Note: Figures recorded at 7:40am AEDT. Updated figures and a video recording will be available at 9am AEDT.
The S&P 500 was lower overnight, pulling back from a record reached in the previous session, as Nvidia cooled off from its red-hot rally to start 2024.
The broad market index closed at 5,165.31, slipping by 0.19%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.54% to settle at 16,177.77. Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.1%, adding 37.83 points to reach 39,043.32 by the end of the session.
Nvidia's shares dropped by 1.1%, while Meta Platforms saw a decline of 0.8%. Apple also experienced a decrease of about 1.2%. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) registered a slide of approximately 2%, marking its third losing session in four. Additionally, the information technology sector slipped by about 1.1%.
Wall Street will remain hypervigilant for how the central bank will proceed with monetary policy at its next meeting beginning on March 19, Yoshioka noted, where she expects Fed Chair Jerome Powell to reiterated a data-dependent outlook and more neutral tone.
Elsewhere, Dollar Tree lost 14% after the discount retailer released its fourth-quarter results. Investors will get more inflation data Thursday in the form of the producer price index for February.
In further US data, US February retail sales and PPI will be released later tonight, whilst January business inventories will be released Friday.
In the Australian landscape, Singtel is in advanced negotiations to sell Optus to Brookfield for $16 billion, following a challenging period marked by a nationwide outage and a significant cyberattack. Meanwhile, Arafura, backed by Rinehart, receives $840 million in taxpayer aid for a Northern Territory project, marking the largest deployment of government funds to support the rare earths industry under the Albanese administration.
Global equities attracted another $6.9B in week-ended 6-Mar, marking a seventh straight week of inflows and according to BofA's Flow Show report, bringing the total over that period to just over $90B, the strongest trend in two years.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE added 0.31 per cent, Frankfurt lost 0.02 per cent, and Paris closed 0.62 per cent higher.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei lost 0.26 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.07 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite lost 0.40 per cent..
Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.22 per cent higher at 7,729.44.
Ex-dividends
Austin Engineering (ASX:ANG) is paying 0.4 cents fully franked
Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE) is paying 50 cents fully franked
Breville Group Ltd (ASX:BRG) is paying 16 cents fully franked
Embelton Limited (ASX:EMB) is paying 15 cents fully franked
H&G High Conviction (ASX:HCF) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Inghams Group (ASX:ING) is paying 12 cents fully franked
Plato Inc Max Ltd. (ASX:PL8) is paying 0.55 cents fully franked
PWR Holdings Limited (ASX:PWH) is paying 4.8 cents fully franked
Regis Healthcare Ltd (ASX:REG) is paying 6.28 cents 50 per cent franked
Shriro Holdings Ltd (ASX:SHM) is paying 2 cents fully franked
SRG Global Ltd (ASX:SRG) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Sthn Cross Media (ASX:SXL) is paying 1 cents fully franked
TPG Telecom Limited (ASX:TPG) is paying 9 cents fully franked
WCM Global Growth (ASX:WQG) is paying 1.72 cents fully franked
Dividends payable
Ansell Ltd (ASX:ANN)
APA Group (ASX:APA)
Bell Financial Group Ltd (ASX:BFG)
Count Ltd (ASX:CUP)
Eumundi Group Ltd (ASX:EBG)
EVT Ltd (ASX:EVT)
ResMed Inc (ASX:RMD)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
