On the back of a big drop on Wall Street, Wednesday was always going to be ugly. And that was before new data confirmed what we already knew – that traditional retail is dying.
It’s a point that may have escaped our shopkeepers, but there’s a new thingy called the internet, which provides better prices and services than bricks and mortar retail. So the listed dinosaurs copped another belting on the market.
David Jones and Myer have both lost nearly half their value in a couple of years, with Harvey Norman, purveyor of Tarkine Trinkets to the chattering classes, headed back to 1998 levels.
Gunns was pipped for the crown of today’s biggest dog by an Ethiopian gold miner, falling 12 per cent to close at 22 cents.
Speaking of gold, the yellow metal is the only place to be. Most of the today’s top twenty were gold stocks, and that’s a pattern unlikely to change anytime soon, with prices headed towards US$1,700.
In better news, Australia booked a monthly trade surplus of over $2 billion, lower than consensus, but enough to make Paul Keating’s old Banana Republic fears seem archaic.
Overseas, rating agency Moody’s kept the US at AAA, although an emerging Chinese competitor pulled their assessment back to A from A+, a move unlikely to amuse the Chinese Government, the biggest holder of US Treasuries.
Market futures point to a flat opening in US and European markets, but things could go either way with big swings likely. If S&P dump America to AA, then hang on for a wild ride.
