Morning traders. Thanks Trees and after-market regulars.
Market wrap:
The last session of a dismal quarter for Australian investors looks set to open with a partial rebound from yesterday's two-year low following a mixed close on Wall Street.
The December SPI200 futures contract rallied 45 points or 0.9% to 4929 as BHP and Rio Tinto rose from their lowest level in six years in the US after Glencore staged a partial recovery from Monday's 29.42% plunge. Heavy falls in the mining heavyweights helped drag the ASX 200 down 3.8% yesterday and push the loss for the quarter towards 9%, the index's worst quarterly return in four years.
Global financial markets steadied overnight but struggled to make headway after Monday's horror session. The S&P 500 closed two points or 0.12% higher after upbeat US economic data helped the index rally as much as 17 points in early trade and a fade sent it to within five points or 0.3% of last month's two-year low before a late recovery. The rise was the benchmark index's first in six sessions.
The Dow was once again the strongest of the three major indices, rising 47 points or 0.3% to close back above 16,000 at 16,049. The late failure of an attempted rebound in biotechs helped drag the Nasdaq to a final loss of 27 points or 0.59%.
"It's a market trying to gain some semblance of a bounce," Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in the US, told CNBC. "There doesn't seem to be much conviction. The good thing is you don't see much conviction on the downside either. To have a kind of quiet market is more comforting for the average investor."
Panic selling in resource stocks subsided as UK-listed commodities giant Glencore bounced 16.95%, its biggest ever one-day gain, after reassuring investors its debt burden poses no threat to its survival.
Read more here. Glencore tumbled 29% on Monday after an analyst questioned whether there was any value in the company.
Glencore's recovery helped attract bargain hunters to Australia's two largest listed miners, which yesterday closed at their lowest levels since the depths of the GFC. BHP rallied 0.82% overnight and Rio Tinto 1.84% in US trade.
Technology was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 as Apple fell 3.01%. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index dropped another 0.39% after giving up an initial rally of almost 4%. The Russell 2000 index of small caps, used by some investors as a measure of risk appetite, declined 0.61% to bring up the index's worst run in nine years with an eighth straight loss.
Goldman Sachs slashed its year-end outlook for the S&P 500 by 5% to 2,000 from a previous prediction of 2,100. "Our models now incorporate a slower pace of economic activity in the US and China and a lower oil price than we had been previously assuming," Goldman said in a note quoted on
CNBC.
Sentiment in the US was boosted by robust consumer confidence and housing news. The Conference Board's September consumer-confidence index improved to 103, the strongest reading since January, from a revised 101.1 last month in August. Economists had anticipated a decline to 96. House prices increased by 0.6% in July.
Europe's benchmark index fell to an eight-month low following weak European inflation data but finished well above its session low. The Stoxx Europe 600 closed 0.69% in the red, Germany's DAX lost 0.35%, France's CAC 0.31% and Britain's FTSE 0.83%.
Oil rebounded amid expectations that US inventory data due tonight will highlight a slowdown in US production. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery settled 80 cents or 1.8% higher at US$45.23 a barrel.
Most base metals trimmed Monday's losses. In London, copper edged up 0.1%, aluminium 0.8%, nickel 0.1% and zinc 0.6%. Lead closed unchanged. Tin eased 0.3%. US copper for December delivery was recently up 0.3% at US$2.26 a pound.
An index of gold stocks ended virtually unchanged despite a third straight decline in the precious metal. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs index gave up 0.05%. Gold for December delivery settled $4.90 or 0.4% lower at US$1,126.80 an ounce.
Spot iron ore for import to China yesterday dropped $1.30 to US$54.70 a dry ton.
The dollar was this morning buying 69.88 US cents.
TRADING THEMES TODAY
SHORT COVERING: A jittery night in the US, but at least the slide was arrested near the August low. The question is whether the Russell 2000 - already well below the August low - is a canary for the broader market. We won't know until tonight at the earliest, which may encourage a few short-sellers to lock in what should be some robust profits after yesterday's slaughtering of the ASX bulls. The overnight recovery in Glencore ought to put a floor under BHP and Rio Tinto this session. While the spotlight was on the miners yesterday, the banks also copped a decent hiding. Value investors must be starting to run the numbers. The specs were understandably subdued here yesterday, so it will be interesting to see if the animal spirits recover with a hint of green today. Bet there are a few more company announcements than we saw yesterday.
ECONOMIC NEWS: August building approvals and September private-sector credit figures are due at 11.30am EST. A busy night ahead in the US includes the ADP Non-Farm Employment Change report, Chicago PMI, crude oil inventories and speeches by Janet Yellen and another Fed luminary.
Good luck to all.
