13m agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 9:50pm
Wall Street down as shares of banking, tech and credit card companies tumble
Wall Street has ended its day in negative territory as tech and bank stocks weighed heavily on the market.
Here are the closing figures for the key US indices:
Dow Jones: -0.8% to 49,192 pointsS&P 500: -0.2% to 6,964 pointsNasdaq Composite: -0.1% to 23,710 points
Tech giants like Microsoft (-1.4%), Amazon (-1.6%) and Meta (-1.7%) fell sharply.
Shares of banking giant JPMorgan Chase (-4.1%) and credit card companies Mastercard (-3.6%) and Visa (-4.1%) were also hit hard.
22m agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 9:41pm
Kohler on market reaction to ‘Trumped up’ charges
If you need a refresher before the ASX opens for trading, I can certainly recommend Alan Kohler’s finance report.
Alan talked about the market’s relatively unfazed reaction to the prosecution of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
While the US dollar fell, there was a big jump in the price of gold (as some people aren’t viewing the greenback as a safe haven right now).
Loading…38m agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 9:25pm
RBNZ governor also throws support behind Powell
You can read the full statement from Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and her central bank counterparts here.
It’s quite a short and powerful one.
It’s also a rare example of apolitical organisations weighing into politics!
Essentially, they’re asking the US government to respect the Federal Reserve’s independence, “the rule of law” and “democratic accountability”.
It’s clear they don’t support the politicised prosecution of US Fed chair Jerome Powell.
At the bottom of the statement it says: “Other central banks may be added to the list of signatories later on”.
Indeed, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s governor Anna Breman was a later addition.
Her name was not on the initial list of signatories when the statement was published late yesterday.
It will be interesting to see how many more (and which) central bank governors add their names to the list — and risk incurring the wrath of the Trump administration.
1h agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 8:49pm
International central bankers backing Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell
Central bank chiefs from across the world, including Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock, have issued a joint statement supporting Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
News broke on Monday that Mr Powell was to be the subject of a criminal investigation into testimony he gave about recent renovations at Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington.
He issued a video statement saying he believed the Fed’s independence was under attack.
“We stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell,” the joint statement reads.
“The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve.
“It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability.”
The statement was issued by the central banks of the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and the Bank for International Settlements.
My colleague David Taylor has the full story for you:
1h agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 8:48pm
ASX likely to open lower as Wall Street pulls back from records
Good morning and welcome to the ABC’s finance blog! I’ll be guiding you through the latest business, economic and market news for the next few hours.
It looks like the Australian share market will have a very quiet start to its day, with ASX futures down 0.1%.
It comes after a negative session on Wall Street, which pulled back from its record highs.
With less than an hour before US markets finish trading, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell by around 0.9%, 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
Spot gold also slipped from its record high, and is now slightly below $US4,600 an ounce.
However, oil prices jumped around 2.5% after Donald Trump cancelled all meetings with Iran’s officials and promised protestors “help is on its way” (but wouldn’t elaborate on what that means).
Meanwhile, the US president continues to hurl playground insults at Jerome Powell, telling reporters at the White House that the Federal Reserve chair was “incompetent”, “crooked” and “that jerk will be gone soon”.
As you can see, classy remarks.
Anyway, go grab a coffee, tea or whatever you like drinking. I’ll have more updates for you shortly!
1h agoTue 13 Jan 2026 at 8:47pm
Market snapshot
ASX futures: -0.1% at 8,772 pointsASX 200 (Tuesday close): +0.6% to 8,809 pointsAustralian dollar: -0.4% to 66.8 US centsWall Street: Dow Jones (-0.8%), S&P 500 (-0.3%), Nasdaq (-0.3%)Europe: FTSE (flat), DAX (+0.1%), Stoxx 600 (-0.1%)Spot gold: –0.1% to $US4594.33/ounceOil (Brent crude): +2.5% at $US65.44/barrelIron ore: -0.9% to $US108.20/tonneBitcoin: +2.9% to $US94,150
Price current around 7:40am AEDT
