daytrades july 14 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian consumer stocks fell sharply this morning as US debt worries weighed on key regional markets and US futures.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 23 points or 0.5% at 4491 after a profit warning from David Jones undermined consumer stocks and other sectors exposed to the soft retail environment. The consumer discretionary sector dropped 1.7%, consumer staples 1.1%, financials 1.1% and property trusts 1.5%.

Gold stocks were the pick of the sectors, rising 1.8% as resource stocks and small caps bucked the general downtrend. The Small Ordinaries rallied 0.2% while the ASX 20 fell 0.7%.

US futures eased this morning after ratings agency Moody's placed its rating for US government bonds on review as a deadline nears for the US debt ceiling. Moody's said there was "a small but rising risk of a short-lived default". Dow futures were recently off 24 points or 0.2%.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.37% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.36% but Shanghai put on 0.22%.

"A big unresolved issue for markets across the world is the US deficit ceiling situation," CMC Markets analyst Ben Le Brun told Fairfax. "The August 2 deadline creeps ever closer and it is looking more and more complex for both sides of US parliament to strike a deal."

Crude oil futures rallied 23 cents this morning to US $98.08 a barrel. Spot gold was 20 cents weaker at US $1,586.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying US $1.0759.


Not quite the bloodbath we might have anticipated. Still plenty of enthusiasm at the small end of town. I spent much of the morning watching the retailers for a buy signal but capitulation never came. Fortunately FXJ came up with the goods and I bought up hard during the crash under 90c. Also had dabbles in SWM and CNX for any afternoon recoveries.