Staff writersUpdated May 27, 2026 — 6:47am,first published 5:24amThe Australian sharemarket wobbled in early trade as banks declined ahead of the release of key inflation data.The S&P/ASX was down 26 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 8631 at 11.15am AEST, with five of its 11 industry sectors trading lower. The soft early trade comes after the ASX lost 0.4 per cent on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was trading at US71.67¢.Investors were awaiting inflation figures for April, to be published at 11.30am AEST, which will show the latest fallout for Australian consumers from the Iran war and other cost-of-living pressures. The inflation rate jumped to 4.6 per cent in March, the highest reading since September 2023 and far above the Reserve Bank’s central 2 to 3 per cent target.Wall Street was playing catch-up after the Memorial Day weekend. APBanks led early declines, with Commonwealth Bank falling 1.7 per cent, Westpac down 1.5 per cent, ANZ Bank shedding 1.6 per cent and National Australia Bank losing 2.1 per cent. The sell-down in ASX Ltd continued, with the stock falling another 6 per cent. The embattled stock exchange operator had dived 13.3 per cent on Wednesday after flagging it would increase its capital spending to as much as $200 million in the new financial year to upgrade critical market infrastructure.Real estate investment trusts also declined, amid speculation a high inflation reading could trigger more interest rate rises, which raises the cost of borrowing and also makes property stocks as an investment less attractive to investors in comparison to government bonds. Goodman Group was down 0.8 per cent, the shopping centre landlords Scentre and Vicinity both lost 0.4 per cent and Charter Hall Group was down 1.1 per cent.Energy stocks were lower in early trade, too, with oil little changed as the US touted progress toward a peace deal with Iran despite fresh hostilities and uncertainty over the vital Strait of Hormuz. Brent traded near $US99 a barrel after rising almost 4 per cent on Tuesday, while West Texas Intermediate was around $US93. US forces hit targets near the strait, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired at multiple US aircraft after they entered Iranian airspace.Oil and gas giant Woodside dropped 0.9 per cent, Santos shed 0.2 per cent and refiner Ampol dropped 0.4 per cent.Limiting losses on the ASX were gains by the miners, with the iron ore heavyweights BHP (up 1.1 per cent), Rio Tinto (up 0.6 per cent) and Fortescue (up 0.8 per cent) all trading higher as copper prices advanced. Gold miners Northern Star and Evolution Mining were up 0.9 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively, and the nation’s biggest silver miner, South 32, climbed 4.1 per cent.KMD Brands soared 15.3 per cent after the owner of outdoor wear retailer Kathmandu and surf brand Rip Curl reported 6.6 per cent sales growth for the first nine months of its financial year, said it was on track for $27.5 million in cost savings for the full year and has started a “comprehensive business review” of its capital structure and portfolio to boost shareholder returns.Shares of Southern Cross Media rose 2.9 per cent after Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart emerged as the money behind former Kerry Stokes ally Bruce McWilliam’s near-10 per cent stake in the media group, which owns the Network Seven and Triple M.On Wall Street overnight, the US stock market rose to records as it caught up with climbs for others around the world from the day before, when President Donald Trump said negotiations were “proceeding nicely” with Iran on ending their war.The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent after trading resumed following Monday’s holiday and set an all-time high. The Nasdaq composite rallied 1.2 per cent to set its own record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 118 points, or 0.2 per cent, from its all-time high.Stock markets in much of the rest of the world pulled back from their gains the day before, as fighting continued in the region and the US military said it carried out “self-defence” strikes in southern Iran, including on missile launch sites and boats placing mines. Markets have rallied in the past on hopes for a coming end to the war with Iran, only to see the conflict drag on.Oil prices have been at the centre of financial markets’ action since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. The ensuing war has closed the Strait of Hormuz and kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering crude to customers worldwide. That in turn has driven up oil’s price and sent a wave of painful inflation around the world.Hopes for a deal to improve the flow of oil helped lift stocks of companies with big fuel bills. United Airlines rose 6 per cent, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings steamed 4.9 per cent higher.Big US technology stocks also continued their big runs. Micron Technology’s stock leaped 19.3 per cent to top $US895.88 and was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 after analysts at UBS led by Timothy Arcuri raised their 12-month price target for the stock to $US1,625 from $US535.The analysts are forecasting continued strength in demand for computer memory, and Micron’s stock has already more than tripled so far this year. It’s the latest Big Tech company to top an overall value of $US1 trillion ($1.4 trillion) and joined such behemoths as Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, which have each blown past $US3 trillion.Lower oil prices helped pull yields down in the US bond market, which eased the pressure on Wall Street. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.49 per cent from 4.56 per cent late Friday.It’s a respite following recent gains for yields in bond markets worldwide, which threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average long-term US mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the artificial-intelligence data centres that have supported the US economy’s growth recently.with AP and BloombergThe Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day’s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon.From our partners