Morning report: ASX 200 rises, S&P 500 falls on fears of AI disruption, tech stocks extend sell-off

Morning report: ASX 200 rises, S&P 500 falls on fears of AI disruption, tech stocks extend sell-off

By Kerry Sun
Publication Date: 2026-02-23 21:39:00

ASX 200 futures are up 21 points (+0.23%) at 8:30am AEDT.

In short:

  • Major US benchmarks fall and ended almost at the worst level

  • Risk aversion theme Driven by a Citrini report and Claude updates (now disruptive cybersecurity and consulting stocks)

  • Gold on top up another 2.4% overnight, now up over 7% in the last four sessions and back above $5,200/oz

  • defense Sectors such as staples, healthcare and utilities ended the session higher despite elevated metrics (e.g. Walmart gained 2.2% but trades at 45x).

Let’s dive in.

Summary of the overnight stay

Tuesday 24 February 8:27am (AEST)

S&P 500

6,838

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

48,804

NASDAQ Comp

NASDAQ Comp

22,627

Russell 2000

Russell 2000

2,620

Canada

Canada

33,777

China

China

4,082

Germany

Germany

24,992

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

27,082

India

India

83,295

Japan

Japan

56,826

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

10,685

Gold

Gold

5,230.35

copper

copper

5.7978

WTI oil

WTI oil

66.44

AUD/USD

AUD/USD

0.7059

Bitcoin (USD)

Bitcoin (USD)

64,626

Ethereum (AUD)

Ethereum (AUD)

2,643

US T-Bond with a term of 10 years

US T-Bond with a term of 10 years

4,029

VIX

VIX

21.51

US sectors

Tuesday 24 February 8:28am (AEST)

Consumer Staples
Healthcare
Utilities
energy
Property
Materials

Information technology
Communication Services
industry
Consumer Discretionary