Australian shares plummet amid US recession concerns
The Australian share market plummeted in early trading, shedding more than $US35 billion ($A56 billion) after US markets tanked overnight on recession fears.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was shed more than 100 points, or about 1.26 per cent, to 7862.2, after jumping off a cliff at the start of Tuesday’s session.
The All Ordinaries index was down about 1.4 per cent, or 114.5 points, to 8077.2 points.
US President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have fanned investor uncertainty at a time when the growth outlook of the world’s largest economy is being questioned.
On Sunday, Trump could not say if his protectionist policies could lead the US into a recession, sending shockwaves through global markets.
China’s retaliatory tariffs on select US imports are set to take effect by Monday.
At the same time, the US Congress is scrambling to agree to a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown.
On Wall Street, the S&P500 lost 155.21 points, or 2.69 per cent, to end at 5,614.99 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 726.01 points, or 3.99 per cent, to 17,470.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 890.63 points, or 2.08 per cent, to 41,911.09.
The tech sell-off impacted the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks of Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google owner Alphabet, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla, was down 2.7 per cent.
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They have a combined valuation of more than $US18 trillion ($A29 trillion), more than any economy other than the US and China, and have played a huge part in growth in US markets in recent years.
All 11 Australian sectors on the local bourse were in the red, led by IT stocks which fell by 4.8 per cent.
Consumer discretionary stocks were down more than two per cent, while financials, materials, industrials and real estate stocks were all down more than one per cent just an hour into the trading day.
The Australian dollar was buying 62.81 US cents, down from 63.16 on Monday afternoon.
