AU Morning Wrap: ASX Plummets 2.6% Amid Growing US Recession Fears; Tech Stocks Crumble

The market took a hit Friday following a week of shakey earnings reports. Intel and Amazon earnings disappointed investors and job data spawned fears of recession. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ fell 600 points, with $Intel (INTC.US)$ dropping the most in one day than it has in decades; its lowest price today was one not seen since 2013.

For the week, the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ fell 3.18%, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ fell 2.71%, and the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ fell 4.68%. 8900 equities declined overall, with just 2800 gaining.

The Australian sharemarket is experiencing its worst two-day sell-off in two years due to rising US recession fears, which exacerbated Friday's decline. The $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ has dropped 2.5 percent to 7745, extending Friday's 2.1 percent loss, resulting in a total decline of over 4 percent in the past two sessions. This marks the worst two-day performance since June 2022. The sell-off was triggered by disappointing US July non-farm payrolls data, which missed estimates and showed a rising jobless rate, increasing recession fears. Goldman Sachs has raised its recession probability indicator from 15 percent to 25 percent. The tech sector on the ASX is the hardest hit, down over 3 percent, with Afterpay owner Block leading the decline, falling 7.8 percent to $92.25.

As of latest data, $Bitcoin (BTC.CC.CC)$ is priced at $56,725, down by 6.65% in the past 24 hours, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC.CC)$ is priced at $2,601, down by 10.68% in the past 24 hours.

$Argo Investments Ltd (ARG.AU)$ has reported a full-year profit of $253 million, a decline from last year, but has maintained its 18¢ dividend. Shares are down 0.8 percent to $8.90.

$TPG Telecom Ltd (TPG.AU)$ shares remain largely unchanged after confirming renewed discussions with Vocus regarding its fibre network, as reported by The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column.

$Ramsay Health Care Ltd (RHC.AU)$ shares have fallen 1.5 percent to $44.65. The company projects its net profit for the 2024 financial year to be between $265 million and $270 million, compared to $278.2 million in the previous year.