Wall Street closed lower for the third consecutive session due to concerns about the US Fed’s rate hike; ASX to fall

Australian stocks are expected to start the day lower, following losses on Wall Street.

ASX futures were down 57 points, or 0.8 percent, at 6,861 by 6:48 a.m. AEST.

At the same time, the Australian dollar fell to 68.54 US cents.

Overnight, US stocks closed lower for the third session in a row as a rise in job vacancies fueled fears that the US Federal Reserve has another reason to stay on its aggressive path. of increases in interest rates to combat inflation.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has fallen more than 5 percent since Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday reaffirmed the central bank’s resolve to raise interest rates even in the face of a slowing economy.

Labor demand showed no signs of cooling as US job openings rose to 11.239 million in July and the previous month was revised sharply higher.

A separate report showed that consumer confidence rebounded strongly in August after three consecutive monthly declines.

“They have to weaken the labor market and how are they going to do that? They’re going to jam rates and make things so expensive that people are going to back off, demand is going to drop and people are going to go to bed.” off,” said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.

The data raises the focus on non-farm payroll data for August due for release on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 308 points, or 1 percent, to 31,791, the S&P 500 lost 44 points, or 1.1 percent, to 3,986 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 135 points, or 1.1 percent, to 11,883. .

The pan-European STOXX 600 index also gave back earlier gains to drop 0.7 percent, and the MSCI World Stock Index fell 1 percent.

In oil markets, Brent crude tumbled, trading just below $100 a barrel, at 06:59am AEST.

ABC/Reuters