US weak jobs sent global equity market into a tail spin

Mining, energy and banking firms were the targets of hungry bears today.

Fortunately, as the US rolls into holiday mode, lighter volumes have meant the damage has perhaps been minimized. Certainly here at home volumes were down and the market has been supported by a few bright spots.

In particular, some of the engineering service providers, and consumer staples gave the market some breathing room. Much of this week's trading has been choppy though as investors move in and out of cyclical stocks.

The market has for several weeks been reacting quite sharply to economic news flow and tidal shifts in commodity prices. It will be interesting to see what sort of a lead Wall Street sets during the early stages of next week and whether we respond to that. Certainly as we move further into July and August, the full year reporting season will start to have its influence on our market.