Investing.com - In the wake of losses experienced in U.S. markets overnight, Australian stocks are poised for a drop. Notably, despite posting an impressive quarter that had initially sparked hope on Thursday morning, chip manufacturer Nvidia ended up with a mere 0.1% increase in share value. This comes as market enthusiasts anticipate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s address at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium today where further policy tightening is expected due to America's persistently tight labor market.
As of Friday morning at 9:30am AEST, ASX 200 Futures were down about 0.7%, suggesting a potential decline upon opening.
Thursday wasn't particularly kind to the US stock market either, despite NVIDIA Corporation's (NASDAQ:NVDA) record-breaking quarterly results. The S&P 500 seemed ready to capitalize on its best performance since June but instead fell by 1.3%. All eleven sectors under this benchmark closed in red figures with big tech shares like Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) taking substantial hits which contributed significantly towards Nasdaq Composite's loss of 1.9%.
Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 3.9%, posting its lowest close in nearly nine years; this was another factor contributing to Dow's slide of 1.1%. Canadian stocks followed suit with their composite index declining 0.5%.
Despite enjoying an initial surge following its announcement of record sales – twice what they were last year - Nvidia only saw an increase of barely over 0.1% after investors decided it was time to cash out on their positions.
Commodity-wise, oil prices remained stable while gold saw marginal gains; Brent crude stayed put at $83 per barrel whereas gold increased slightly ending at $1916 per unit.
The yields from both Australian government bonds and American Treasury notes fluctuated; while Australia’s decreased resulting in lower bond values those from America went up leading towards higher note values respectively.
The Aussie dollar slipped against its American counterpart dropping to 0.6414 while the US Dollar Index was at 104.
Among Asian markets, Chinese shares showed signs of recovery bouncing back after recent sell-offs driven primarily by consumer brands and chipmakers such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Kweichow Moutai among others seeing gains ranging between 1-5% to 2.4%.
Hong Kong similarly enjoyed positive trading thanks largely again to semiconductor industry lead players notably Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Lenovo Group who posted significant gains riding high on Nvidia's strong second-quarter performance.
Investors globally will be keeping their watchful eyes peeled open awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later today regarding inflation trends where he is expected according to analysts ANZ bank “to err side caution” implying there remains considerable room for improvement before the situation can be considered fully satisfactory.