Daytrading September 22 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning regulars.


Half-time round-up:

Australian stocks joined a regional rebound this morning as Federal Reserve attempts to soothe fears of a global slowdown appeared to gain traction.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was trading 28 points or 0.5% ahead at 5098 and on course to claw back some of yesterday's heavy losses. The index dived 2% yesterday following a Friday dump on Wall Street as investors interpreted the Fed's decision to leave rates on hold as a sign of underlying weakness in the global economy. Overnight the Fed rolled out four speakers to argue that the US can handle a rate cut before the end of the year.

“They want to try to keep the market in line,” Curtis Holden, senior investment officer at Tanglewood Wealth Management in the US, told Bloomberg. “They want to keep things propped up enough that they still have the opportunity to raise rates later. If stocks and commodities continue to sell off, it would make it difficult for them to raise rates at some points in the future.”

China's Shanghai Composite rallied 0.26% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.66%. Japan's Nikkei remained close for a public holiday. Dow futures were recently down 25 points or 0.15%.

Energy stocks led this morning's Australian rally, rising 2.7%. Also strong were IT +1.1%, industrials +1.2% and utilities +1.1%. The gold sector slid 1.8% and metals & mining 0.1%.

Crude oil futures dropped 41 cents this morning to US$46.27 a barrel. Spot gold was $1.10 higher at US$1,133.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.4 US cents.


The Fed obviously decided the market didn't take away the message the central bank wanted it to hear, so they're in damage control. Will it work? We'll have a better idea this time tomorrow. Current US equity futures suggest concern that the retrace in biotechs/health stocks may have further to run - Nasdaq futures are marginally more gloomy than Dow. Trading: got in a lot of the right trades but didn't take full advantage. Two trades in BRN for two wins, one in AJM but coulda/shoulda let them all run further. I'm half of a crack trading team - strong on entries but weak on timing exits.