Our market had the staggers in morning trade losing a little ground until news from the US that a vote in relation to the debt issues there had been postponed. This sent the market into sell mode and quickly lost ground, range trading for most of the afternoon into the close without any ground recovered. The XJO has broken recent support as it closed down 39.2 points, a 0.9% decline for the day. For the week, a loss of 3.87% and for the month, 3.98% lower. Overnight the US was down further, rejecting some early gains, the Dow Jones -0.5% although the Nasdaq fared better, closing flat. Futures in night trading are down around half a percent at the time of writing. It’s possible the markets are pricing in a US credit downgrade as no-one seems to think they will default. Regardless, until the situation is resolved, and the deadline close at August 2nd, event risk remains high and we feel it is prudent to play defense so we’ll manage the positions we have, without looking to initiate more.

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