The Market is down 34 having been down 54 on the open. The ASX 200 Futures were down 63 this morning. Dow Jones was down 266. The S&P 500 was down 2.3%. The Dow tracked lower the entire session and closed on its lows on the second highest volume of the year (approximately 1bn shares traded). Two explosions at the Boston Marathon accelerated the slide in the last hour of trade. Best sectors – Telecom, Utilities. Worst sectors – Energy, Materials, Industrials.

Commodity prices continued to fall on the back of the weaker than expected Chinese data released yesterday. The VIX (Volatility Index) was up 43.20%. Materials, energy and home building stocks were down heavily in the US.

Copper down $8.00 (2.39%) to $327.00 (18-month low). Gold down $153.60 (10.23%) to $1347.80, its biggest intraday fall in over four years and its largest two-day fall in 30 years.

European markets down — UK FTSE down 0.64%, German DAX down 0.41%, France down 0.50%, Spain down 0.33%, Italy down 0.96%. The resource sector in Europe finished down 4.8%, its worst intraday in 18 months.

Spot iron ore was down 10c to $140.90. Metals mixed — copper down 2.80%, nickel down 1.00%, Zinc down 0.37%, aluminium up 0.74%. Oil was down $3.86 to $87.43. Silver was down $3.60 to $22.70c.

  • Gold stocks smashed again today on the back of a 10% fall in the gold price.
  • Minutes from the RBA April 2 board meeting — The RBA is ready to cut rates if required. But the consensus at the central bank appears to be that there’s a very good chance that the economy might be able to get by without it. They have made it clear that they have strong hopes that the economy can rebalance without further monetary stimulus.
  • RIO — We are waiting for the RIO production numbers later today. BHP’s are tomorrow. BHP down 1.3%. RIO down 1.2%.
  • PanAust (PNA 238c) — Citigroup have downgraded to a sell recommendation with a target price of 290c. The target price is down 70c as Citi’s global commodity team has reduced their copper price expectations by around 10%. The chart is showing a strong support level at around 225c. PNA is down 5.46% to 225c.
  • Mount Gibson Iron (MGX 50c) — March quarter shipments announced yesterday were seen as a little soft but 2013 financial year guidance was held. The stock has been in a downtrend since January 2011. MGX is down 1.0% to 49.5c.
  • Wesfarmers (WES 4068c) — Is scheduled to release its third-quarter sales numbers on Thursday. The share price has pulled back recently after going ex dividend but the uptrend is still intact. WES is up 0.26% to 4079c