Wall St closed lower on Wednesday with the S&P500 posting its fourth consecutive losing session, as key technology names weighed on the market midweek. The Dow Jones fell 0.12% on Wednesday, the S&P500 lost 0.58% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.15%. High growth stocks faced the biggest pressure on Wednesday as the Fed’s higher for longer consensus dampens growth runways for stocks of this nature. Investors in the US have been trimming the megacap names like Nvidia, Meta and Apple in favour of other market sectors that have attractive outlook over the coming months.

United Airlines surged more than 17% on Wednesday after posting a smaller than expected loss and beating on revenue expectations.

Over in Europe, markets in the region closed higher as retail stocks posted modest sales growth. The STOXX600 rose 0.2%, Germany’s DAX added 0.02%, the French CAC added 0.62%, and, in the UK, the FTSE rose 0.35%.

Shares in luxury retailer LVMH group climbed as much as 5.2% during the session before easing gains at the closing bell after the company posted modest first quarter sales growth. UK inflation also eased more than expected in March to an annual rate of 3.2%, which was just 0.1% above economists expectations.

Looking at the local index, the ASX200 extended its losing run, closing down 0.09% on Wednesday, taking strong lead from global markets on Tuesday amid concerns over sticky inflation and rising geopolitical tensions. Utilities stocks offset some of the losses by rallying 2.8% while healthcare, materials and energy stocks weighed on the key index.

Evolution Mining jumped over 8% on Wednesday to a two-year high after reporting a 15% rise in gold output for March and the company affirmed its 2024 guidance.

Mining giant Rio Tinto disappointed the market yesterday after reporting a drop in iron ore production and shipments in Q1.

DroneShield also soared 17% yesterday after the defence tech company released a second significant announcement this week, outlining the company was awarded a contract with NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency for the first Counter-small UAS procurement framework agreement in NATO history. The initial agreement is for three years with extension options. This announcement follows DroneShield announcing a first-quarter update earlier in the week including record Q1 revenues of $16.4m, which is 10x the PCP.

What to watch today: 

• Ahead of Thursday’s session on the ASX, the SPI futures are expecting the local market to open the day up 0.26% tracking some global market gains overnight.
• On the commodities front this morning, oil has retreated to trade down 3.05% at US$82.76/barrel, gold is down 0.5% at US$2365/ounce, and iron ore is up just 0.02% at US$106.07/tonne.
• AU$1.00 is buyingUS$0.64, 99.30 Japanese Yen, 51.59 British Pence and NZ$1.09.

Trading Idea: 

• Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 46-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $2.10 to the range of $1.82 to $1.88 according to standard principles of technical analysis.