Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to fall, S&P 500 on track for weekly decline, ECB cuts rates again

Markets are set to track lower at the open for the fourth session in a row, following a weak lead from Wall Street and in spite of the European Central Bank cutting interest rates for the third consecutive meeting. And while it's been a weaker week for shares than it has been in recent times, Fundstrat says the S&P 500's technical trend is well and truly intact. Is this a profit-taking week before the big Santa rally? Only time - and volumes - will tell.

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S&P 500 SESSION CHART

The last two hours of the overnight session were dominated by the sellers. (Source: TradingView)

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

• US equities were down in Thursday trading, selling off through the afternoon and ending near session lows.

• S&P 500 on track for a weekly decline though Nasdaq holding on to WTD gains after hitting another ATH and taking out the 20K level on Wednesday.

• US Treasuries were weaker with curve steepening again (2s/10s spread has moved higher five straight sessions).

• US Dollar index was up 0.3%.

• Gold finished down off 1.7% after five straight days of gains.

• Bitcoin futures were down 1.5%.

• WTI crude settled down 0.4%.

MARKETS

• Stifel expects the S&P 500 to peak in the first half of 2025, then fall 10% to 15% in the second half of the year (Reuters)

• S&P 500 performance increasingly narrow, pacing for ninth-straight day with negative breadth, longest since at least 2004 (Bloomberg)

STOCKS

• Google, Samsung introduce new mixed-reality operating system and headset in challenge to Apple, Meta (Bloomberg)

• Judge strikes down Nasdaq rule requiring corporations to have diverse boards (Yahoo)

• Intel CFO says separation of factory and product-development divisions an open question (Bloomberg)

• Apple planning in-house chips for Bluetooth, WiFi connections, replacing current supplier Broadcom (Bloomberg)

ECONOMY

• ECB cuts rates by 25bps in fourth cut of the year, expect 25bp cuts at next two meetings (Reuters)(Bloomberg)

• November US PPI report favourable in categories that flow through to PCE, Fed's preferred inflation measure (Bloomberg)

• Mortgage rates in US fall for third week, now sit at 6.6% (Bloomberg)

• US household wealth in Q3 up 2.9% q/q to record $168.8 trillion (Bloomberg)

BROKER MOVES

• ResMed initiated hold at Stifel, price target of US$250

• Genesis Minerals initiated buy at Citi, price target of $3.20

• ReadyTech Holdings initiated add at Morgans, price target of $3.74

• Ventia Services Group downgraded to hold from add at Morgans, price target cut from $4.80 to $3.30

Stocks trading ex-dividend: 

• Fri 13 Dec: Metcash (MTS) - 2.54%

• Mon 16 Dec: Plato Income Maximiser (PL8) - 0.45%

• Tue 17 Dec: Elders (ELD) - 2.37%

Economic calendar (AEDT):

• Today: Westpac and Premier Investments both host AGMs

• 6pm: UK GDP