ASX 200 to fall + Higher oil prices, US dollar and yields drag S&P 500 lower
ASX 200 futures are trading 18 points lower, down -0.25% as of 8:30 am AEST.

S&P 500 SESSION CHART

MARKETS
- S&P 500 finishes lower and at worst levels
- Weak breadth – Only 144 S&P 500 stocks up vs. 389 down – Large cap tech and energy were the only sectors the held up
- Relatively uneventful session with no major directional drivers of note
- Main drag on markets include: Bond yield and US dollar bounce, a spike in oil prices driving risk-off attitude, higher-than-expected inflation prints in Asia and seasonality headwinds
- WTI crude settles higher as Saudi Arabia extends its unilateral production cut by another three months
- Goldman Sachs says the recent rounds of OPEC+ production cuts have returned the market to a deficit
- Morgan Stanley's Wilson says too much optimism in stocks (Bloomberg)
- Fed Governor Waller says incoming data is looking “pretty good” in favour of a soft-landing scenario but policymakers will need to see “a couple of months along this trajectory” before it can say it is done with hikes (CNBC)
- Global funds slash China stock positions to lowest since Oct 2022 (Bloomberg)
- M&A activity showing signs of life after slow start to the year (Axios)
EARNINGS
- Q2 S&P 500 earnings fell ~4% year-on-year, well-above the ~9% expected going into earnings season
- BofA notes that its three-month ratio of above vs. below consensus earnings guidance jumped to 1.3x – The highest since 2021
- Citi says upwards revision for S&P 500 as a percentage of total revisions finished at 62.7% in August
STOCKS
- Warner Bros cuts full-year earnings expectations as strikes drag on (CNBC)
- Arm valued at more than US$52bn, the biggest IPO of the year (Reuters)
- Airbnb joins S&P 500, shares up 7% (Reuters)
CENTRAL BANKS
- RBA leaves cash rate unchanged as inflation cools, reiterates some further tightening may be required (Bloomberg)
CHINA
- Country Garden pays interest on dollar bond within grace period (Bloomberg)
- Debt crisis threatens almost all of China's surviving developers, the 16 remaining face $1.5bn in bond repayments this month (Bloomberg)
ECONOMY
- US factory orders fell 2.1% month-on-month in July (Reuters)
- China services sector grows at slowest pace this year (Bloomberg)
- ECB says consumer inflation expectations edged up in July (Bloomberg)
- Eurozone August downturn was deeper than expected (Reuters)
- UK services sector PMI shows sharpest slowdown in 7 months (Reuters)
- Goldman Sachs reduces odds of US recession to 15% from 20% amid encouraging inflation news, favourable real income outlook and a decline in jobs-worker gap (Bloomberg)
- South Korea inflation reaccelerates (Bloomberg)

Sectors to Watch
A relatively heavy overnight session where a handful of energy and tech stocks tried to offset weakness from everywhere else. Will this theme play out for us on Wednesday?
A bounce on bond yields and US dollar weighed on sectors such as Gold (VanEck Gold Miners ETF -2.06%), Materials (S&P Metals & Mining ETF -1.32%) and Defensives.
Energy is the gift that keeps on giving and that includes:
- Uranium (Global X Uranium ETF +2.26%): To punish France, Niger has hiked the price of uranium to 200 euros a kilogram (which effectively takes out ~5% of global supply). Last week, Cameco reduced its guidance by approximately 3 million pounds (or another ~5% of supply).
- Coal: Newcastle coal futures rose 4.3% to US$166 a tonne
- Oil: Oil prices continue to gather momentum on China stimulus hopes, the strong US economy (and Goldman cutting recession odds)
Inflation: Base Effects and a RE-ACCELERATION in Asia
The battle against inflation is far from over. The fall from mid-2022 peaks to 3-4% was relatively easy thanks to beneficial base effects (aka comparing current prices against elevated prices from a year ago).
But as these effects roll off, the path to the desired 2-3% becomes rather difficult.
As Bespoke points out – If month-on-month increases in US inflation hold steady at 0.2% for the foreseeable future – We'll reach the desired 2.0% level by mid 2024. If the month-on-month figure sits at 0.3%, then inflation will continue to sit around 4.0%.

Several Asian countries have reported an unexpected acceleration in inflation due to higher rice and fuel prices, notably:
- Philippines inflation up 5.3% year-on-year in August vs. the 4.7% forecast of economists in a Reuters poll
-
South Korea inflation accelerated to 3.4% in August from 2.3% in July and the month-on-month rate was the fastest since early 2017
KEY EVENTS
ASX corporate actions occurring today:
Trading ex-div: Meridian Energy (MEZ) – $0.106, Pro Medicus (PME) – $0.17, Ramsay Healthcare (RHC) – $0.25, Seek (SEK) – $0.23, Amcor (AMC) – $0188, Sonic Healthcare (SHL) – $0.62
- See full list of ASX stocks and ETFs trading ex-dividend here
- Dividends paid: Korvest (KOV) – $0.35
- Listing: None
Economic calendar (AEST):
- 11:30 am: Australia GDP Growth
- 4:00 pm: Germany Factory Orders
- 12:00 am: US ISM Services PMI
This Morning Wrap was written by Kerry Sun.
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