MARKETS

By Greg PeelThe Thanksgiving holiday interrupted activity in the uranium market last week and industry consultant TradeTech's capacity to report transaction data, however the consultant has pulled back its spot price indicator by US35c to US$35.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that he is open to the idea of the federal government increasing its stake in national flag carrier to provide it with financial power amid greater competition from rival air carrier Virgin Australia.

Lawyers for the 43,500 ANZ Bank customers who filed a class action lawsuit against the lender, seeking $57 million in damage, said the claims could balloon into multi-billion dollars.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 77 points or 0.5% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1800 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%.

The Australian sharemarket has eased for the second consecutive trading day, with the All Ordinaries Index slipping by 0.8 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground despite a stronger open. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by 0.8 per cent, with just the energy players managing to remain slightly firmer.

With 21 trading days remaining in the calendar year, 2013 is looking like being the strongest year in terms of fund inflows since 2006, and could be the biggest market gain since 2009. With dividend returns hitting the books in ten days, it is highly possible that the ASX will finish the year positively.

In US economic news, foreign central bank holdings of US debt rose by $11.763 billion to $3.35 trillion in the latest week.

The weekly closed last week on a downtrend for a second week. The market failed to regain 5400 and the weekly stop at 5387 held strong despite a number of tests.

Investors in Australia remain cautiously optimistic on prospects for investment returns via the Australian share market but they also show little intention of allocating more cash from the sidelines into Australian or global equities.

Despite a modest improvement from the lows hit at midday, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) still finished in the red by 0.25 per cent. The miners struggled this week; however a modest 0.5 per cent rise within the sector helped minimise the broader losses somewhat. The Aussie market slumped by 2% in November (only month of losses since June)

The Australian sharemarket is slipping for just the second time this week in light trade due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US last night. The miners have been underperformers this week (down 1 per cent while the broader market is down by around 0.5 per cent) however are the sole improvers at lunch.

With the US markets closing early for Thanksgiving and another indifferent night in Europe (except for the DAX which made another all-time high) leads in the Asian region are few and far between.

In European economic news, German flash CPI inflation jumped from 1.2pct to 1.6pct in November. The numbers suggest that Eurozone CPI inflation will also bounce significantly tomorrow. Eurozone confidence surveys improved further in November. The economic confidence reading rose to 98.5, the business climate indicator, services and industrial confidence readings all improved. All are indicative of ongoing gradual recovery in the economy.

Local stocks are trading higher at lunchtime in the East, following yet another record high on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index rose by 0.2 per cent to a new record, while the NASDAQ closed at a fresh 13 year high.

After positive overnight data, consumer confidence is still low.

In US economic news, durables goods orders fell by 2.0pct in October on the back of aircraft orders. The ex-transportation reading fell by a more modest 0.1pct. The final Michigan confidence reading edged up from 72.0 to 75.1 in November. The Chicago PMI dipped from 65.9 to 63.0. US jobless claims fell by a larger than expected 10,000 to 316,000 last week and raised expectations for a strong November payrolls number.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey is open to the possibility to remove the 49 per cent cap on ownership of Qantas Airways for the flag carrier to compete better with Virgin Australia and other state-owned airlines that undercut ticket prices.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 23 points or 0.2% while the S&P gained 0.2% to 1807 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Local stocks were on a greasy slope from late morning until the close of trade on Wednesday, with the ASX 200 ending at the lows of the session on reasonable volume. Almost $4.3 bln shares trade on the session.

Over the first 2.5 hours of trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) has improved, lost ground and traded flat. At lunch, the index is 0.2 per cent weaker, losing ground for the first time in four trading days.

By Tim Price, PFP Wealth ManagementMadness, and sanity"In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.

Housing data is causing green on screens today as US markets warmed to the jump in the Case-Shiller house price index.

In US economic news, the S&P Case-Shiller house price index rose by another 1.03pct in September taking annual house price growth to 13.3pct. Building permits jumped by 6.2pct to 1.034 million in October. The Richmond Fed index bounced from +1 to +13 in November. The Conference Board consumer confidence index fell from 72.4 to 70.4 in November - a 7-month low, but confidence remains in a gradual uptrend.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed unchanged and the S&P was flat at 1802 but the Nasdaq rose 0.6% to 4017.Bridge Street struggled to find any reason for enthusiasm yesterday and it is little wonder with all the downbeat talk about.

By Henry Jennings, Private Client Advisor, BBY Ltd• Another day with limited volume and a quiet tone with only the banks showing any signs of confidence.

There was some tooing and froing from the market early in the day. Sellers got traction in the first hour of trade although by lunch time the index had recovered from its lows of the session and left sellers in its wake.

The Australian share market is flat at lunchtime in the East, despite another record high from blue chip stocks on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index was slightly firmer while the broader share market was slightly lower and the NASDAQ reached above the 4000 point level during trade for the first time since the year 2000.

The holding pattern of the last seven days looks like continuing for the rest of week.