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<\/p>\nInsurance company Helia announced it is likely to lose ING as a client for its lenders\u2019 mortgage insurance work, sending the share price crashing down 23.5 per cent. The board has commenced a comprehensive business review, Helia said in a statement to the ASX, as ING begins negotiating with a new LMI provider.<\/p>\n
Location tracking company Life360 fell 3.5 per cent, weighing down the tech sector, but remains up more than 100 per cent in the past year. Software maker Xero lost 2.3 per cent and data centre operator NextDC fell 1.9 per cent.<\/p>\n
US stocks had a mixed session as Wall Street\u2019s momentum slows after setting record highs over the past week. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones rose roughly 0.9 per cent, or 400 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8 per cent.<\/p>\n
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Musk and Trump\u2019s relationship continues to sour.Credit: AP<\/p>\n
Tesla tugged on the market as the relationship between its chief executive, Elon Musk, and US President Donald Trump soured even further. Once allies, the two have clashed recently, and Trump suggested there\u2019s potentially \u201cBIG MONEY TO BE SAVED\u201d by scrutinising subsidies, contracts or other government spending going to Musk\u2019s companies.<\/p>\n
Tesla fell 5.3 per cent and was one of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500. It had already dropped a little more than 21 per cent for the year so far coming into the day, in part because of Musk\u2019s and Trump\u2019s feud.<\/p>\n
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Drops for several darlings of the artificial-intelligence frenzy also weighed on the market. Nvidia\u2019s decline of 3 per cent was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.<\/p>\n
More stocks were rising within the index than falling, led by several casino companies.<\/p>\n
They rallied following a report showing better-than-expected growth in overall gaming revenue in Macao, China\u2019s casino hub. Wynn Resorts climbed 8.9 per cent, and Las Vegas Sands gained 8.9 per cent.<\/p>\n
Automakers outside of Tesla were also strong, with General Motors up 5.7 per cent and Ford Motor up 4.6 per cent.<\/p>\n
The overall US stock market has made a stunning recovery from its springtime sell-off of roughly 20 per cent. But challenges still lay ahead for Wall Street, with one of the largest being the continued threat of Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n
Many of Trump\u2019s stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, but they\u2019re scheduled to kick into effect in about a week. Depending on how big they are, they could hurt the economy and worsen inflation.<\/p>\n
Despite such challenges, strategists at Barclays say they\u2019re seeing signals of euphoria emerging among some investors. The strategists say a measure that tries to show how much \u201cexcess optimism\u201d is in the market is not far from the peaks seen during the \u201cmeme stock\u201d craze that sent GameStop to market-bending heights or to the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium.<\/p>\n
Other signals are also indicating exuberance in the market, such as demand for what are known as \u201cblank-cheque companies\u201d that hunt for privately held companies to buy. When too much optimism is in the market, it can inflate stock prices to too-high levels in what\u2019s called a \u201cbubble.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The two-year Treasury yield, which closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its main interest rate, rose sharply to 3.78 per cent from 3.72 per cent. Better-than-expected data on the economy could give the Fed more reason to stay on pause with interest rates, after it halted its cuts to rates at the start of this year.<\/p>\n
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said again on Tuesday that he wants to wait for more evidence about how much Trump\u2019s tariffs will affect the economy and inflation before resuming cuts to interest rates. That\u2019s despite Trump\u2019s angry insistence lately that Powell and the Fed act more quickly to give the economy a boost through lower rates.<\/p>\n