The market is down 12. It has been up 13 and down 55. The SFE Futures suggested a 14 point rise in the market this morning.

Dow Jones was up 46 - It was up 110 at its best and down 40 at worst ending the worst quarter since 2002 – Dow Jones down 8% on the Q. In Australia is has been the worst Q since 1987 down 15.5%. The S&P 500 has had its longest losing streak (5 months) since 1990, ending just under 10% down for the quarter as the world's largest financial institutions made in excess of $200 billion in write downs. NASDAQ down 14%. The MSCI World index is down 9.5%. Financials up 0.9% after the Treasuries' 218 page plan for a financial system overhaul was spruiked as a potential positive for the sector.

Realistically the changes will take years to implement and before they come into effect there will be a new President, a new White House Administration and it will all need legislative approval. In economic news, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose to 48.2 in March better than the 47.3 expected by economists, but still below the 50.0 mark, denoting a contraction in manufacturing activity.


Both BHP and RIO up in ADR form overnight, 0.44% and 1.06% respectively. BHP up 39c to 3620c and RIO up 126c to 12376c. Metals all down overnight – Zinc down 1.3%, Nickel down 2.5% and Aluminium 0.8%. Copper down 0.2%. Zinifex down 43c to 957c.

Oil price down $4.05 to $101.54 on the back news of calm in Iraq, where two attacks on oil pipelines occurred last week. Woodside down 62c to 5388c. Gold down $14.40. Newcrest down 27c to 3310c. US Bonds up with the 10 year yield down to 3.41% from 3.45%.