A broad-based sell-off on Wall Street overnight has sent Australian stocks lower, while the third quarter GDP data misses expectations.
We brought you the latest on what was happening on the markets throughout the day in our live blog.
Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice.
Key events
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Live updates
Market snapshot
By Samuel Yang
This is where the market finished up at the close of local trade shortly after 4:00pm AEDT.
- ASX 200: Down 0.9 per cent to 7,229
- All Ords: Down 0.9 per cent to 7,423
- Aussie dollar: 66.98 US cents
- Nikkei: Down 0.6 per cent to 27,730
- Hang Seng: Up 0.3 per cent to 19,509
- S&P 500 futures: Up 0.2 per cent to 3,953
- Spot gold: Up 0.1 per cent to $US1773.12 an ounce
- Brent crude: Up 0.2 per cent to $US79.54 a barrel
- Bitcoin up 0.2 per cent to $US17,022.02
ASX at the close
By Samuel Yang
The Australian share market has closed with moderate losses, led by tech and energy sectors.
Beach Energy had the biggest decline on the ASX 200 index.
The rise in the greenback after recession warnings from US top bankers saw the Australian dollar trade below 67 US cents.
Coal miners were among the firms bucking the trend amid continued optimism for China's reopening.
Coronado Global Resources, Champion Iron and Fortescue Metals were all among the top 10 gainers.
That's all from our live blog today, hopefully you can join us again for all of tomorrow's market action.
Chinese exports set to shrink further as global recession looms
By Samuel Yang
Chinese exports contracted year-on-year in November by the most since the start of the pandemic and imports dropped at the fastest pace in 30 months.
Senior economist Julian Evans-Pritchard from Capital Economics had this note.
We expect outbound shipments to fall further over the coming quarters, with cooling global demand overwhelming any supply-side boost from the easing of COVID restrictions.
The shift away from zero-COVID and step up in support for the property sector will eventually drive a recovery in domestic demand but probably not until the second half of next year.
China's export growth fell sharply from -0.3 per cent year on year in US dollar terms to -8.7% per cent, the lowest reading since the beginning of 2020 and well below expectations.
We estimate that export values also contracted considerably in seasonally-adjusted month on month terms.
After adjusting for a pick-up in export prices, export volumes declined by -6.8 per cent last month, taking them back to levels last seen in the middle of 2020.
Although the virus situation has worsened recently, the latest fall in exports appears to largely reflect softer global demand for Chinese goods rather than supply chain problems.
Import growth also dropped from -0.7 per cent to -10.6 per cent in dollar terms, the steepest contraction since the middle of 2020.
Australian dollar wallows at one-week lows
By Samuel Yang
The Australian dollar wallowed at one-week lows on Wednesday, after warnings of an impending recession from top US bankers drove the US dollar higher, with markets already on edge ahead of major interest rate decisions next week.
Facing the greenback's newfound strength, the Aussie was hanging at 66.91 US cents, after giving up all of the gains made after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates to a 10-year high on Tuesday and warned that more hikes would be needed to tame inflation.
There was little reaction to the slight miss on Australia's third quarter gross domestic product data.
The Aussie now faces resistance at Tuesday's high of 67.44 US cents, while having support at 66.5 cents.
AMP forecasts economic growth to slow to 1.5pc in 2023
By Samuel Yang
Diana Mousina, senior economist from AMP, says Australia's GDP growth will slow down next year as the impact of interest rate rises on consumer spending kicks in.
'GDP growth will come to a standstill': Thieliant
By Samuel Yang
Consumer spending was a key driver of the economic growth in the third quarter, as life returned to more normal patterns after two years of significant pandemic disruption.
But most economists are not expecting this spending spree to last in the face of higher interest rates.
"GDP growth will come to a standstill next year," Capital Economics analyst Marcel Thieliant said.
"The decent rise in third-quarter GDP probably marks the last hurrah for Australia's economy as tighter monetary policy and falling real incomes weigh on spending."
Mr Thieliant is expecting economic growth to be just 1 per cent next year, which is not dramatically different to the Reserve Bank's forecast of 1.5 per cent.
One factor propping up the economy for now is a stronger rise in the compensation of employees.
The ABS said a 3.2 per cent rise in the quarter was the biggest since December 2006, driven by a tight labour market and larger-than-usual annual increase in minimum and award wages.
It was also driven by an increase in workers, with compensation per employee up a slightly lower 2.5 per cent.
ASX at midday
By Samuel Yang
Australian shares have extended losses on Wednesday after its central bank crushed hopes of a pause in monetary policy tightening and flagged further rate hikes, with investors digesting the third-quarter GDP data.
The ASX 200 was down 60 points or 0.8 per cent, to 7,230 at 12:22pm AEDT.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised interest rate by 25 basis points to a 10-year high of 3.1 per cent on Tuesday and stuck with its projection of further rate hikes to cool inflation.
The third quarter GDP data (+0.6 per cent) has come in slightly below expectations. Economists were also generally expecting a slightly stronger reading of 0.7 per cent.
Local energy stocks slipped 1.8 per cent and were among the top losers on the benchmark. Oil and gas majors Woodside Energy and Beach Energy slid 1.9 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.
Separately, Santos fell 0.7 per cent even as it targeted higher shareholder returns and announced a further $US350 million increase in share buyback.
Tech stocks lost 2.6 per cent, tracking losses of its Wall Street peers as skittish investors fretted over Federal Reserve rate hikes and further talk of a looming recession.
Block dropped 2.6 per cent, while network-as-a-service provider, Megaport, slid 7.5 per cent and was among the top losers on the sub-index.
Financials gave up 1.2 per cent, with the big four lenders losing more than 1 per cent each.
Gold stocks fell 0.7 per cent even as bullion prices firmed slightly.
Bucking the trend, miners advanced 0.2 per cent with iron ore behemoths BHP and Rio Tinto jumping 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
Here are some of the top and bottom movers after midday.
Breaking: third quarter GDP growth below expectation
By Samuel Yang
The latest GDP figures from the Bureau of Statistics shows Australia's economy grew 0.6 per cent in the September quarter and 5.9 per cent over the past year.
The Bureau says rises in household spending drove GDP growth.
The result was Australia's fourth consecutive quarter of economic growth following a contraction during the COVID delta wave lockdowns last year.
But economists were expecting a slightly stronger reading.
For more details, click it through to read from ABC business reporters Michael Janda and Rhiana Whitson.
Uber fined for misleading ads
By Samuel Yang
Ride share firm Uber has been fined $21 million for misleading advertisements about fares and cancellation fees.
The firm was originally fined $26 million, but a federal court judge reduced the penalty.
The case was brought by the consumer watchdog.
For more you can click the story link below from ABC business reporter David Chau.
ASX opens lower
By Samuel Yang
The ASX 200 has started the day lower, dropping 46 points or 0.7 per cent, to 7,244, by 10:15am AEDT.
All sectors were down, except for the mining sector (+0.8 per cent).
Here are some of the top and bottom movers at open.
AUSTRAC sues casino operator Skycity
By Samuel Yang
Australia's financial crimes watchdog will commence civil penalty proceedings against Adelaide's casino in the Federal Court today.
The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) alleges Skycity Adelaide failed to appropriately assess the money laundering and terrorism financing risks it faced, including the likelihood and impact of those risks, and to identify and respond to changes in risk over time.
The civil proceedings follows the watchdog's investigation into the casino that began last year, as part of AUSTRAC's industry-wide compliance campaign.
"AUSTRAC's investigation identified a range of circumstances where SkyCity failed to carry out appropriate ongoing customer due diligence," AUSTRAC's deputy chief executive Peter Soros said.
"SkyCity also failed to develop and maintain a compliant AML/CTF program, leaving it at risk of criminal exploitation."
Wall Street closed down
By Samuel Yang
US stocks have slumped on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 declining for the fourth straight session.
Skittish investors fretted over Federal Reserve rate hikes and further talk of a looming recession.
Among the biggest drags on the S&P was Meta, which slid following reports that European Union regulators have ruled the company should not require users to agree to personalised ads based on their digital activity.
However, technology names generally suffered as investors applied caution toward high-growth companies whose performance would be sluggish in a challenging economy. This hit Apple, Amazon and Alphabet and sent the tech-heavy Nasdaq down for a third straight session.
As NAB's economist Taylor Nugent noted, a slew of growth warnings from Bank CEOs were of some note, with Goldman Sach’s David Solomon warned of job cuts, an uncertain outlook, and “some bumpy times ahead” while JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon warned of a ‘mild to hard’ recession and Bank of America said it is slowing hiring as fewer employees leave.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is expected to cut about 2 per cent of its global staff and BuzzFeed has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 12 per cent.
Banks react to RBA rate rise
By Michael Janda
Yesterday afternoon and evening, the major banks and many of the smaller ones responded to the RBA's 0.25 of a percentage point rate rise.
All four majors lifted their variable mortgage rates by the same amount as the RBA.
Most of the rate rises will take effect from December 16, but Westpac's kicks in on December 20.
However, it will take between two to three months for mortgage customers to see their minimum monthly repayments rise to take account of the latest rate increase.
Westpac and CBA also announced a rise to various savings rates, in some cases by more than the RBA rate rise, while the other banks were silent on changes to deposit rates this month.
You can read more about what the banks are doing to mortgage and savings rates here.
If you want to find out how much your new monthly repayment will be, plug your details into the ABC's mortgage calculator.
ICYMI - Reserve Bank lifts interest rates to reach 10-year high
By Samuel Yang
If you missed yesterday's RBA rate rise, watch this short video to find out what it means for home buyers, mortgage borrowers and savers.
The increase — the eighth in eight months — will add around $75 to the monthly repayments of a household with a $500,000 mortgage debt on a 25-year term.
This story is from ABC business reporter Rhiana Whitson.
ACCC monitors airlines over price gouging concerns
By Samuel Yang
The consumer watchdog says it will closely monitor airlines as they continue to hold back from adding capacity to the market, contributing to some airfares more than doubling when compared to pre-pandemic prices.
In its latest Airline Competition in Australia report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found capacity was not keeping up with demand, and average airfares were higher than they have been in years.
ACCC's report also found the cheapest economy return fares on in excess of 10 routes in November had more than doubled since 2019.
Read more on this story from 7.30's Hannah Bowers, click the link below.
Push to empower foreign agricultural workers to leave 'bad farms'
By Samuel Yang
A federal government review of the nation's immigration system could have wide-ranging implications for agriculture, but it won't help illegal workers facing exploitation.
Unions want fairer pay and conditions for immigrants working in agriculture in Australia, with a report highlighting a high number of job ads in foreign languages advertising rates below the minimum wage.
Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said a survey released this week showed there had been a big improvement in pay rates since a minimum wage was introduced for pickers earlier this year.
But he said 40 per cent of employers were still taking advantage of vulnerable workers.
Read more on this story from ABC Rural's David Claughton, click the link below.
Good morning
By Samuel Yang
Welcome to our markets live blog, where we'll bring you the latest price action and news on the ASX and beyond.
A broad-based selloff on Wall Street overnight sets the tone for local market action today.
The Dow Jones index dropped 1.5 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 1.8 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite down 2.3 per cent, by 7:00am AEDT.
At the same time, ASX futures were down 48 points or 0.7 per cent, to 7,244.
The Australian dollar was flat, buying at 66.92 US cents.
Brent crude oil plunged 3.8 per cent, trading at $US79.57 a barrel.
Spot gold rose 0.2 per cent to $US1,771.11.
Iron ore rose 0.1 per cent to $US109.70 a tonne.
