Hesitation from Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve regarding U.S. rates – and Wall Street’s panicked selling that followed – is creeping into Australian markets, with ASX 200 futures tipped to open as much as -1.8% lower today.

The Fed delivered a “notably hawkish cut” before immediately warning investors there would be a major slowdown when it comes to trims through next year.

It wasn’t just slowing rate cuts the Fed Reserve boss spoke about either; he even refused to rule out more hikes. “You don’t rule things completely in or out in this world,” the central bank’s chairman mused after the meeting.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones dropped more than 2.6% each on Powell’s message, while the tech-loaded Nasdaq composite shaved a heavy 3.5%.

Commodities were left in flux; gold extended losses while oil spiked quite strongly.

Back home, we should hear consumer inflation expectations at 11am today in Sydney; the numbers should confirm a 3.8% drop in November. That would mark the lowest reading since October 2021. Annual inflation stayed at 2.8%.

Dual-listed Patriot Battery Minerals (ASX:PMT) may dodge the impending ASX slump after selling a 9.9% stake to German automaker Volkswagen for $48 million. The deal is the first time Volkswagen has chased lithium supply.

GenusPlus Group (ASX:GNP) has caught HotCopper investors’ attention through the morning after bagging a contract for the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone.

One of the most watched stocks on the forums, biopharma LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP) has also tied up a key agreement with Men’s Health Pharmacy that will now see them handed SPONTAN access – the news should keep its green week going.

Elders (ASX:ELD), ANZ (ASX:ANZ), and Incitec Pivot (ASX:IPL) all have AGMs today.

The ANZ Group meeting will be the closest watched as the big-four bank battles growing pressure over allegations it wrongly charged dead customers’ accounts.

Looking at forex, the Aussie dollar is buying 62.2 US cents – a 24-month low fuelled by the changing Wall Street sentiments post-Powell speech. The last time our dollar had sagged this low was mid-October 2022.

To commodities, which are in the greenback,

Iron Ore has dropped 2%, to $102.40 a tonne in Singapore,

Brent Crude is trading at $72.85,

Gold is trading at $2,596 per ounce, and, 

US natgas futures climbed again, to $3.40 per gigajoule.

That’s Market Open, I’m Isaac McIntyre, stick with us for HotCopper’s Market Update.