Morning Wrap: ASX 200 to rise, S&P 500 lower as SpaceX tumbles 16%, Nasdaq tumbles amid Mag-7 selloff

In a nutshell:

• US benchmarks finished mixed, S&P 500 down 0.4% and Nasdaq off 1.3%, while the Dow rose 0.3% on a Caterpillar surge

• Alphabet sank 5% on AI talent defections and SpaceX crashed 16% on a debt-sale shock, dragging megacap tech lower

• US 2-year yield climbed 5 bps to 4.23%, the highest since Feb-25 as near-term Fed rate hike bets continue to climb

Let's dive in.

• Major US benchmarks finished mixed, with the Dow grinding higher into the close while the Nasdaq sold off through the session, as a Big Tech rout offset gains in chips, banks and industrials

• Breadth was solid, with seven S&P 500 sectors higher, Dow higher and Equal-weight S&P 500 (-0.17%) outperforming the cap-weighted index by 20 bps  

• US 2-year yield up 5 bps to 4.23%, the highest since Feb-25, while the 10-year climbed above 4.50% and the 30-year advanced to 4.95% 

• Communication Services sector fell almost 4%, its worst session since the Apr-25 tariff selloff, with Alphabet and Fox both down more than 5%

• SpaceX tumbled 16.4% on US$20bn bond debut and computing power deal with open-source AI startup Reflection worth up to $6.3bn

• Russell 2000 sidestepped the broader turmoil, and has surged nearly 21% in 2026 against a sub-10% gain for the S&P 500

• Big whipsaw session for oil, with Brent down (-2.75%) to US$78.16 despite opening the session up 2.4%

• Bloomberg’s Mag-7 Index fell as much as 2.2%, weighed by heavy declines from Alphabet (-5.0%), Amazon (-4.7%), Broadcom (-4.6%), Microsoft (-3.1%) and Meta (-2.3%) (BBG)

• Investors warn Warsh's push to remove Fed guidance could lift US borrowing costs and boost volatility (FT)

• Investors eye stock market risks with pullback in AI-infrastructure spending and stretched valuations among big threats (WSJ)

• Mediators Qatar and Pakistan said US and Iranian officials agreed on a 60-day roadmap toward a final peace deal, with continued technical negotiations and a high-level oversight committee (BBG)

• VP Vance said Iran agreed to allow IAEA weapons inspectors back into the country, while Treasury said Tehran committed to free and open transit through the Strait of Hormuz (CNBC)

• Data shows says Strait of Hormuz shipping stalled over the weekend, disrupting last week's tanker traffic rebound (CNBC)

• Qatar moves more empty LNG tankers home via Strait of Hormuz as it prepares to restart LNG supply (BBG)

• SpaceX fell 16%, its lowest since trading began, after saying it would sell investment-grade bonds for the first time, taking its three-day loss to 23% and erasing over $600bn in market cap(BBG)

• SpaceX disclosed about $100.8 billion in cash and is seeking to raise $20 billion via a senior unsecured notes offering to repay bridge financing, with the sale expected as early as Tuesday (CNBC)

• Alphabet closed down about 5%, its steepest slide in over a year, after Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer left for OpenAI and DeepMind's Nobel laureate John Jumper departed for Anthropic (CNBC)

• AbbVie agreed to acquire Apogee Therapeutics for $135.11 per share in cash, valuing the biotech at about US$10.9 billion, a 49% premium to Thursday's close, sending Apogee up about 48% (RT)

• Caterpillar rose about 3% to record highs on its role in Project Kilby, a power facility collaboration with Microsoft and Chevron, accounting for roughly 180 of the Dow's points (CNBC)

• Micron rose almost 7% ahead of its quarterly report due Wednesday after the bell, with AMD up more than 2% and Intel adding 5% (CNBC)

• SK Hynix overtakes Samsung in market value, regulator voices concern over ETFs (RT)

• Reddit rolling out new ad products powered by "community intelligence" (AX)

• Trump plans replacement protectionist tariff tools after Supreme Court struck down his global tariffs (BBG)

• China adds MP Materials and USA Rare Earth along with other US defense and aerospace firms to export controls (FT)

• China kept benchmark LPRs unchanged for 13th straight month in June, matching expectations (RT)

• South Korea exports surged 49.7% in early June, boosted by ongoing semiconductor boom (BBG)

• City Chic Collective 51.2m-share block trade crosses at 3.78 cents, representing ~13% of the company (CCX)

• Fortescue agrees to charter a fleet of 12 Newcastlemax vessels from CMB, up to three will be delivered with dual-fuel ammonia engines and expected to enter into service by end of 2026 (FMG)

• Iluka Resources signs binding, multi-year, take-or-pay agreement for supply of magnet rare earth oxides to global automotive company, commences 2028 for ~10% of planned production (ILU)

• WiseTech Global responds to media reports, says the investigation relates to Richard White in a personal capacity, and not an investigation into the company (WTC)

• Lithium: Chinese lithium carbonate futures fell 2.3% on Monday, but down as much as 8.7% intraday. Speculation that CATL's Jianxiawo lithium mine could restart as soon as 2H26. the selloff followed a Jiangxi land-use notice, though the notice did not confirm any restart plan. The bellwether PLS Group tumbled 5.9% on Monday, closing the session at worst levels.

• Centuria Capital downgraded to Underperform from Outperform; however target up to $1.88 from $1.78 (Macquarie)

• Lynas Rare Earths upgraded to Outperform from Neutral; target up to $22 from $20 (Macquarie)

• Metcash downgraded to Neutral from Overweight; target cut to $3.30 from $3.50 (JPMorgan)

• Navigator Global Investments initiated with Buy an $3.63 target (Macquarie)

• Pinnacle Investment Management initiated Buy with $20.64 target (Macquarie)

Stocks trading ex-dividend: 

• Tue 23 Jun: None

• Wed 24 Jun: None

• Thu 25 Jun: None

• Fri 26 Jun: Centuria Capital (CNI) – $0.052 

Other ASX corporate actions today:       

• Dividends paid: None

• Earnings: None

• IPOs: Pan African Resources PLC (PAF) at 1:00 pm

• AGMs: Australian Agricultural Company (AAC)

Economic calendar (AEST):

• 9:00 am: Australia S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI flash

• 6:00 pm: Eurozone  S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI flash

• 6:30 pm: UK S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI flash

• 11:45 pm: US S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI flash