Daytrading December 4 afternoon

Thanks birthday Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares slumped towards a second straight losing week in the aftermath of a global sell-off as the European Central Bank dashed expectations of aggressive monetary easing.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 88 points or 1.7% lower at 5139, roughly 60 points below last Friday's close at 5202. The index tracked towards a third straight loss following heavy equity losses in Europe and the US overnight after the ECB unveiled a more modest package of stimulus measures than the market anticipated. Markets moved higher earlier in the week in the belief that ECB President Mario Draghi had laid the ground for a substantial package.

“The market was hoping for some Draghi magic, but instead got some Draghi shock,” Mitsuo Shimizu, deputy general manager at Japan Asia Securities Group, told Bloomberg. “I’d thought that for a recovery in the European economy we’d need some bold easing measures, but since Draghi seems to be taking the economic recovery lightly, it’s possible that it could take a turn for the worse for some time.”

Gold was the only sector to rally in Australia, rising 2.3%. Prominent among the morning's falls were financials -2.1%, health -1.8%, property trusts -1.8% and utilities -1.7%.

The fallout from Europe rippled through Asian markets, despite a rebound in US equity futures.  China's Shanghai Composite shed 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.21% and Japan's Nikkei 1.73%. Dow futures were recently up 43 points or 0.25%.

Crude oil futures rallied 10 cents this morning to US$41.26 a barrel. Spot gold was 80 cents softer at US$1,060.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 73.3 US cents.


The ECB is getting a sharp lesson in the dangers of over-promising and under-delivering. See me after class, please Mario. Commodities getting a small lift from the weaker greenback. Trading: some terrific buying opportunities this morning for anyone who thinks this will blow over quickly. I had a week's worth of price alerts go off in the first ten minutes. Didn't get nearly as many as I would have liked, but recorded wins in the likes of CWN, REG, SWM, ALQ and HGG.