November 1, 2026
ASX futures dropped as the RBA held rates and a US tech selloff spread, while Wall Street debated whether the Fed's safety net is back.
What happened
The Reserve Bank of Australia's policy decision and an overnight selloff in US technology stocks pushed Australian futures lower, wiping roughly 500 billion dollars from market value. The same force hit Wall Street, where the S&P 500 fell 1.8 percent in risk-off trading. At the same time, bond prices rose, sending government yields down 0.8 percent over the past week.
Why it matters
The RBA's stance flows directly into Australian yields, the currency and domestic stocks, making local assets more sensitive to the rate outlook. The US tech selloff, driven by hawkish signals from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, spread that pressure globally. When fund managers see the biggest market in the world repricing risk, they pull back from smaller markets all at once, amplifying the move.
The case against
Defence stocks outperformed the broad market by 4.3 percent this week, suggesting money is rotating rather than fleeing entirely. The market is still technically in an uptrend, and strategists are betting the 'Fed put' is back, meaning the central bank would step in before a deep crash. Today's move may be a sharp but temporary reset within a larger rally.
What settles it
Whether government bond yields keep falling or reverse, showing if the flight to safety accelerates.