DT March 24 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares staged a sharp rebound this morning as US equity futures surged on expectations that a revised US healthcare bill will pass tonight.

The ASX 200 was up 52 points or 0.9% to 5760 at 1pm EST after President Trump conceded ground to conservative Republicans then delivered an ultimatum to those holding out for further amendments: pass the bill as it is or live with Obamacare. Read more here. Dow futures were recently up 68 points or 0.33% on optimism that the amended bill will pass, clearing the way for Trump to press on with much-anticipated tax cuts. The healthcare bill was widely seen as a litmus test for the president's ability to push through his legislative agenda.

“We have to have a vote tomorrow [tonight Australian time]. [President Trump] expects it to pass,” Representative Chris Collins told Bloomberg. “We are done negotiating, there are no more negotiations... If it loses, we just move on to tax reform.”

The reaction from Asian markets was subdued. China's Shanghai Composite opened 0.06% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.07% and Japan's Nikkei gained a more robust 0.87%.

The big banks and Tesstra led the Australian rally. The telecoms and financials sectors rose 1.3%, consumer staples 1.2% and health 1.1%. Traditional haven gold eased 1.3%.

Crude oil futures bounced 13 cents or 0.27% this morning to US$47.83 a barrel. Gold futures slid $3.60 or 0.29% to US$1,246.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.35 US cents.


US futures imply the US health bill is a done deal. The market is sometimes wrong, but not often on this sort of issue. Whatever they think of Trump, the Republican holdouts stalling the bill will be reluctant to derail a GOP President this early in his term. Trading: as a highly-trained, motivated self-starter I prepared carefully for today's session by going for coffee and locking myself out of the house. I wouldn't recommend this trading approach. It's stressful, unproductive and may end in divorce. It was 10.15 by the time my wife drove home from work, gave me a bloody good earful, unlocked the door and gave me another earful. Once indoors I got enough out of D13 and VRC to buy flowers. A full fill in BD1 would have been a bonus, but I only got enough for coffee money. Probably should have spent it on a spare set of doorkeys.