Afternoon trading May 25

Thanks @shovel40, @FlashPoint, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

Aussie shares slumped to a three-week low as US debt limit negotiations dragged on without a resolution, fuelling increased volatility on financial markets.

The ASX 200 declined 0.93% this morning. At the halfway mark, the index was firmly on track for its lowest close since late March. Ten of eleven sectors fell. Tech was the morning's only advance. The materials sector was sucked lower by declines in iron ore, gold, copper, nickel and other base metals.

US futures were all over the shop as traders weighed a knockout trading update from tech giant Nvidia against Fitch's decision to put the US on "negative credit watch" because of the debt ceiling shenanigans. Nasdaq futures (Nvidia: heavy weighting) surged 1.37%. S&P 500 futures (Nvidia: substantial weighting) gained 0.38%. Dow futures (Nvidia: no weighting) dropped 0.22%.

Personal trading: Made a good day's wage by snagging CPH at 8c in the opening dump, then found a creative way to give it back. Took TER on retrace. Yeah, that went well...