Day Trading Pre Open - 18 December 2018

Good Morning Fellow Traders,

Thanks @Quantum Torus @Ravgnome and AM Loungers. Great trading insights last night and photography tips too. Anyone want to take bets as to how long it will be before @Goblin is back in the slammer?

The Australian share market has closed higher after an afternoon rally led by the materials sector.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index sat flat for much of Monday but a push in the final three hours of trade meant it closed 56.3 points, or 1.0 per cent, higher at 5658.3 points.

The broader All Ordinaries closed 54.1 points, or 0.95 per cent, higher at 5732.9 points, while the Australian dollar was buying 71.73 US cents at 1630 AEDT, from 71.93 on Friday.

The materials sector had been strongest throughout the day, propelled by the promise of capital returns to shareholders of mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto.

BHP closed 3.5 per cent higher at $33.53 after announcing it would pay a $US1.02-per-share special dividend in January, fulfilling its promise to return the money made from the sale of its onshore US shale assets.
Rio Tinto wasn't far behind, closing 2.2 per cent higher at $76.17 after completing the $500 million sale of its French aluminium smelter, freeing up cash it also has said would be returned to shareholders.

The afternoon surge, which came amid rumours of a budget surplus-inspired splurge by federal government and as Asian markets shrugged off Wall Street's heavy Friday losses, lifted every major sector except the financials - which closed flat.

ANZ led the losses, falling 1.6 per cent to $24.41, followed by Westpac's 0.9 per cent drop to $24.65, and NAB's 0.6 per cent fall to $23.55.
Commonwealth Bank was the only one of the big four banks to avoid the sell off, gaining 0.7 per cent to $69.26.

Even the long-suffering consumer-related sectors were infected with enthusiasm, with JB Hi-Fi, Myer, Woolworths, Coles, Treasury Wine Estates and Wesfarmers all enjoying a pre-holiday bounce.

Energy stocks jumped despite lower oil prices, while CSL, Fisher and Paykel, and Cochlear lifted the healthcare sector with gains of more than two per cent.

Shares in Perth-based shipbuilder Austal closed up 3.8 per cent at $1.93 after it was contracted to make another two combat vessels for the US Navy.

ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 56.3 points, or 1.0 per cent, at 5658.3
* The All Ordinaries was up 54.1 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 5732.9
* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was up 60 points, or 1.07 per cent, at 5672

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.73 US cents, from 71.93 US cents on Friday
* 81.42 Japanese yen, from 81.63
* 63.43 euro cents, from 63.31
* 57.03 British pence, from 56.95
* 105.62 NZ cents, from 105.81

GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1630 AEDT was $US1236.83 per fine ounce, from $US1241.2 on Friday.

Wall Street slid 1 percent on Monday, weighed down by retailers and health stocks and after DoubleLine’s Jeffrey Gundlach said U.S. equities are in a long-term bear market and that the Federal Reserve should not raise rates this week.

Gundlach, Chief Executive Officer of DoubleLine Capital and known on Wall Street as the Bond King, in comments made on CNBC also said that passive investing had reached “mania status” and will exacerbate market problems.
The comments pushed U.S. equities back to session lows and killed off an attempted recovery.

“He (Gundlach) is not exactly painting a sunny picture for 2019,” said Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
After Gundlach’s comments, the S&P financial index gave up earlier gains to trade flat. It was the best performing among the 11 major S&P sectors. Banks, however, held on to gains of 0.25 percent.

Gundlach said the Fed should not raise rates this week, as is widely expected, after already changing messaging on rate hikes to stabilize stocks. Earlier, President Donald Trump criticized the Fed for “even considering” another hike.
Retail stocks tumbled 2.20 percent after British online fashion retailer ASOS’s profit warning led to concerns over consumer spending. Amazon.com Inc sank 3.3 percent and was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

“Because of the profit warning, there is an overall question of holiday spending” in the United States, said Forrest.

The S&P healthcare index dropped 1.34 percent after a federal judge on Friday ruled that the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was unconstitutional based on its mandate requiring people buy health insurance.

All the 11 major S&P sectors were lower. Monday’s swings are the latest example of volatility that has plagued U.S. stocks for most of this month amid worries about slowing global growth.

“I still think there are just too many worries out there and the biggest worry is that global economy is slipping,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

“Growth is slowing means earnings are going to slow. We are okay in this quarter and the first quarter of 2019, but after that I think earnings is going to be a problem for the market.”

At 1:28 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 250.02 points, or 1.04 percent, at 23,850.49, the S&P 500 was down 28.31 points, or 1.09 percent, at 2,571.64 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 74.68 points, or 1.08 percent, at 6,835.98.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc dropped 1.8 percent to a two-year low after Malaysia filed criminal charges against the bank and two former employees related to the 1MDB investigation. The stock is now the worst performer among Dow Industrials this year.

Insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc fell 1.3 percent on the Obamacare ruling and was the biggest drag on the Dow.
Johnson & Johnson continued its slide with a 3.6-percent drop after a Reuters report that the pharma major knew for decades that its Baby Powder contained asbestos.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 3.06-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.07-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P recorded one new 52-week highs and 100 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded seven new highs and 432 new lows.


Source: Netwealth Morning Business Roundup

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