Morning Wrap: Wall St tumbles ahead of inflation data, Shanghai back in lockdown, ASX to fall

US stocks sold off sharply towards close, parts of Shanghai re-entered lockdown, the European Central Bank gears up for its first rate hike since 2011 and Facebook-parent Meta has a new ticker.   

Let’s dive in.

Markets

Major US indices closed at session lows after a sharp pick-up in selling later in the day. Growth and cyclical stocks headlined losses, with the Nasdaq falling the hardest relative to peers. 

The markets enjoyed a brief glimmer of hope earlier this week thanks to China’s reopening. Investors are now getting extremely nervous that tomorrow’s US inflation data might show that inflation is far from peaking. The return of lockdowns in parts of Shanghai, higher Treasury yields and oil at US$120 is further intensifying selling pressure and investor jitters.

• All 11 US sectors declined

• Consumer staples was a relative safe-haven, holding up better than all other sectors

• The other sectors fell more than -1.96%

• 76% of US stocks declined

• 69% of US stocks trade below their 200-day moving average (66% on Thursday, 67% a week ago)

Stocks

• Meta Platforms (-6.4%) has changed its ticker symbol from FB to META

• Nio (-7.7%) reported blowout quarterly losses of -US$281.2m compared to -US$68.8m a year ago. China’s covid-related lockdowns and rising commodity costs were to blame

  • Management said that EV demand has remained strong through all the pandemic disruptions, achieving an “all-time high order flow” in May

• Novavax (-17.2%) dipped on concerns the FDA might delay the approval of its booster shot

Economy

• China’s exports grew 16.9% on-the-year in May to US$78.8bn

  • Economists had only expected a gain of 8%

  • Signals a recovery in China’s supply chain

• The European Central Bank signalled its plans to raised interest rates in July, its first hike since 2011

  • The ECB plans to halt its asset purchases alongside a likely 50 bps hike

• US jobless claims jumped by 27,000 last week to a 5-month high of 229,000

  • Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal forecast initial jobless claims to total 195,000

  • The figures are slightly distorted by seasonal quirks tied to the Memorial Day holiday

Commodities

• Iron ore prices eased amid weak demand from steelmakers and bearish sentiment in futures markets, participants told Fastmarkets

• Oil prices softened as parts of Shanghai re-enter lockdowns a week after easing covid restrictions

• Gold prices fell slightly as bond yields continued to trend higher

The S&P/ASX 200 had already started to roll over on Thursday, closing at session lows of -1.4%.

Most of the overnight ETFs we watch were smashed, down between 2-7%. The riskier and more growth oriented the ETF, the bigger the decline. Notable losers include:

• Hydrogen -7.3%

• Rare Earth/Strategic Metals -4.9%

• Uranium -4.7%

• Fintech -4.6%

• Lithium -3.9%

• Jets -3.4%

Several local sectors had already begun to selloff on Thursday. Large cap lithium stocks like Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) and Allkem (ASX: AKE) were down 4-5%. Travel stocks like Flight Centre (ASX: FLT) and Qantas (ASX: QAN) dipped 4-6%.

It will be interesting to see just how weak of an open we get, and whether or not the selling will accelerate throughout the day.

US inflation data tonight will be a major catalyst that could intensify the selling or help stocks stabilise.

Oanda senior market analyst, Ed Moya had some pretty doom and gloom commentary about the Fed, saying:

"The Fed is doomed either way; they either raise rates aggressively into year-end and send this economy to a recession next year or they fail to tackle stagflation risks by flip-flopping on tightening of monetary policy."

ASX corporate actions occurring today:

• Ex-dividend: None

• Dividends paid: IAP, SSR

• Listing: None

• Issued shares: 4DS, AGY, AR3, BPM, BRU, EDE, GED, GSR, HCH, IMU, IOU, LLO, MGF, MMG, MOT, MXT, NAN, NBI, NTU, SBR, SGH, TI1, VRT, WSA, YPB, ZMI

Other things of interest (AEST): 

• China Inflation Rate (May) at 11:30 am

• Canada Unemployment Rate (May) at 10:30 pm

• US Inflation Rate (May) at 10:30 pm