Market Wrap / Powell punch

The S&P/ASX200 held its own after a deeply negative session on Wall Street, with the local market finishing at 7816.70 points, down 0.03%. 

The US President's attack on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sent US stocks lower, along with the US dollar and Treasuries. The 'sell America' trade was alive and well.

Locally, Macquarie said it will sell its North American and European asset management business to Nomura.

Macquarie gained 0.6% while CBA jumped 4.2%, largely supporting the ASX performance.

All this uncertainty once again fuelled the gold price, overtaking the US$3,500 mark for the first time. The top performing stocks were dominated by the gold miners. 

However the tech space suffered from Wall Street headwinds, with WiseTech shedding 2.4%. And Seek shares tumbled 3.1% as Jefferies flagged a downbeat outlook. 

Overnight, multiple FOMC members will be questioned over the future of the Fed’s independence, while tomorrow locally, we’ll get April PMIs indexes along with quarterlies for Woodside, Paladin and Insignia Financial.