Yesterday we saw another tough day in the markets across the board, continuing trends we have seen emerging so far this month. Starting in the US, it was another day of sliding for all 3 major indexes – The Dow Jones lost 1.07%, the Nasdaq lost 1.2%, while the S&P500 slid 0.8%, to mark its biggest losing streak since August. 

The pullback comes as 2 critical results come out later this week – Nvidia’s Q3 earnings, and the US September jobs report – demonstrating how overevaluation of the tech sector, and the more general state of the US economy remain the most important issues for investors at the moment. 

We saw similar results across Europe, with major declines across the major markets. The Stoxx600, French CAC, German DAX and British FTSE all slid more than 1% in overnight trade. Meanwhile in Asia, losses were more pronounced, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 1.7%, while the Japanese Nikkei recorded a 3.22% decline. 

And back home in Australia it was no different, as the ASX 200 fell just under 2% to record its second worst individual day of 2025, only behind Trump’s Liberation Day in April when sweeping tariffs were announced. All 11 key sectors posted losses, with materials and technology hit the hardest – the latter with a nearly 6% loss on the day. 

TechnologyOne (ASX:TNE), dragged down the technology sector the most, plummeting 17% after reporting revenue which fell short off expectations, and declining to provide FY26 guidance. In materials, Northern Star (ASX:NST) closed trading down 5.6%, as expectations of a US rate cut continue to shrink. 

What to watch today:

• Looking ahead to today’s trading, the ASX is set to extend yesterday’s losses, with the SPI futures predicting a 0.2% drop at the open. 
• In commodities, Crude Oil is trading 1.2% higher at 60.6USD per barrel, as US sanctions placed on Russia in October are beginning to curb their export volumes. 
• In precious metals, Gold is trading 0.5% higher at 4066USD per ounce, while Silver is up 1% at 50.7USD per ounce. 
• And Iron ore is trading nearly flat at 104USD per tonne. 

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has maintained its Buy rating on testing, inspection and certification company ALS (ASX:ALQ), and raised its target price by 10% to $25 per share, after the company reported results that beat forecast, and upgraded its FY2026 guidance. 
• And Trading Central have identified a bearish signal on Westpac (ASX:WBC), indicating that the price may fall from the close of $37.87 per share, to the range of $34.60 to $35.20 per share over a period of 35 days, according to the standard principles of technical analysis.