Afternoon trading August 5

Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @paddington bear and morning crew. Everyone still breathing? Good. This too shall pass.

Half-time wrap:

Australian shares extended their two-day decline towards 5% after the threat of a US recession send shivers through global financial markets.

The ASX 200 dived 200 points or 2.5% by mid-session. Last Thursday's record close was a distant memory following two days of heavy losses that at this morning's low had knocked more than 410 points or almost 5.2% off the index.

Just six of the benchmark's 200 companies managed gains this morning as all 11 sectors declined. ResMed was the morning's best with a rise of 4.28%. Also ahead were Rio Tinto, TPG Telecom, Domino Pizza, Sims and Pilbara Minerals.

The other end of the market made ugly reading for investors: Block lost 9.51%, Alcoa 7.34% and Polynovo 7.28%. Among the heavyweights, Goodman Group dropped 6.02%, Macquarie Group 4.6% and QBE 3.8%. The big four banks shed between 3.55% and 3.67%.

The carnage came in the wake of a second day of selling on Wall Street on Friday after soft jobs data stoked concerns that the economic "soft landing" investors were praying for may instead turn into a recession. The Nasdaq skidded 2.43% into a technical correction. The S&P 500 lost 1.84%.


Personal trading: Market has come off extremely hard in two days, potentially offering short-term value. ("Potentially" and "short term" being the key words.) I picked up a few heavyweights mid-morning for any fleeting recovery - ANZ, ALQ, CPU and ORI. No guarantees in this game, but I'll look for profits some time in the next few sessions when the inevitable rebound eventuates. Of course, it could be from much lower levels. Also caught some of the bounce in ART.