Thanks Brit and morning regulars. Half-time round-up: Bleak US...

Thanks Brit and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

Bleak US equity futures compounded pressure on the ASX this morning, helping drive the ASX 200 down more than 2.5% and erasing last week's gains.

At 1pm EST the benchmark index was trading 135 points or 2.6% in the red at 5035 with all sectors down at least 1.3%. Leading the slump were metals & mining -3.1%, materials -3%, financials -3% and energy -2.8%.

The decline reached a nadir late in the morning as US futures indicated no improvement in the market mood over the weekend after a sharp sell-off on Friday after the Federal Reserve left the federal funds rate on hold. Dow futures were recently off 67 points or 0.41%. S&P 500 futures were down 8.5 points or 0.44%.

“Investors seemingly decided that the Fed’s baulk was a sign that things are worse in the world than they actually appear,” Raiko Shareef, strategist at Bank of New Zealand, told Bloomberg. “The Fed’s decision to hold last week means we’re in for, at the very least, another six weeks of ‘will they, won’t they’.”

China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.25%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.26%. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday.

Crude oil futures cents rebounded 20 cents or 0.45% this morning to US$44.88 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.80 weaker at US$1,138.10 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.69 US cents.


It's possible that the down move on the ASX is being exaggerated by the closure of the Nikkei, forcing international traders to offload risk here instead of Japan. The bad news is that Japan does not re-open until Thursday. The good news is they did beat the Springboks. Trading: one of those mornings where I've reached half-time needing a lot of things to go right this arvo. Those days tend not to end well. Decent bounce trade out of SVW. Underwater on TAH and DLX, neutral in APN.