Blog

U.S equity markets saw further volatility last night but to a lesser degree than what we have become accustomed to over past few trading sessions. The Dow finished 9.29 points lower or -0.09%, S&P500 -7.62 points or -0.295 and the Nasdaq declined the most with a loss of 59.58 points or -0.85%.

At the half way mark of the day the local market is still on the back foot continuing from the morning’s drag and is trading lower at 5,965 down -0.85%. The banks are all lower with ANZ leading the declines down -1.15%, NAB -0.28%, WBC -0.39% and CBA -0.43%. 

In a choppy trading session overnight, U.S equities sold of late to end sharply lower giving up earlier gains, dragged down by continued worries on interest rates. More than half of the day’s losses came in the final hour of trading with the Dow losing more than 240 points in the final 60 minutes. The Dow finished the session down -380.83 points or -1.50%, the S&P500 lower by -30.45 points or -1.11% and the NASDAQ down by -57.35 points or -0.78%.

Notably the S&P500 pulled back 0.9 percent to close at 2,71.83 with all eleven sectors finishing lower. The energy sector was the largest decliner falling -2.29 percent after breaking below the 50-day moving average on the S&P500 which triggered further selling later in the day. The sector was also pushed down by declines in XOM -2.27%, EOG -5.16% and CHK -9.18%.

The ASX200 is currently trading lower by 0.36% or -21.90 points at 6113.90 with losses broadly spread during the first half of the day.  HT1 is lower by 5.06%, MQA -4.17%, VOC -3.01% and SYR -2.83%. Tha banks are a little mixed while retailers HVN and JBH are both down approximately 2.5%.  MGF +5.37% and PTM +5.06% continue to be the best performers on the day.  PTM Hourly Chart attached.