Morning traders. Thanks Shelby and after-market regulars. Market...

Morning traders. Thanks Shelby and after-market regulars.

Market wrap:

Shares look set to open lower for a fourth session after weak Chinese factory data inflamed fears of a global slowdown and fuelled falls in commodity prices and US stocks.

The September SPI200 futures contract dived 49 points or 0.9% to 5467 as Wall Street ended its worst week in four months with a loss of almost 1.1% on Friday.

Nine out of ten industry groups declined as the S&P 500 shed 22.5 points or 1.07% for a weekly loss of 2.2%. The retreat was the benchmark index's fourth in a row since hitting a record high last Monday. The Dow gave up 163 points or 0.92% for a five-session loss of 2.9%. The blue chip index closed below its 200-day moving average. The Nasdaq dropped 58 points or 1.12% on the day and 2.3% over the week.

“The ongoing collapse in commodity prices emanating from weak data in China and weak earnings reports from companies because of China, such as Caterpillar, are weighing on the market,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management in the US, told Bloomberg. “We’ve got a pretty big collapse going on here.”

Materials and energy saw the worst of the selling after a report on Friday showed Chinese manufacturing activity contracted this month at the fastest pace in 15 months. Markit's preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.2 from 49.4 last month, dashing hopes that recent government support was stabilising the Chinese economy. The reading was worse than of the economists polled by Bloomberg expected. Read more here.

The Chinese data helped push the Australian dollar to a six-year low. The Aussie was this morning buying 72.72 US cents, down another tenth of a cent.

Adding to the gloom on Wall Street was news that new home sales slumped to a seven-month low last month during what was anticipated to be one of the strongest months of the year. Sales declined 6.8%, lower than the most pessimistic forecast.

The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index skidded 4.02%, its largest decline since April, after Biogen cut its profit outlook. The former market darling plunged 22.08% to its biggest loss in seven years. Amazon provided one of the week's rare profit surprises, rising 9.8%.

"It's been a week characterised by lacklustre earnings with a few bright spots here and there," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in the US, told CNBC. "Away from that you've got this overarching concern that the global economy is slowing down."

Rio Tinto joined BHP at a six-year low in US trade as sentiment towards resource stocks continued to sour. Rio Tinto lost 2.96% and BHP 1.68%. Spot iron ore for import to China on Friday edged up 10 cents to US$50.70 a dry ton.

Energy companies dropped roughly 2% as crude oil ended 5.4% lower for the week. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for September delivery settled 31 cents or 0.6% in the red at US$48.14 a barrel on Friday for a fourth straight weekly decline.

“Crude oil is struggling for any upside gain and experienced another depraved week as the [US] inventory data released this week reminded us once again about the extra oil glut on the market,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, told MarketWatch.

Bargain hunters boosted select US gold miners as the precious metal plumbed a new five-and-a-half-year low. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index rallied 3.68%. Gold for August delivery settled $8.60 or 0.8% lower at US$1,085.50 an ounce for a fifth straight weekly loss.

Copper slid to a six-year low in London and zinc and lead ended their worst weeks in two years with further falls. In London, copper fell as low as US$5,191.50 a tonne before paring its loss to US$5,260, down 0.2%. Lead declined 0.8% for a weekly tally of -6.8%. Zinc's fall for the week was 5.2% after losing 1.3% on Friday. Nickel lost 1.2%. Aluminium gained 0.5% and tin 3.4%. US copper for September delivery edged up 0.2% to US$2.39 a pound.

Mining and banks shares led a retreat in Europe, where the Stoxx Europe 600 gave up 0.87%, Germany's DAX 1.43%, France's CAC 0.58% and Britain's FTSE 1.13%.

TRADING THEMES TODAY

GLOBAL RETRACE: Analysts are questioning their assumptions about global growth after a string of weak profit results from US multinationals last week. Friday's dire Chinese factory update exacerbated those concerns, breaking a recent run improving Chinese economic signals. The result was some pretty substantial selling in commodities and resource stocks. The ASX will likely open near a two-week low, which may encourage some tentative bargain hunting today. I'm sure analysts will be running the numbers on BHP and Rio. Gold miners in the US got a lift on Friday. Speculation about the US Federal Reserve will dominate the rest of the week, with a two-day policy meeting starting tomorrow night and the Q2 GDP report due on Thursday.

ECONOMIC NEWS: No significant domestic news scheduled today. June figures on durable goods/core durable goods are tonight's US highlight.

Good luck to all.