Thanks Suzie for the morning thread and thanks guys for this...

Thanks Suzie for the morning thread and thanks guys for this morning's thoughts about gold and safe havens. Interesting stuff.

Half-time round-up:

Regional markets rolled back this morning and Australian shares touched a two-week low after the ratings agencies doused enthusiasm for Europe's latest debt plan.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 62 points or 1.5% at 4190. Blue chips and defensive sectors fared better than most but there were no hiding places as all sectors fell back. Resource stocks were hardest hit, with gold stocks down 2.1%, energy 2% and materials 2%.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei fell 1.32%, Shanghai 0.59% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.1%. Dow futures were recently up 9 points or 0.1%.

"The markets' reaction has been no great surprise," Ben May, strategist at Capital Economics told MarketWatch. "There was plenty of scope for markets to be disappointed by policy-makers' latest actions. The fiscal and economic prospects of Italy and the other southern euro-zone countries remain very precarious."

Domestic business conditions improved last month and business confidence held steady. The NAB business conditions index rose one point to +1 and business confidence was unchanged at +2. NAB said it had boosted its GDP outlook on the strength of the survey results.

The outlook was less positive in the housing market, where the number of new dwelling starts dropped by 6.8% last quarter. The decline was the fourth in the last five quarters and the worst this year.

Crude oil futures fell 42 cents this morning to US$97.72 a barrel. Spot gold was $12.60 weaker at US$1,653.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.0061.


All the talk of gold this morning encouraged me to renew my toxic relationship with MML. If only the share loved me as much as I love to trade it. It's like the pretty girl who always breaks your heart or the mate who always gets you into trouble. Business as usual this morning - I'm underwater on the trade. Another downleg in gold this morning didn't help. PEN treated me better and the jury is still out on MHM. Tough old market.