Market Wrap / tariff trepidation

Trump trepidation hit investor sentiment during Tuesday’s trade. Despite early indications the local market could hit another record, stocks were sold off from mid morning trade as the US President-elect announced he would impose a 25% tariff on all products coming into the US from Mexico and Canada, adding China will be charged an additional 10% tariff on all products sold into the US. The S&P/ASX 200 finished lower by 0.7% to 8359.40 points as energy and banking stocks dropped the most. Oil prices fell more than $2 per barrel after reports that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Woodside and Santos both went down over 3%. The financial sector was down 1.9%, with CBA leading the pack with its 3.5% decline, after reaching a record high of $160 during Monday’s trade. However Macquaire, which has a larger US presence, rose 0.8%.  BlueScope shares also rallied on the Trump tariffs news. The steel-producer is active in the US and was one of the best performers today. Gold miners slumped as gold prices fell sharply, breaking a five-session rally. Northern Star Resources lost 2.4% while Newmont stayed flat. The latter will sell one of its assets in Northern Quebec, to the UK private mining company Dhilmar for $1.22 billion in cash. Newmont also traded ex-dividend. Elsewhere, Webjet reported an 8% slump in bookings, in its first half-year result since de-merging from the Web Travel business. The online travel company said the drop reflects “challenging macroeconomic conditions impacting domestic flight bookings”. The tech space was a bright spot, Life360 gained 6.9% while EML Payments sprung 30% after posting a 12% jump in first quarter revenue to $48.8 million, and affirmed its FY25 underlying earnings guidance in the range of $54 to $60 million.  Ramsay Healthcare rose 3.5% after outgoing CEO Craig McNally said the company had a positive start to FY25. Tonight, investors will peruse the minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting while September home prices and October new home sales are released. Locally tomorrow, the October monthly inflation data is due.