daytrading sep 5 afternoon

Welcome back, Endless. Half-time round-up:

Weak US futures and sharp pullbacks on Asian markets conspired to drag Australian shares steadily lower this morning following Friday's grim US jobs report.

At lunchtime the ASX 200 was off 96 points or 2.3% at 4147 as all sectors except gold miners retreated. Oilers and the big banks were the morning's biggest losers, in line with US trends. The energy sector fell 3.3% and financials 2.8%.

US futures remained underwater amid low-volume trading ahead of tonight's Labor Day public holiday. Dow futures were recently off 57 points or 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.71% in morning trade, Shanghai 1.53% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 2.2%.

A heavy week for domestic economic news gave the Reserve Bank plenty of food for thought ahead of tomorrow's cash rate decision: inflation dropped for the first time in two years, the services sector unexpectedly expanded, job ads fell for a second month and company profits improved.

Inflation eased 0.1% last month as the prices of fruit and vegetables fell, according to the TDS-MI monthly gauge. The services sector expanded for the first time in four months. The AIG/CBA Performance of Services Index jumped 3.3 points to 52.1 points during August. However, the ANZ job ads index dropped another 0.6%, following July's 0.7% dip.

A strong rise in company profits raised hopes for Wednesday's GDP report. Gross operating profits increased by 6.7% during the June quarter, according to the ABS.

Crude oil futures sagged 90 cents this morning to US$85.75 a barrel. Spot gold was $6.40 weaker at US$1,880.30 an ounce. The dollar was buying US$1.06.


A toboggan ride this morning - Endless should be comfortable with these conditions after his downhill conditioning last week. Tough going for the rest of us. Our market looks a little overdone to me relative to Asia, so I'm holding for any improvement this arvo. Managed a paltry scalp in IVR this morning. Currently underwater in buys in PDN and LLC.