Live: War and AI worries drag down Wall Street, ASX set to rise

live Markets live: War and AI worries drag down Wall Street, ASX set to rise Wall Street continued its week-long retreat on Friday as investors fretted about AI stock valuations and the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. While oil prices look likely to keep climbing, the ASX is priced for a positive start this morning. Follow the day's financial news and insights from our specialist business reporters on our live blog. Disclaimer: this blog is not intended as investment advice. Submit a comment or question Live updates Mon 20 Jul 2026 at 6:53am Market snapshot - ASX 200 futures: +0.6% to 8,814 points - ASX 200 (Friday): -0.5% to 8,798 points - Australian dollar: -0.2% to 69.80 US cents - Wall Street (Friday): S&P 500 -1.0%, Dow -0.8% Nasdaq -1.5% - Europe (Friday): Dax -0.3%, FTSE +0.3%, Eurostoxx -0.8% - Spot gold: +1.2% to $US4,017/ounce - Oil: Brent futures +4.6% to $US88.10/barrel, WTI futures +4.5% to $US82.49/barrel - Iron ore (Friday): flat at $US100.10/tonne - Copper (LME, Friday): -0.3% to $US13,543/tonne - Bitcoin: -0.4% to $US64,433 Prices current at around 7:00am AEST New: Filters Choose what information you see below by using filters Mon 20 Jul 2026 at 6:48am Good morning Good morning and welcome to another day on the ABC markets and finance blog. Stephen Letts from ABC business team limbering up for a blow-by-blow coverage of the day's events, where every post is hopefully a winner, but none should be construed as financial advice. Wall Street's growing anxiety over AI and chip-related stocks saw its key indices all fall — a disappointing close, to a generally disappointing week, despite solid earnings results starting to roll in. The ASX futures punters didn't seem overly worried though. When trading closed on Saturday morning, ASX 200 futures pointed to a 0.6% gain this morning — although that was before news of a further escalation in the US-Iran war filtered through. The deaths of at least two US servicemen, another deluge of missile and bomb strikes from both sides of the conflict, apocalyptic threats from the White House and a growing realisation that maybe Iran isn't desperate for a deal are not exactly harbingers of serenity on the markets. Certainly, the oil price looks likely to come under renewed pressure today. As always, the game's afoot, so let's get blogging. Loading [Image text:] ASX STOCK BID OFFER LAST VOL HIGHTECH METAL 0.205 0.255 10.000 HIGHFIELDRESOU 0.185 0.205 0.195 HILLGROVERESOI 0.035 0.036 0.035 IANGES GROUP 0.965 0.970 0.970 0.000 0.050 0.000