Recent Articles

ASX Drops 1%, No Wall St Improvement »

The All Ords (AORD) was down 43.3 points today, or approximately 1% as the Dow Jones late recovery failed to invoke any positive sentiment on the Aussie Market. The S&P200 (AXJO) was also down around the same, falling 42.6 points to 3,970.80 or roughly 1% as well.

It seems despite my prediction yesterday that mining stocks may improve on the back of Dow Jones if some commodity increases are seen was wrong - at least in Australia where the sector fell. I think the news coming out of the third quarter RIO (RIO) report on China production was too much for the local market to bear, with BHP (BHP) again falling another 4.68% to $24.59 and RIO (RIO) falling another 5.13% to close around $62.62 - a level not seen since December 2005. Resources were hit much harder than I expected given the rise in the US overnight - but this may be because Australian Mining Stocks inherently have a bigger exposure to China in respect of Commodities.

Most other sectors were lower with the major banks all posting downward stock movements. NAB (NAB) lost 4.84% to finish at $21.60, CBA (CBA) was done to $41.41, or 2.3%, Westpac (WBC) fell 2.36% to $21.48 and ANZ (ANZ) was at $16.85 - a 2.76% decrease. Of note, Babcock & Brown were 5.2% higher to finish at $1.315 although Macquarie (MCG) finished lower - down 2.14% to finish at $31.36.

Let’s see what action happens on the US overnight, with some more fundamental economic data being released on Friday in New York - the market may take another hammering. On the flip side, if oil continues to drop and an interest rate cut is announced by the US Fed - then 30 Dow constituents may push the overall market higher.

Live - Rudd meets with the Capitalists »

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is attending a business lunch today to speak about the state of the market and the overall economy.

Australian Industry Group AIG Business Lunch

Chris Rein @ 12:52: Business outlook turning for the worse. Hopes Government can get a feeling of how bad business are feeling it. Crapping on about his own company, Olsten, and how they are debt free. Introducing Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan.

Kevin Rudd @ 12:55: Interesting week - space of 5 days, guaranteed all deposits and all depositors in Australia. Australian Government has provided a guarantee to wholesale funding arrangement to banks. $8 Billion increase in residential mortgage backed securities. $10.4 billion economic security strategy to assist growth into the future.

Read the rest »

Google Tops Earnings Estimates »

Google Inc. (GOOG) the absolute market leader in search and advertising, posted a third-quarter profit which exceeded expectations and helped stem some concern that the companies key income source - advertising - was falling. The Mountain View, California based company - whose staff are now around 18,000 people - stated that net income for the period ending in September rose to $1.35 Billion USD, or $4.24 per share from $1.25 Billion USD or $3.92 a share in the same period last year. Revenue is pushing $4.04 Billion USD, although indications from Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, are that the things are going to “slow down”

The company also stated that more than 51% of its third-quarter revenue was coming from international countries and that the company had been able to ensure that profits were adequately protected against any relevant US dollar movements. Google primarily deals in Euro, Pound and Canadian dollar outside of the US dollar.

Google also stated that its “paid clicks” have risen by 4% from the previous quarter (feel free to click some ads on this site :-D) and 18% compared to the previous year. They also continue to dominate the search market - taking more than 63% of the US search market, a 5.9% increase for the same period last year.

ASX Opens Higher »

Update @ 12:18: Well the opening higher was short lived. Check out the All Ords Chart (AORD) - it shows a drop straight down - not down around 11 points. Not one stock has posted “large” gains with most trading in a range of between $0.02 and $0.25. 

The ASX (AORD) has opened slightly higher on open with the market rebounding from yesterdays woes. Most of the market today will be trading on the fact that oil is below the $70 USD a barrel market for the first time since 2007.

The market should see some improvement from the mining stocks on the back of the lower oil prices, and in early trading BHP (BHP) was already slightly higher. Yesterday, resource stocks were hammered due to the lower level of commodity prices and an expectation that demand from China is falling which will mean commodity prices should fall even further.

The gain maybe short lived if more data is released in the US which swings investors focus back to the core underlying fundamentals of the United States retail market and overall consumer spending statistics. On the positive, news of interests rates cuts - not only in the United States but globally - maybe coming which could spur markets up again.

Updates will continue throughout the day.

Dow Jones Plummets, Then Skyrockets »

The Dow Jones (DJI) has, again, had another day of ups and downs on the market closing 401.35 points higher to close at 8,979.26 - with the S&P500 (GSPC) finishing 38.59 points higher to close around 920.33. 23 of the 30 Dow Components finished higher for the day, but the entire Index traded within an 800 point range of lows, then highs.

The Dow Jones opened weaker and fell during the first few hours of trading, before regarding some serious strength and rising sharply to close significantly higher. The market was predominately pushed lower on open, because the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reporting that the regions manufacturing sector had seriously declined for October, and production output was reducing. In addition, the regions manufacturing sector also expected absolutely no growth over the next six months.

Of note, Gold (GOLD) fell $34.50, or 4.1%, to finish at $804.50 - tethering on the edge of the $800 USD ‘physcological barrier’ point. Oil (USO) also fell, dropping below $70 a barrel for the time in more than a year, which significantly spurred afternoon trading. This also assisted the USD Currency, which gained against most other currencies.