US stock markets managed to deliver a seventh straight monthly gain despite a weak finish to August. The Nasdaq was down 0.04% overnight, while the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both dropped 0.1%.
President Biden confirmed the US had completed their exit from Afghanistan, but it was a sharp weakening of consumer sentiment that hit the market.
Sentiment fell to the lowest since February as stimulus measures tapered off and a spike in cases and deaths due to the Delta variant has impact people’s willingness to spend.
This comes at the same time that European officials are now considering their own tapering program, with the region outperforming due to their management of the latest outbreak.
Zoom tanks on poor outlook
Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) is the latest to be hit by lofty expectations, with shares falling 16% despite hitting quarterly revenue of US$1 billion.
Management guided to a weaker than expected showing, citing the return to schools and gradual return to offices behind the fall.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks performed on Tuesday.
- NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) up 8.7%
- Upstart (NASDAQ: UPST) up 6.3%
- Walgreens (NASDAQ: WBA) up 4.4%
- DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) down 2.4%
- Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) down 2.7%
- Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) down 5.6%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to follow US markets lower at the open on Wednesday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.