daytrading oct 14 afternoon

Thanks Endless.

Half-time round-up:

The share market has surrendered nearly half of Friday's gains as US futures signal concern over the looming debt ceiling deadline.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was 36 points or 0.7% in the red at 5194 as a broad decline lowered all sectors except property trusts +0.2%. The heaviest selling came in the gold sector -3.5%, IT -1.7%, utilities -1.3%, the Small Ords -1.2%, industrials -1.2% and health -1.2%.

US futures were mired in the red as the weekend ended without a deal to raise the debt ceiling or re-open the federal government. Dow futures were recently off 91 points or 0.6%.

"It's a situation no-one wants to be in, causing market volatility," Angus Gluskie, managing director of White Funds Management, told Bloomberg. "The two political parties do need to reach an agreement. If there's no deal by Thursday, markets will fall further. Investors are getting a little bit concerned on China after seeing a couple of weak data points."

China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.17% despite a jump in consumer inflation reported this morning. The consumer price index climbed to 3.1% last month from 2.6% in August. Expectations were for a reading around 2.8%. Read more here. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei were closed for public holidays.

Crude oil futures edged up four cents this morning to US$101.78 a barrel. Spot gold was $2.60 weaker at US$1,270.60 an ounce. The dollar was buying 94.47 US cents.


Still no evidence of panic on world markets. Got a bit ahead of ourselves at the tail end of last week but sobered up a bit today. I was off my game last week - turned a profit but the poorest return in a few months - so you can make what you will of the fact I took MBE at 16.5c this morning and ILU a bit higher than where it is now. Pure intraday trades at this stage. Overnight holds in these conditions offer the opportunity for spectacular wins and spectacular losses but you're essentially betting on something that passeth human understanding: US Congressional politicking.