Wall Street closed Tuesday’s session mixed as a tech decline weighed on key market indices. The S&P500 fell 0.6%, the Nasdaq lost 1.5% and the Dow Jones ended the day up just 0.02%. Investors have been pulling out of Nvidia in recent days with shares in the mega cap ending Tuesday’s session down 3.5% as traders take a breath from the recent AI rally in favour of undervalued small to mid-cap stocks in the current market environment.

In Europe overnight markets closed higher as investors welcomed peace talks progress initiated by President Trump with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The STOXX600 rose 0.7%, Germany’s DAX added 0.45%, the French CAC gained 1.21% and, in the UK, the FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.34% to a fresh record high.

Across the Asia region on Tuesday markets closed lower as investors await the outcome of Trump’s talks with Russia and Ukraine. Japan’ Nikkei fell 0.38% a day after closing at a record high, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed flat, China’s CSI index lost 0.38% and South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day down 0.81%.

Locally yesterday the ASX200 fell 0.7% as market heavyweight CSL (ASX:CSL) tumbled almost 17% in its worst day ever after announcing weaker results than expected and reporting it will be cutting up to 3000 jobs.

BHP (ASX:BHP) also had results out yesterday that were weak on China’s subdued demand but shares still rose on optimistic outlook.

Westpac consumer confidence data out yesterday shows Aussies are regaining confidence as we enter the rate cut part of the rate cycle. The reading for August showed a MoM increase to 5.7% in August from 0.6% in July, signalling the strongest level since 2022.

What to watch today:

• On the commodities front this morning oil is trading 1.32% lower at US$62.58/barrel, gold is down 0.5% at US$3316/ounce and iron ore is down 0.05% at US$101.57/tonne.
• The Aussie dollar has weakened against the greenback to buy 64.59 US cents, 95.28 Japanese Yen, 46.45 British pence and 1 New Zealand dollar and 9 cents.
• Ahead of the midweek trading session here in Australia the SPI futures are anticipating the ASX will open the day up 0.2%.

Trading Ideas:

• Bell Potter has downgraded the rating on CSL (ASX:CSL) from a buy to a hold and have significantly lowered the 12-month price target on the healthcare giant from $305 to $240 following the release of FY25 results, unveiling CSL's key division Behring disappointed with just 1% revenue growth, while Seqirus and Vifor exceeded expectations. Despite this, the market reacted sharply, and Bell Potter’s analyst see a challenging near-term outlook due to earnings growth missing expectations, weak 2H25 Behring performance, delayed margin recovery (now expected by FY29), and uncertainty around FY27/28 forecasts for the demerged entity.
• And Trading Central has identified a bearish signal on EBR Systems (ASX:EBR) following the formation of a pattern over a period of 22-days which is roughly the same amount of time the share price may fall from the close of $1.28 to the range of $1.13 to $1.17 according to standard principles of technical analysis.