The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is starting the week on a down note.
In morning trade on Monday, the benchmark Aussie index is down 0.84% at 7,904.4 points.
Unless there's a big intraday turnaround in investor sentiment, today will mark the third consecutive trading day of losses, with the ASX 200 closing down 0.3% on Thursday and 0.8% on Friday.
So, what's going on?
Why is the ASX 200 sliding today?
Much of the pressure on the ASX 200 has been blowing out of the United States.
The selling continued in the US market on Friday, with the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) ending the day down 0.7% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) shedding 0.8%.
A lot of those losses have been driven by the big tech US tech companies.
Investors began to rotate out of the booming tech giants in earnest last week. That came amid growing concerns that, regardless of the outcome of the upcoming US presidential election, the big tech companies will see increased restrictions on sales of chip-making equipment to Chinese companies.
ASX 200 and international stock investors are also awaiting the latest earnings results from household names like Tesla and Alphabet, or Google to you and me. Both are due to report on Tuesday US time.
The rest of the so-called magnificent seven report next week, aside from Nvidia Corporation. We'll need to wait until later in August to learn the latest financial from the generative artificial intelligence chip-making company.
As for what to expect, Lachlan Hughes, chief investment officer at Swell Asset Management, said he was "cautiously optimistic" regarding the pending results.
According to Hughes (courtesy of The Australian Financial Review):
We anticipate a continued moderation in the pace of optimisations that we've observed over the past several quarters.
However, it's important to note that underlying growth fundamentals remain robust, primarily driven by the ongoing trend of companies transitioning their services to the cloud. Overall, we believe current market expectations are well aligned with these realities.
ASX 200 miners also dragging on the benchmark
The ASX 200 also isn't getting any help from the big miners today, with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG), BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares all trading in the red.
Those headwinds are mainly coming out of China.
The nation's Third Plenum has disappointed market watchers so far regarding any sizeable additional fiscal stimulus measures. With China's commodity-hungry real estate markets continuing to struggle, copper and iron ore prices both retreated over the weekend.
According to ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) analyst Daniel Hynes (quoted by the AFR):
A lack of major policy shift in China weighed on sentiment. That left investors disappointed that there wasn't greater focus on tackling structural issues in the economy, such as the beleaguered property sector.
Foolish takeaway
Despite three days in retreat, it's worth noting that the ASX 200 remains up a healthy 8.3% since this time last year.
And that's not including dividends.
The S&P/ASX 200 Gross Total Return Index (ASX: XJT), which includes all cash dividends reinvested on the ex-dividend date, has gained 12.6% over the full year.
