Thanks Oscar and morning crew.
Half-time round-up:
The big banks plumbed two-week lows as the share market faded into the red following a fourth straight loss on Wall Street.
A tentative recovery following two days of heavy selling on the ASX 200 flipped over to a mid-session loss of 39 points or 0.7% at 5695. Gains in gold stocks +1.3%, consumer discretionary +0.6% and energy +0.1% were outweighed by declines in financials -1.1%, telecoms -0.6% and metals & mining -0.6%.
The heavyweight financial sector fell for a fourth day towards the October two-year lows after solid employment data appeared to increase pressure on the Reserve Bank to consider increasing rates. The economy created 32,800 new jobs last month, keeping the jobless rate steady at 5%. The news boosted the dollar almost half a cent to 72.66 US cents.
Overnight, the S&P 500 lost 0.76% as market colossus Apple fell for a fifth day. S&P 500 futures were recently off 3.75 points or 0.14%.
A subdued morning on Asian markets saw China's Shanghai Composite up 0.13% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.01%, while Japan's Nikkei shed down 0.54%.
Crude oil futures eased 28 cents or 0.5% this morning to US$55.97 a barrel. Gold futures dropped $1.20 or 0.1%to US$1,208.90 an ounce.
Getting ugly again today. Tin hats on. Trading: a "nearly" day, with everything pulling up a pip short of my buy order. No damage done, but nothing gained.
