ASX 200 to fall, S&P 500 lower as Nvidia fades early strength, gold rally continues

The ASX 200 is set to ease from record highs following a heavy overnight session for US stocks, the Dow closed out its worst week since October, Nvidia finished 5% lower despite soaring 5% in early trade, gold continues to run hot – Up for an eight straight session and US unemployment unexpectedly hit a two-year high of 3.9% in February.

Let's dive in.

ASX TODAY

• ASX 200 set for a relatively heavy session after closing at record highs on Friday

• Bond yields continued to fall overnight, which may buoy yield-sensitive sectors like Real Estate and Utilities

• Local tech stocks to face selling pressure after weak lead from Wall Street

• Resources sector (notably lithium, uranium) also set for a weak start

• Paladin Energy proposes ten-for-one share consolidation to better reflect the company’s position as an ASX 200 company and provide greater appeal to international investors

• Kogan CFO and COO disclose sale of 2.0m shares at $8.0 per share

• TPG in talks to acquire Techem from Partners Group (Bloomberg)

• Ingenia Communities sees interest from Warburg Pincus PE group (AFR)

BROKER MOVES

• MAAS Group downgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies but target raise to $5.0 from $4.40

• Sayona Mining upgraded to Speculative Buy from Hold at Canaccord Genuity with $0.06 target price

MARKETS

• S&P 500 lower, faded from session highs of 0.62%

• Nvidia reversal was the big story – Briefly rallied 5.1% to record high of $974.0 but finished the session down -5.55% to $875.3

• Bond yields continued to fall, with the US 10-year Treasury yield down for a fourth straight session to lowest level since 5-Feb

• Gold rallied for an 8th consecutive session, up to US$2,178 (down from session highs of US$2,195)

• Major US benchmarks were mostly lower last week, led by the Nasdaq (-1.17%), Dow (-0.93%) and S&P 500 (-0.26%)

• Small-cap Russell 2000 outperformed, finishing the week up 0.30%

• Big tech posted mixed performance last week, with Apple (-4.9% and Tesla (-13.4%) offsetting gains from Nvidia (+6.4%)

• BofA says global equities attracted another US$6.9bn inflows for week ended 6-Mar, marking a seventh straight week of inflows

INTERNATIONAL STOCKS

• TSMC's Jan-Feb period sees 9.4% sales boost thanks to AI drive (Bloomberg)

• Costco shares sell off after Q4 earnings miss expectations (CNBC)

• Gap shares rally on strong holiday-quarter results (CNBC)

CENTRAL BANKS

• Powell suggests Fed nearly confident enough on inflation to begin rate cuts (Bloomberg)

• BOJ considers new quantitative policy framework and leaning toward exiting negative rates in March (Reuters)

• ECB officials back Lagarde flag for likely cut in June (Bloomberg)

GEOPOLITICS

• China raising more than US$27bn for third chip fund in response to US attempts to restrain China's abilities (Bloomberg)

• House committee advances bill that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok (FT)

• Biden instructs military to create temporary port on Gazan coast for aid (Bloomberg)

• Gaza ceasefire prospects dim amid Hamas' insistence on permanent truce (FT)

• 7nm chip powering Huawei's Mate 60 relied on US technology (Bloomberg)

ECONOMY

• US unemployment rate unexpectedly rises to two-year high of 3.9% (Reuters)

• Canada unemployment rate edges back up to 5.8% in February (Reuters)

• China inflation rebounds thanks to holiday boom but deflation risks linger (SCMP)

• Japan household spending falls by most since Feb-2021 (Reuters)

• German industrial production rebounds in January (Bloomberg)

ASX corporate actions occurring today:

• Trading ex-div: Adairs (ADH) – $0.05, Generation Development Group (GDG) – $0.01, Joyce Corp (JYC) – $0.11, Ramsay Healthcare (RHC) – $0.40, CSL (CSL) – $1.826, Coronado Global (CRN) – $0.005, COG Financial Services (COG) – $0.04, Seven Group (SVW) – $0.23, Dusk Group (DSK) – $0.025, Turners Automotive (TRA) – $0.056

• Dividends paid: Infomedia (IFM) – $0.022, Prestal (PTL) – $0.06, Domain (DHG) – $0.02, Fiducian Group (FID) – $0.18

• Listing: None

Economic calendar (AEDT):

No major economic announcements. 

This Morning Wrap was published by Hans Lee. Kerry is away for the Victorian Labour Day public holiday.