Afternoon trading Nov 8

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Shares clung near yesterday's post-GFC closing high as a well-received profit update from market heavyweight CBA offset downbeat US equity futures.  

The ASX 200 held steady at 6015 at the halfway point of the session following a downbeat night on Wall Street as investors fretted over possible delays in long-awaited corporate tax cuts in the US.

Dow futures were recently down 22 points or 0.1% after the Washington Post reported President Trump's tax cuts could be on hold until 2019. Read more here. Also troubling investors were Republican plans to penalise multinationals for moving tax obligations offshore. Read more here. S&P 500 futures shed 3.5 points or 0.14%.

The Australian market might have been lower, if not for CBA's profit update, which boosted the bank 2.2% to a 12-week high and lifted the financial sector 0.7%. Other gains included industrials +0.2% and consumer staples +0.1%. The materials sector sagged 1.3% following an overnight decline in copper.

Asian markets lost ground. China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.29% and Japan's Nikkei 0.28%.

Crude oil futures gave up 11 cents or 0.19% this morning to US$57.09 a barrel. Gold futures improved $1.50 or 0.12% to US$1,277.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.55 US cents.


Trading: busiest morning in many a long month. Six trades for six wins: BIG, YOJ, PGM, CDT, DTZ, RMX. I could retire in a couple of years if every session offered as many opportunities. One observation: I suspect my approach offers more trades when the market is coming off its highs. I'm not saying we've peaked, but the small end has come a long way in a short time and may be due a breather. Anything left to run?