Shares slumped to a three-month low this morning as public holidays in the US and China fed a buyer's strike this week on the ASX.
At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was down five points or 0.1% at 5702 after falling as low as 5680, the index's weakest read since March 1. Tepid gains in gold stocks +1%, metals & mining +0.5% and financials +0.3% were outweighed by declines in energy -0.7%, telecoms -0.7% and IT -0.6%.
Shares fell 45 points yesterday on one of the lowest volumes of the year ahead of last night's Memorial Day public holiday in the US and UK and holidays today in China and Hong Kong. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.54% this morning as US futures turned negative ahead of tonight's resumption of regular trade. Dow futures were recently off 19 points or 0.1%.
Crude oil futures edged up three cents or 0.06% this morning to US$49.83 a barrel. Gold futures improved $1.40 or 0.11% to US$1,272.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.29 US cents.
Trading: get the cribbage board out, Endless. If I don't find something to do, I'm going to have to paint the fence - in which case I will literally watch paint dry, as opposed to staring at the screen and doing it metaphorically. These feel like the worst trading conditions in several years. In fact, I can't recall a tougher time for making money since the dog days of the GFC. Trading very little just now and my win % has dived. The usual techniques are not delivering, which makes me gun-shy. Lean times.
