Despite a surge in iron ore prices on Monday Australian share prices are headed for a big fall this morning after a sell-off in tech stocks shook Wall Street.
In fact, the ASX could very well wipe out Monday’s overconfident 58 point gain this morning after the late sag on Wall Street.
Wall Street closed mostly lower, with only the Dow clinging to an unconvincing 10 point gain after technology stocks fell and rising coronavirus cases led California’s governor to order most businesses across the state to be closed once again.
Florida reported another record number of cases and deaths in the state from the virus surged.
Share prices had started the week with sharp gains after the US Food and Drug Administration granted “fast track” status to a pair of vaccine candidates produced by Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech SE.
Shares of Pfizer closed up 4.1%, while those of BioNTech rose 10.6%.
But the rally in technology and tech-related companies that propelled the Nasdaq Composite to a new intraday high on Monday faded in later afternoon trading and slumped at the end to leave the Nasdaq off more than 2%.
The S&P 500 index was also in the red at the end, and that saw overnight trading on the ASX futures platform to lose 47 points, meaning a sharpish fall is ahead of the local market this morning. That was after 58 point climb on an overly confident Monday.
The Dow rose by just 10.5 points, a gain of less than 0.1%, to end at 26,085.80. The Nasdaq tumbled 226.60 points, or 2.1%, to close at 10,390.84, after setting a new intraday record at the start of trading. The S&P 500 fell 29.82 points, or 0.9%, to finish at 3,155.22.
California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered every county in the state to shut bars, indoor dining, movie theatres, and wineries, while the state grapples with soaring COVID-19 cases.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.8% or the 9th day in the past 10 while the CSI 300 Index jumped 2.1%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose 2.2%, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong edged up a more cautious 0.2%.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Europe Index finished 1% higher, while London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.3%.
Comex gold for August delivery rose $US12.20, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,814.10 an ounce.
Comex silver futures settled a nearly four-year high Monday, with the September silver contract up 73 cents, or 3.9%, to finish at $US19.788 an ounce.
And Comex September copper jumped 2% to $US2.955 a pound.
Oil prices fell on news that OPEC and its allies are thinking of adding 2 million barrels a day of extra output to global production caps.
US West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery fell 45 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $US40.10 a barrel, but fell in after-hours trading to be down 2.4%. The global benchmark, September Brent crude futures, lost 52 cents, or 1.2%, at $US42.72 a barrel in Europe.
But iron ore stood out with a 4% gain for 62% Fe iron ore fines delivered to northern China.
The price jumped $US4.77 a tonne to end at $US110.14, the highest for a year.
