Top 10 at 11: Wall Street slumps; ASX opens sharply lower

The ASX is on shaky ground this morning, falling 0.6pc in the first hour of trading after Wall Street took its biggest hit since April 2021.

The ASX is struggling to resist riptides from Wall Street’s tumble. Pic: Getty Images.

Morning, and welcome to Stockhead’s Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading.

With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10:15, once trading kicks off in earnest.

In brief, this is what the markets have been up to this morning.

“Big Beautiful” tax cut bill spooks Wall Street

The realities of President Trump’s “big beautiful” tax bill – which promises to raise US debt by at least US$3.8 trillion over the next 10 years – are sinking in on Wall Street.

Just days after Moody’s downgraded US sovereign debt, Republicans presented the bill to the Rules Committee, preparing to increase government debt by more than 10% over the next decade.

The response?

Investors are now demanding yields of more than 5% for 20-year US treasury bonds, and they’re demanding a lot less of them.

"Either the US has to sharply revise the current reconciliation bill currently sitting in Congress to result in credibly tighter fiscal policy; or, the non-dollar value of US debt has to decline materially until it becomes cheap enough for foreign investors to return," Deutsche Bank FX analyst George Saravelos said in a report sent after the Treasury auction.

The three major US indices slumped, taking their biggest whack since April 2021.

Tech stocks, ever sensitive to shifts in the finance currents, suffered.

Apple fell 2.3%, Tesla 2.68%, Microsoft 1.2%, Nvidia 1.92%, Amazon 1.45% and Meta 0.25%.

Alphabet resisted the riptides, gaining 2.8% after announcing “AI mode” would be rolled out to all US search engine users.

Over in the healthcare space, allegations surrounding UnitedHealth have continued to evolve, slicing 5.8% off the stock.

Reports allege the healthcare insurance group secretly paid nursing homes thousands of dollars in bonuses to reduce hospital transfers for patients.

The accusations represent a pretty shocking disregard for duty of care if proven true.

The Dow fell 1.9%, the S&P500 1.6% and the Nasdaq 1.4%.

Europe mulls US impacts

European markets once again declined to follow the US too much lower.

Broad gains across markets outweighed a reduction in retail spending and the resulting hit to retail stocks, which fell 0.8%

Defence stocks pushed back against that downward current, lifting 0.5%.

The bump was helped along by Trump’s green light to build a US$175billion ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence shield, à la Israel’s Iron Dome.

UK inflation lifted to 3.5%, outstripping expectations of 3.3% and hitting its highest rate in more than a year.

There are murmurs this high reading could delay another interest rate cut from the Bank of England, with Finance Minister Rachel Reeves stating she was “disappointed” by the figures.

"We are long way from the double-digit inflation we saw under the previous administration, but I'm determined that we go further and faster to put more money in people's pockets," Reeves said.

The FTSE300 and UK FTSE100 both dipped 0.1%.

ASX pulls back from 50-day highs

With Wall Street retreating overnight and oil prices dipping 0.7%, its not surprising the ASX has fallen hard on opening bell, sliding 0.60% by about 10:30 am AEST.

A 0.9% lift in the gold price is likely to offer some tailwinds for gold stocks, and a stable iron ore price at about US$100.05 per tonne could provide some additional stability for the resources sector.

A handful of S&P Global purchasing managers indices are due to arrive today, promising insight into the health of manufacturing and services sectors around the globe.

Fingers crossed the data doesn’t spark more stagflation fears.

At present, only 2 sectors are in the green – Real Estate is leading losses, down 1.31% – and only the All Ords Gold (+1.68%) and 200 Resources (+0.13%) indices are making any headway.

Let’s see who’s resisting the market’s pull today.

WINNERS

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
NWC	New World Resources	0.048	71%	69132737	$99,155,888
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.003	50%	102819	$6,735,721
HIO	Hawsons Iron Ltd	0.019	41%	7315777	$13,722,768
CRB	Carbine Resources	0.004	33%	100015	$1,655,213
CRR	Critical Resources	0.0035	17%	332089	$7,842,664
GBE	Globe Metals &Mining	0.028	17%	80000	$16,671,672
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.0035	17%	2430	$8,996,849
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.007	17%	142857	$1,910,543
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.0035	17%	1750015	$8,380,545
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.008	14%	1000000	$32,306,508

In the news…

Hawsons Iron (ASX:HIO) says its test work supports the use of a 100% dry processing circuit for its Hawsons iron project in NSW. The company reckons the dry circuit will be simpler, more cost-effective and environmentally cleaner than the alternatives.

With variability and optimisation programs complete, HIO is turning its attention to pilot testing to define the final process design criteria and complete a definitive feasibility study for its namesake project.

LAGGARDS

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.001	-50%	200000	$2,949,467
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.001	-50%	894198	$9,673,198
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	467992	$3,152,954
PFT	Pure Foods Tas Ltd	0.014	-30%	208185	$2,708,512
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.003	-25%	365000	$8,505,471
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.0015	-25%	91000	$4,114,895
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.004	-20%	863196	$5,734,450
ASR	Asra Minerals Ltd	0.002	-20%	90909	$6,916,340
UNT	Unith Ltd	0.009	-18%	3332960	$13,516,640
CRI	Criticalim	0.014	-18%	11396392	$45,703,626

BPH Global (ASX:BP8) has revealed its intention to manufacture probiotic green seaweed water in an R&D project with Singapore Polytechnic, using kefir fermentation.

The company reckons its probiotic drink could support blood sugar management, improve digestion, gut microbiome balance and immune function. The drink promises to be a fusion of traditional Chinese medicine and science-driven product development.

Critica (ASX:CRI), a mining company with a focus on rare earths, has waved goodbye to managing director Philippa Leggat.

In her year with the company, she oversaw the release of a maiden resource estimate at the Jupiter rare earths project, confirming its position as the largest clay-hosted rare earth deposit in Australia.

Chief geologist and exploration manager Dr Stuart Owen will take over as interim CEO, while CFO and company secretary Jamie Byrde will support the transition as executive director as the company searches for a new MD.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Top 10 at 11: Wall Street slumps; ASX opens sharply lower