As we head into the opening of trade in offshore markets, futures are mixed.

At 4:45pm AEDT, the NASDAQ futures are off about 0.2%, while S&P futures are flat.

Meanwhile the Nikkei 225 remains down 2.6%.

Wall Street's VIX, or volatility index, has risen 10% but remains under 20.

What happens tonight is anyone's guess, but the broad themes continue to be tech company valuations, nerves around the ongoing US government shutdown, liquidity constraints in the money markets and tonight's big US Supreme Court session looking at the legality of US President Trump's tariffs.

But that's it from the ABC Business Team for now.

Catch you tomorrow.

The Australian share market has finished the day in the red, down 0.1% at 8,802 points.

Overall, the market had 68 stocks gaining, eight unchanged and 124 stocks in the red.

When looking at the sectors, Utilities were at the top, up 0.6%, followed by Telecommunications Services, up 0.5%, and then Financial, up 0.4%.

Information Technology finished at the bottom, down 2.9%, followed by Materials, down 1.2%, and then Energy, down 0.4%.

Among companies, the top mover was Fletcher Building, up 2.4%, followed by Lovisa, up 2.2%.

It wasn't a good day for Megaport Ltd, down 9.7%, followed by Paladin Energy, down 8.9%.

The US market has finished the Aussie day down 2% to 23,348 points. 

• ASX 200: -0.1% to 8,802 points
• Australian dollar: -0.1% to 64.97 US cents
• Nikkei 225: -2.9% to 50,032 points
• Hang Seng: -0.1% to 25,912 points
• Shanghai: +0.1% to 3,964 points
• S&P 500: -1.2% to 6,771 points
• Nasdaq: -2% to 23,348 points
• FTSE: +0.1% to 9,715 points
• Spot gold: +1.1% to $US3,975/ounce
• Brent crude: flat to $US64.43/barrel
• Iron ore: +0.4% to $US104.55/tonne
• Bitcoin: +1.5% to $US101,839

Prices current around 4:20pm AEDT.

Live updates on the major ASX indices:

Australia's productivity growth is expected to remain weaker over the next couple of years than anticipated by the Reserve Bank, according to Capital Economics's latest report. 

So, what is driving this?

The main factors behind the ongoing weakness in productivity are the demise of the country’s mining sector, a dearth of business investment and a post-pandemic surge in net migration, the report has found. 

"Australia’s output per hour has fallen by 5% over the past three years, making it the worst performer of any major advanced economy," said Abhijit Surya, a senior APAC economist at Capital Economics.

"Our analysis finds that the non-market sector is only responsible for a fraction of the recent decline in productivity growth."

The report points out that there is an argument to be made that government regulations have hampered specific industries, most notably mining. 

Mr Surya said Australia’s regulatory framework was not the key factor. 

"The latter owes more to resource depletion in the country’s main mineral deposits and the disincentives for new mining projects stemming from the green transition and a structural slowdown in China. 

"Meanwhile, productivity in the non-mining market sector has also been in a rut, as net capital investment has fallen to fresh lows. 

"Making matters worse is the fact that a strong post-pandemic pick-up in net overseas migration has contributed to significant capital shallowing."

However, Mr Surya said he expected a cyclical rebound in the near term, aided by a policy-induced slowdown in net migration. 

He added that, even so, productivity growth would only average 0.3% over the next couple of years, well below the 1% level that was the norm in the 2010s and lower than the RBA’s medium-term forecast of 0.7%.

"That said, we remain optimistic about the medium to long-term outlook.

"In fact, we expect a renewed acceleration in productivity growth to around 1.5% in the 2030s, boosted by the proliferation of AI technologies."

The price of gold rallied today.

At 4pm AEDT it's trading at $3,969 an ounce.

While it's still under $4,000, it's climbed a solid 1% today.

Interestingly, Bitcoin's also pulled back above $100,000.

The risk-off tone in global financial markets seems to have supported both assets.

Not long now until the Australian session wraps up, and the ASX 200 remains in the red, with technology leading the losses.

Here is how the sectors are faring:

The benchmark index is down 0.2%, so off its lows.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 has pared some of its losses to be down 3%, as has Seoul's Kospi index. But still, a shocker of a day.

China has announced it will retain a 10% levy on US goods and suspend its 24% additional tariff for one year, effective from November 10, according to the Chinese Finance Ministry. 

The announcement follows the meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump last week. 

"The continued suspension of certain bilateral tariffs between China and the United States is conducive to promoting the healthy, stable, and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations, benefiting the people of both countries, and contributing to global prosperity," the ministry said in a statement. 

Thank you Matt and M. Yes it's worth a mention.

The famous hedge fund manager Michael Burry (from The Big Short fame), returned to X (formerly Twitter) this week after a 2.5-year hiatus to warn of the tech bubble in AI, with a series of cryptic warnings.

One of his posts said "sometimes, we see bubbles".

In regulatory filings in the US on Monday, people also saw that his Scion Asset Management had placed bearish bets on Nvidia and Palantir Technologies, and call options on Pfizer and Halliburton.

Mr Burry is famous for successfully betting against the US housing market in the lead up to the GFC.

The crypto earthquake of October has been followed by a sizeable aftershock this week, with Bitcoin and Ethereum caught in a rapid shift in risk sentiment that is currently engulfing global equity markets, according to IG market analyst Tony Sycamore. 

Crypto’s recent woes began on October 10–11, triggered by US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of escalated tariffs on Chinese imports — a move that sparked a sell-off in US equities and ignited the largest 24-hour wipeout in crypto history, he said. 

This came just four days after Bitcoin hit a fresh record high of $US126,272. 

"Notably, despite US equity markets quickly recovering and rebounding to new highs, crypto markets ignored the rally in risk assets (with which they are often correlated) and the concurrent surge higher in gold (with which they sometimes share safe-haven status)," Mr Sycamore said. 

"This decoupling from previous correlations was likely due to crypto assets being left in a daze after the crash, coupled with an absence of fresh crypto-specific bullish catalysts needed to ignite a crypto recovery.

"While the break in the upside correlation with risk assets (equities) has been frustrating, what is making matters worse is that Bitcoin’s correlation with risk assets remains strong on the downside — when risk assets sell off as witnessed this week."

Looking ahead, Mr Sycamore added, the near-term path for crypto hinges on three key pressures easing: risk aversion flows, fading odds of a December Fed rate cut, and a resurgent US dollar. 

"In summary, until macro headwinds ease or a fresh catalyst emerges, crypto remains vulnerable to further aftershocks."

Earlier today, Bitcoin was down 7.3% overnight to $US99,036, the first time it's broken below $US100,000 since June.

Now, Bitcoin is up 1.8% to $US102,258, while Ethereum is up 3.8% to $US3,335. 

Dalian iron ore futures declined for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, local time, weighed down by concerns about demand in top consumer China due to a persistently weak manufacturing sector.

The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.9% to 771 yuan($166.75) a metric tonne by 1:58pm AEDT.

The benchmark December iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.4% lower at $US103.15 a tonne.

China's factory activity in October expanded at a slower pace as new orders and output both fell amid tariff concerns, a private-sector survey showed on Monday.

Last week, official data showed that China's factory activity shrank for a seventh month in October, falling to 49.0 in October from 49.8 in September and remaining below the 50 mark separating growth from contraction due to a drop in new export orders.

Iron ore prices are expected to remain bearish, with weakening steel demand, increasing domestic inventory since the third quarter and accelerating imported iron ore supply, said Chinese broker Galaxy Futures.

Analysts from ANZ said that while Hebei, a major steelmaking province in China, has reissued an environmental protection alert, the measures remain focused on sintering operations and have yet to affect blast furnace activity, limiting the impact on iron ore demand.

Still, "China's top property developers increased land acquisitions in the first 10 months of 2025, highlighting a cautious rebound in the real estate sector as some developers step up investments amid ongoing financial pressures," Chinese consultancy Mysteel said in a note.

Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE lost ground, with coking coal and coke down 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange all declined. 

Rebar eased 1.4%, hot-rolled coil slid 1.2%, wire rod fell 0.1% and stainless steel dipped 0.4%.

Reporting with Reuters