Daily Market Update: 19 May 2026

ASX (ASX:XJO) sinks 1.5 per cent to seven-week low as global bond rout deepens; Brambles (ASX:BXB) crashes 20 per cent on guidance cut

The Australian share market suffered its worst session in nearly two months, with the S&P/ASX 200 sliding 125.5 points, or 1.5 per cent, to a seven-week low of 8,505.3 as a global bond sell-off extended and stalemate in the US-Iran war pushed oil prices higher, fuelling inflation fears and concerns about elevated interest rates for longer. Ten of the 11 sectors closed weaker, with industrials the standout laggard on a savage de-rating of Brambles, and materials in retreat as copper pulled back from last week’s record and gold fell back toward US$4,500. Energy was the lone bright spot as Brent crude pushed a further 1.5 per cent higher to US$110.91 a barrel — its 12th week of conflict-driven gains with both sides at a stalemate over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Bond markets were the dominant story, with the US 30-year Treasury yield rising to its highest level in close to three years, Japan’s 10-year yield jumping 10 basis points to levels last seen in 1996 and the 30-year surging 20 basis points to a record since its 1999 debut, while Australia’s 10-year yield climbed to 5.11 per cent. “Many of the moves that took place late last week, specifically in developed market rates space, have spilt over into further selling and higher yields through Asia, with the moves in long-end bond yields fast now becoming front and centre, not just for fixed-income traders, but for market participants across all asset classes,” Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said.

Brambles (ASX:BXB) crashes 20 per cent on guidance cut, Elders (ASX:ELD) plunges 23 per cent on earnings miss, Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) wins US$90m contract

In company news, pallet-pooling giant Brambles (ASX:BXB) tumbled 20.2 per cent to $17.63 — its biggest single-day fall since November 2002 — after downgrading FY26 underlying profit growth to 3–5 per cent from a previous 8–11 per cent range, a move some analysts described as “surprising”. Testing house ALS (ASX:ALQ) eased 1.7 per cent to $21.83 as a conservative outlook for the new fiscal year offset a slight beat on its $384 million full-year profit. Agribusiness group Elders (ASX:ELD) plunged 22.9 per cent to $5.55 after a first-half earnings miss driven by higher-than-expected costs and leverage, despite stronger gross margins. Tuas (ASX:TUA) cratered 62.8 per cent to $2.27 after Singapore regulator IMDA suspended its review of the proposed Simba–M1 merger pending an investigation into the possible unauthorised use of radio frequency bands. Imaging software group Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) added 2.8 per cent to $125.52 after signing a seven-year, $90 million contract with US healthcare group Beth Israel Lahey Health to deploy its cloud-based Visage 7 enterprise imaging platform across the network. Defence UAV technology float KTEK Aerosystems (ASX:KTK) rocketed 102.5 per cent to 40.5¢ on debut after a heavily oversubscribed $10 million IPO. Among the resource heavyweights, BHP (ASX:BHP) retreated 2.8 per cent to $58.77, Newmont (ASX:NEM) lost 4.2 per cent to $150.79 and Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) dropped 4.6 per cent to $11.93, while energy outperformers Woodside Energy (ASX:WDS) rose 2.9 per cent to $32.15 and Santos (ASX:STO) added 2.7 per cent to $8.09 after first oil flowed from the Pikka Phase 1 development on Alaska’s North Slope.

Wall Street whipsaws as Trump pulls back from Iran strike; Brent settles near US$112, NextEra (NYSE:NEE) lobs US$67bn bid for Dominion (NYSE:D)

US stocks staged a sharp intraday reversal in a volatile Monday session, with the S&P 500 all but erasing earlier losses after President Donald Trump said he had called off plans to strike Iran on Tuesday because “serious negotiations are now taking place” to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Oil whipsawed alongside, with Brent crude settling around US$112 a barrel after the late-session pullback eased some of last week’s surge, while bond moves were notably more subdued than Friday’s rout, even as global yields hovered near multi-year highs on lingering inflation concerns. The optimism was tempered by reports that both Washington and Tehran had rejected each other’s latest proposals as insufficient, with a US official denying Iranian media claims that the White House had offered a temporary sanctions waiver. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would issue a new general licence allowing the sale of Russian crude already loaded on tankers, a move he said on X would “help stabilize the physical crude market”. Bank of America’s Francisco Blanch warned global supplies remain too tight for prices to fall meaningfully near term, pencilling in a best-case scenario of Brent averaging US$90 a barrel for the rest of 2026 — with upside risk if the stalemate persists. In corporate news, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) chief Jensen Huang said he expects Chinese authorities will eventually permit imports of US AI chips; NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) unveiled a US$67 billion bid for Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) — the largest utility acquisition in US history — in a clear signal of the capacity build-out required to meet AI power demand; Publicis Groupe (EPA:PUB) agreed to acquire data broker LiveRamp Holdings (NYSE:RAMP) for around US$2.5 billion in cash; the US Supreme Court rejected appeals from six pharmaceutical companies seeking to dismantle the Medicare drug-price negotiation program; and a US jury cleared OpenAI of Elon Musk’s claim that the company had betrayed its public-benefit mission.