A tough day on our market today, the XJO losing ground to the tune of 43.3 points or 0.9%. With no trading in the US last night, European markets were down – the FTSE 1.1% and Germany’s DAX down 1.4%. Oil has jumped significantly, putting pressure on world equities. At the time of writing the Dow Jones futures are down 92 points, the Nasdaq futures down 34 points and Shangai is down 2.3%. The Australian dollar is also under pressure, just holding parity against the Greenback. To add to the events in the Middle East, Christchurch NZ has experienced a 6.3 magnitude earthquake today. This saw local insurance and banking stocks sell off also. The sectors on our market today were all red bar the Materials sector which managed to put on 4.3 points to close relatively flat.