Australian Shares

by Chris Becker The Santa Claus rally is dead in the water as China’s slumping trade figures for November cascaded through commodity related currencies and the markets themselves, with oil still proving volatile as bonds become the safe haven of choice.

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets The full implications of OPEC’s failure to cut production have been coming to bear on the oil price and energy stocks.

Down another 6% today to $1.73.

by Chris Becker A double whammy for commodity markets and the economies tied thereto with OPEC effectively abandoning its output targets, pushing off any resolution until June next year while iron ore crashes to a six year low.

Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets With so much event risk for traders to navigate through last week, the price action did not disappoint.

From Fairfax: “We are in a good position,” McGrath said after the listing.

by Chris Becker What a trading week that was, capped off by a big rally in US stocks – and gold of all things – as the November NFP/US unemployment print came in strong and locked in a certain rate rise just before Christmas.

Exclusively from Gerard Minack: Australia continues its economic muddle-through.

by Chris Becker A wild, wild ride last night as the ECB foiled its mandate for stability by launching the Euro into the stratosphere and sinking stocks into what could be a new bear market going into Christmas.

From Dumbfax this afternoon comes an article titled A $US40 iron ore price will help BHP, Rio: Iron ore’s spiral to within an inch of $US40 a tonne separates Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale sharply from the pack, leaving them as the three players making solid cash margins on exports to China.

by Chris Becker In the post GFC bizarro world, confident central bank comments are reflected by the markets as doom and gloom.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets Despite the strong performance of US equities, Asian markets got off to a rocky start after the big miss in the US ISM PMI threw some questions up around the inevitability of the December Fed rate hike.

From Credit Suisse: Australia remains unattractive to investors seeking growth but should appear very attractive to those looking for income.

by Chris Becker US stocks rallied on a poorer than expected ISM result overnight, while European unemployment came in better than expected, in a reversal double shock that saw the USD fall and European stocks sold off.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets Despite disappointing Chinese data, Asian stocks seemed to put concerns of a China crash behind them as they rallied strongly through the session.

by Chris Becker Its all about currencies this week with news overnight that the IMF will add the Chinese Yuan to the reserve basket, the ECB set to ease letting the Euro fall once more, just as the US is set to tighten, while the RBA dribbles into a bucket.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets A weaker CNY midpoint fixing and a renewed selloff in Mainland Chinese markets have heightened fears that Friday’s selloff could merely be the beginning of a more significant correction for Chinese equities.

by Chris Becker US traders returned after Thanksgiving to a Black Friday with a very mixed macro picture as better than expected confidence in Europe flies in the face of another expected rate cut from the ECB, while simultaneously the case builds for a rate rise by the Fed.

From Domainfax: On Tuesday December 7, after an oversubscribed $65 million IPO, McGrath will list.

Angus Nicholson for Chris Weston, Chief Market Strategist at IG Markets The big drop in Chinese industrial profits plus the weakest CNY mid-point fix since 31 August appear to have set off a wave of selling in equity markets across Asia.