The market is down 28 slightly underperforming the 29 point fall predicted by the SFE Futures on the back of the 171 point fall on Wall St. US markets shut tonight. Financials down 0.5% and Resources down 0.7%. Property down 1.0%.
The Australian stock market has received negative leads from Wall Street on Friday. Oil rose again in anticipation of Hurrican Gustav making landfall in the continental US.
It's hard to feel sorry for a bunch of investors in the US and here who think things are getting better.
Amidst the flood of red ink on Friday, a couple of retailing results stood out: sold final results from Harvey Norman, and from the country's biggest car dealer, Automotive Holdings.
Gold fell, capping its largest monthly fall in more than four years as investors went all negative on it and other commodities as the US dollar turned up.
A nervous Japanese Government has revealed a US$105.8 billion (11,500 billion yen) economic stimulus package which includes an income tax cut, fuel subsidies and government loans to small and medium-sized companies.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank is expected to reveal its first rate cut on Tuesday after 12 consecutive 0.25% increases since May 2002 that have taken the cash rate up to 7.25%.
