Our market is up 98. The SFE Futures predicted an 84 point rise. More than a couple of comments from colleagues about how ridiculous the market is at the moment...volatility is massive....and "what chance do you have" trying to trade it. The reply is to say that extreme volatility is often the pre-cursor to change - after a 28% fall in the market....lets hope so. Financials up 3.4%, Resources also up 1.8%.
There is a silver lining from the terrible conditions we seem to be seeing in the financial markets and in the economy: there's a forecast the Reserve Bank will probably cut interest rates next year by more than we expect.
Wall Street's 2% rise on lower oil and the latest Merrill Lynch funding raising and write downs overnight will help our market stabilise today, with a 1% plus rise expected on the futures market.
Friday it was inflation hitting a high of 1.9%; last Wednesday it was June exports falling 1.7%, the first such decline for five years; yesterday it was news that Japan's unemployment rate had hit a two year high.
The record 2007-08 result and profit report from industrial products conglomerate, Alesco Corporation sums up the past year very well.
Shares in retailer, Harvey Norman, eased, then firmed in a small range yesterday on confirmation that 2008 sales growth slowed, but didn't tank as some in the market had feared earlier this month.
Our market is down but doing a lot bit than expected – down 70 compared to the 99 drop the SFE Futures this morning after Wall Streets horrid session overnight. Financials have recovered slightly from this morning's lows, now down 3.2% and the Property Trust sector continues to struggle, down 3%. Resources putting up a bit of a fight +0.3%.
