ASX to dip on open as Wall Street falls on Trump tariff pressure
Futures markets are pointing to a 30 point dip, of 0.35 per cent, at the open. The ASX closed down 13.7 points on Monday to 8589.30 after finishing last week at a record high. The Australian dollar was down slightly, fetching 64.99 US cents around 5.50am AEDT.
US stocks lost ground in afternoon trading on Monday. The S&P 500 was down 1.2 per cent in the first day of trading in the US after a holiday-shortened week. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 641 points, or 1.4 per cent and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3 per cent lower.
Decliners outnumbered gainers by more than 5-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Tesla tumbled 7.4 per cent for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, said he would form a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed last week.
The selling accelerated after the Trump administration released letters informing Japan and South Korea that their goods will be taxed at 25 per cent starting on August 1, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial US allies in Asia.
'If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25 per cent that we charge,' Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
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