daytrades july 15 afternoon

Thanks Tweets. Half-time round-up:

Australian shares are on track for their weakest close in more than two weeks after Standard & Poor's became the second ratings agency to place US debt on review for possible downgrade.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was lower for the fourth day this week, off 14 points or 0.3% at 4476. Gold shares were again the pick of the sectors, rising 0.8%, ahead of telecoms +0.7% and industrials +0.2%. The metals % mining sector was down 0.6% after BHP launched a US $12 billion friendly takeover for US gas company Petrohawk Energy. Shares in BHP were recently off 1.6%.

Standard and Poor's this morning joined Moody's in warning that the US's triple-A credit rating is under threat unless politicians resolve an impasse over raising the debt ceiling. The company said: "owing to the dynamics of the political debate on the debt ceiling, there is at least a one-in-two likelihood that we could lower the long-term rating on the US within the next 90 days."

US futures traders preferred to focus on this morning's bullish earnings report from search giant Google, sending Dow futures up 24 points or 0.2%. Shares in Google rallied 12.5% in after-market trade this morning after it posted second-quarter profit growth of 36%.

Asian markets were mixed in early trade but Shanghai and Hong Kong recently turned positive. Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.18%, Shanghai 0.32% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.14%.

Crude oil futures rallied 29 cents this morning to US $96.17 a barrel. Spot gold was $3.70 softer at US $1,583.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying US $1.0742.



There are a few hopeful signs developing in Asian trade and US futures that might give our market a leg-up this afternoon. Shanghai and Hong Kong have turned positive. This morning was all about the CEO roller-coaster for me. Rode the big dipper three times for three wins, none huge but they add up. Commiserations to holders. Also in and out of ALL for brokerage. Been a pretty good week considering the conditions.