent in Hong Kong and fell 0.3 percent in Shanghai after a report showed China’s trade surplus rising to a record 20 percent in 2025 despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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