market conditions...any comments grateful, page-9

hi lemony,
Its all about metals and oil. US markets have greater proportion of industrials, tech, financials etc than xjo. xjo has more miners and drillers therefore gets hit harder as commodites fall, whereas this is actually a net positive for US markets becuase it lowers the cost of inputs (hence higher profits as long as demand remains the same). Higher energy prices (incl oil) is good on a net basis for xjo, but negative for US and most other markets. Anyway, these things explain the difference between US market moves and aussiee market moves of late. In an immediate sense, the US markets are either at the cusp of a breakout to higher levels out of their trading range, or they will retreat for a while back into that range. Tonight and/or tomorrow night will be when this direction is set. Most markets assume that the us markets will retreat somewhat tonight, and US futures indicate this is probably true. Hiope this messy explanation helps more than it confuses.
cheers!