ASX Large Caps: Aussie shares track Wall Street lower ahead of Fed decision

The ASX 200 index tracks Wall Street lower and falls by 1.27%
Australia increased minimum wage by 5.2%
US Fed decision tonight

Aussie shares have tumbled further on Wednesday, as fear continues to dominate market sentiment ahead of the US Fed rates decision later tonight.

At the close, the benchmark ASX 200 was down by 1.27% today following the 4% plunge yesterday.

The FOMC concludes its meeting later tonight (US time), with the market expecting a 75bp rate hike to tame an 8.6% CPI that has rocked equities over the last few days.

Some experts have gone further and said the Fed must go harder to bring inflation to heel, even at the expense of having a recession.

“I’ve become more pessimistic about the opportunity of stabilizing inflation at an acceptable level without a recession,” said JPMorgan Chase chief economist Bruce Kasman.

Josh Gilbert, Australia market analyst at eToro, said that investors are concerned about a recession, but he believes that markets will bounce back.

“Bear markets are challenging to navigate at the best of times, which is why it is crucial for investors to not let their emotions get the best of them,” said Gilbert.

“History shows that markets have always recovered from bear markets.

“For now, corporate profits remain solid, with S&P 500 earnings estimates for the second half of the year remaining unchanged despite a high number of companies citing inflation concerns from Q1,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Fair Work Commission has today handed down a 5.2% increase in wages to people on minimum wages. The decision delivered a political victory for the Albanese government, who had made the issue a cornerstone of its election campaign.

In other news today, China’s industrial output surprised the market after it jumped by 0.7% in May vs the consensus of 0.7% drop. The news helped the Aussie dollar to bounce back over US69 cents.

On the ASX, Energy and Real Estate were the worst performing sectors, falling by over 1% each, while Telcos led, up by 0.2%.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
TLS	Telstra Corporation.	3.835	2%	23,668,636	$43,329,102,573.75
QBE	QBE Insurance Group	11.76	2%	3,551,137	$17,057,469,932.50
BXB	Brambles Limited	10.71	2%	2,762,990	$15,074,417,557.50
CPU	Computershare Ltd	24.39	4%	1,548,162	$14,205,751,276.08
SUN	Suncorp Group Ltd	10.89	4%	2,782,441	$13,232,100,148.48
EDV	Endeavour	7.26	2%	3,305,453	$12,805,507,121.55
IAG	Insurance Australia	4.32	4%	4,762,746	$10,279,467,859.02
LYC	Lynas Rare Earths	8.87	4%	6,628,455	$7,697,570,555.62
IPL	Incitec Pivot	3.51	3%	14,655,606	$6,622,987,348.89
MEZ	Meridian Energy	4.05	2%	29,861	$5,022,291,912.20
AWC	Alumina Limited	1.58	2%	18,027,905	$4,512,114,603.44
MTS	Metcash Limited	3.94	2%	5,618,819	$3,746,301,415.76
NHF	NIB Holdings Limited	7.17	2%	580,315	$3,222,915,478.38
CRN	Coronado Global Res	1.8	2%	4,616,385	$2,958,940,833.45
GNC	GrainCorp Limited	9.97	3%	2,039,130	$2,210,745,366.48
TAH	TABCORP Holdings	1.0025	2%	11,022,545	$2,192,385,127.46
ELD	Elders Limited	12.72	2%	602,292	$1,949,698,112.04
AUB	AUB Group Ltd	17.14	1%	256,181	$1,562,638,320.66

Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) was the best performing large cap today, up 6% on no news.

BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
TLS	Telstra Corporation.	3.835	2%	23,668,636	$43,329,102,573.75
QBE	QBE Insurance Group	11.76	2%	3,551,137	$17,057,469,932.50
BXB	Brambles Limited	10.71	2%	2,762,990	$15,074,417,557.50
CPU	Computershare Ltd	24.39	4%	1,548,162	$14,205,751,276.08
SUN	Suncorp Group Ltd	10.89	4%	2,782,441	$13,232,100,148.48
EDV	Endeavour	7.26	2%	3,305,453	$12,805,507,121.55
IAG	Insurance Australia	4.32	4%	4,762,746	$10,279,467,859.02
LYC	Lynas Rare Earths	8.87	4%	6,628,455	$7,697,570,555.62
IPL	Incitec Pivot	3.51	3%	14,655,606	$6,622,987,348.89
MEZ	Meridian Energy	4.05	2%	29,861	$5,022,291,912.20
AWC	Alumina Limited	1.58	2%	18,027,905	$4,512,114,603.44
MTS	Metcash Limited	3.94	2%	5,618,819	$3,746,301,415.76
NHF	NIB Holdings Limited	7.17	2%	580,315	$3,222,915,478.38
CRN	Coronado Global Res	1.8	2%	4,616,385	$2,958,940,833.45
GNC	GrainCorp Limited	9.97	3%	2,039,130	$2,210,745,366.48
TAH	TABCORP Holdings	1.0025	2%	11,022,545	$2,192,385,127.46
ELD	Elders Limited	12.72	2%	602,292	$1,949,698,112.04
AUB	AUB Group Ltd	17.14	1%	256,181	$1,562,638,320.66

James Hardie (ASX:JHX) continues its slide, down by 6% today and 20% over the past month. There was no direct announcement on the ASX, but a report on The Australian said that JHX was being sued by former executive for harassment and bullying after she raised safety concerns.

After falling 8% yesterday, Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) fell again by 7% today on no specific news.