DT January 13 afternoon

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

The share market surrendered its gains for the week in nervous action ahead of Chinese trade data this afternoon and the launch of a new US reporting season tonight.  

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 50 points or 0.9% lower at 5717 and on track for its first losing week since mid-December. The financials sector, one of the big winners since the election of Donald Trump, led the retreat with a retrace of 1.7%. Also weak: small caps -0.8%, materials -0.8% and industrials -0.6%. Select defensive sectors bucked the downtrend, including health +0.2%, utilities +0.1% and consumer staples +0.2%.

Global markets have shown signs of an emerging defensive bias this week following two months of strong gains in risk assets since the US presidential election in the expectation that a Trump presidency will boost US growth and inflation.

"Now with inauguration just a week away, markets are asking 'is it real'? NAB economist Tapas Strickland told Fairfax. "Some hint of that was gleaned in Trump's press conference on Wednesday where he provided little in the way of policy detail. That saw a rally in US Treasuries and a fall in the US dollar which continued overnight.
The greenback hit a five-week trough against a basket of major currencies and was on track for its worst week since November. The President-elect's lack of policy detail put safety plays such as bonds and gold back in favour."

Most Asian markets improved. While China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.05% in early trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.48% and Japan's Nikkei 0.44%. Dow futures were recently positive by 17 points or 0.1%.

Crude oil futures gained eight cents or 0.15% this morning to US$53.09 a barrel. Gold futures shed $5.40 or 0.45% at US$1,194.40 an ounce. The dollar was buying 74.98 US cents.


Surprisingly weak session, suggesting that the fundies are starting to pay attention to all the unknowns of the looming Trump presidency. Nickel miners copping a right spanking after the Indonesian government announcement, even though the metal price mostly recovered. I've been having fun with WSA, but will get the smile wiped off my face if it doesn't respect the intraday low. Someone is dumping a lot of stock and doesn't care much about the price. Short-seller? Also got something out of GGG.