Afternoon trading July 31

  1. 15,910 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 6
    Thanks @shovel40, @Fiji1, @uncleBuck, @JohnI and morning crew.

    Half-time wrap:
    Australian shares trimmed early falls as robust domestic economic data helped offset news of a deeper-than-expected contraction in Chinese factory activity.
    The ASX 200 reached mid-session 18 points or 0.21% in the red after earlier tumbling 55 points.
    A torrid morning for mining stocks was partly balanced by gains in tech companies, retailers, healthcare providers and banks.
    This morning's rebound accelerated after separate reports showed retail sales jumped 1.2% in June and a volatile measure of building approvals surged 11.9%. The news was less favourable over in trading partner China, where the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index shrank to 49.3 this month from 49.7 in June. Readings below 50 indicate falling activity.
    Overnight declines on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were quickly forgotten as upbeat after-market trading updates from Microsoft and Meta lit a fire under US stock futures this morning. S&P 500 futures jumped 0.9%, implying fresh heights when regular trade resumes tonight.

    Personal trading: Get ye behind me, quarterly reporting season. You've ruined many a good chart set-up this week. I grabbed some subsistence rations from RMI this morning, and dipped in and out of 29M for brokerage when the blighter didn't bounce.
 
arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.