Beats me, I go away for a few days and the market rallies 120 points then as soon as I get back its back to normal and down 50 early before the shorts covered pre Ben. Is it me? Probably that and the RBA minutes which suggested that they will not move in June. Of course, we also get Uncle Ben on Tuesday/Wednesday talking about “tapering”. Gotta love the new jargon we have. Anyway the strength of the last few days dissipated after the RBA comments today and we saw losses across the board. There were not many signs of green on my screen, although the market did close well off its lows for the day after staging an afternoon grind higher type of rally. However the only leaders that rose were News (A$32.79, +1.0%) and Westfield Group (A$11.30, +1.5%), whilst we saw the big red blob of financials and banks evaporate as the afternoon wore on. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (A$28.38, -0.2%), Westpac Banking (A$29.45, -0.1%), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (A$68.49, +unch), National Australia Bank (A$29.74, -0.6%) and QBE Insurance Group (A$14.95, -1.1%) were all in the spotlight as were BHP Billiton (A$32.69, -0.3%) and RIO Tinto (A$53.55, -0.2%). Other financials like Macquarie Group (A$42.18, -1.4%) also fell heavily but Suncorp Group (A$12.27, +0.5%) bucked the trend and rose slightly and consumer stocks like Woolworths (A$32.03, -1.0%) and Wesfarmers (A$38.46, -0.5%) all suffered.

In industrials Brambles (A$9.11, -2.4%) fell back to Earth and even Telstra (A$4.64, -0.2%) eased back a little. Energy stocks ran out of gas with Santos (A$12.65, -1.1%), Origin Energy (A$12.85, -1.3%) and Woodside Petroleum (A$34.83, -0.2%) falling and Linc Energy Ltd (A$1.17, -1.7%) continued to fall heavily despite inclusion in the index coming up. May not last long in the ASX 200 at this rate!

Asian markets were also a little easier which did not help the mood, but volumes were light (again) and we wait for Fed.

In the winners enclosure today were Ainsworth Game Technology (A$4.24, +5.7%), Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) (A$0.044, +4.8%), Dexus Property Group (A$1.085, +3.3%) and Singapore Telecommunications (A$3.13, +3.0%) whilst in the dunces corner were Cudeco (A$2.83, -9.6%), Evolution Mining (A$0.725, -5.8%), Regis Resources (A$3.45, -5.2%), Panaust (A$2.16, -5.3%), Sirius Resources NL (A$2.60, -5.11%) and Magellan Financial Group (A$9.61, -2.8%).

Once again we have seen buyers happy to bank defensives and yield stocks while resources are still out of favour. Small and Mid-Cap resources have been especially hard hit with tax loss selling and massive lack of confidence in the sector.

Stocks in the News Today

Sirius Resources NL (A$2.60, -5.11%) hit the headlines today with a Nova Project update which did nothing to help things along. Bollinger resource expected to be announced Mid July.

Lynas (A$0.43, -2.3%) updated the market today with news it had dropped the court case in Malaysia against the local environmental activists group. It’s a sign of good will as all their benchmarks in the Green category are being well and truly met.

Lend Lease Group (A$8.45, -2.3%) continued to confound the market with announcements on earnings. Despite confirming it was on track to deliver FY13 numbers the stock slipped yet again after a terrible few days.

Elders (A$0.07, -22.2%) has Elders has shunned a takeover bid for its rural services division by rival Ruralco. Loss-making Elders, which has put both its Futuris Automotive and Elders Rural Services (ERS) operations up for sale, this morning said bids on both had been reviewed over the weekend. Of course the market hated this news and the stock crumbled.

House stocks in the news included Pharmaxis Ltd (A$0.155, +6.9%) as it presented some new data to the EU whilst big gainer today was Mastermyne Group (A$0.74, +17.5%) on low volume and some director buying.

In economic news today, it was the NSW budget. Anyone notice? No, well the boys who do the tea leaves are forecasting another housing boom and record receipts from stamp duty in the forward guesstimates. Really?

Tomorrows News Today

G8 meeting continues in Ireland but all eyes are on ‘Benny and the Inkjets’ with the Fed meeting starting Tuesday coupled with some CPI data and housing starts from the US.

China will be back in the spotlight with its booming property market showing no signs of cooling and the shadow banking system seemingly out of control. At least to one ratings agency. Home prices in the major cities continue to explode, in Shanghai and Beijing property prices; up 10.2% and 11.8% in May.

Foreign direct investment in China rose in May by the least in four months, a sign of concern that growth is slowing in the world’s second-biggest economy. Inbound non-financial investment increased 0.3 % from a year earlier to $9.26 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said today in a statement in Beijing, after a 0.4 % gain in April.

Looks like China will be the next “unknown” as the PBOC is urged to add more liquidity to the system as things seem to be getting a bit 2008 out there.

Civil unrest is increasing across the Globe at the moment with Turkey continuing to be an issue and now 200,000 people have marched in Brazil to protest against the cost of transport and the Olympics. And in Ireland President Obama has given a rousing speech but did not mention Syria once. That is after Bill Clinton called him a ‘Wuss’. Expect a really strong statement from the G8 on this one. Bet the Syrian Government is quaking in its boots!

And the EU and the US are set to launch the biggest free trade deal ever. Looks to boost growth and jobs, when I hear these deals I always think of “Yes Prime Minister”!