Stocks keeled over this morning following a federal government growth downgrade and as US futures weakened after a ratings agency placed US debt on negative outlook.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was down 9 points or 0.2% at 4048 after earlier running as high as 4084. The big banks and miners accounted for most of the fall, while defensive sectors bucked the downtrend.
Ratings agency Fitch this morning reaffirmed the US's triple-A credit rating but cut its outlook from stable to negative following the failure of the congressional committee assigned to find deficit cuts. The agency said the downgraded outlook reflected "declining confidence that timely fiscal measures necessary to place US public finances on a sustainable path will be forthcoming". More here.
Adding to downward pressure on equities, the federal government this morning cut its growth forecast following recent declines in the global economic outlook. Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan announced cuts to public sector spending and the baby bonus to help the government achieve a surplus in 2012-13.
"Global economic and financial conditions have deteriorated markedly in recent months, exacerbating some of the existing stresses on parts of the Australian economy," the update, quoted in The Australian, said. "...This has contributed to a reduction in momentum in some parts of the economy and a slowdown in employment growth."
Asian markets built on yesterday's gains. Japan's Nikkei tacked on 0.91%, Shanghai 0.41% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.44%. Dow futures were recently off 30 points or nearly 0.3%.
Crude oil futures fell 47 cents this morning to US$97.50 a barrel. Spot gold was $4.60 softer at US$1,708.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 98.88 US cents.
Learn from my fail: if you rely on aural price alerts for your trading, it's a good idea to turn your PC speakers on. Took me 15 minutes this morning to realise there was more market action than the deathly silence implied. Ahem. Obviously a fizzer of a morning generally as the Fitch news sapped risk appetite. I had a quick early score with the pullback in IAG and also added at/near lows in CCL, CJO and TIS.
