Afternoon trading October 17

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market surged towards its best gain in months after a strong rebound on Wall Street helped steady frazzled nerves.

The ASX 200 bounced 55 points or 0.9% to 5925 by mid-session as the index's hardest-hit sectors rallied. The IT sector jumped 3.7%, health 2% and financials 1.4%, offsetting declines in gold -1.1% and metals & mining -1.1%. The overall gain was the largest since June and represented a counter-trend move after more than a week of steep falls. 

The catalyst was a 2.15% bounce on the S&P 500 overnight as a fresh US quarterly reporting season diverted attention from international worries. Analysts were cheered by evidence that corporate profits were resisting pressures from the trade war with China and the diminishing effect of the White House's economic stimulus measures.

“Analysts are looking at this reporting season in particular and the general data over the next couple of months for signs that the receding tailwinds of fiscal stimulus and the headwinds of tariffs are going to hit the US market simultaneously,” Rakuten Securities Australia COO, Nick Twidale, told Reuters. “On first viewing this doesn’t appear to be happening.”

S&P 500 futures were recently off 1.75 points or 0.06%.China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.82% andJapan's Nikkei 1.67%.

Crude oil futures improved 14 cents or 0.19% this morning to US$72.06 a barrel. Gold futures shed $3.80 or 0.31%to US$1,227.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.32 US cents.

The spec market is suffering one of its periodic and welcome bouts of irrational exuberance. Obviously biotechs are red hot. The fact this episode coincides with a downturn in the broader market seems unlikely to be a coincidence? Brokers looking to meet their targets at the riskier end of the market? Trading: Bowser - you were on the money that I was in BKY, but had the good fortune to get clear with a profit before the suspension. Also took TRS low enough for a nice payday.