Market Today

The losing trend continued as US investors consolidated the previous week's strong gains. The Dow Jones closed 42 points lower, at 12,919, despite hitting a record intraday high of 12,983. The tech-rich Nasdaq was two points off, at 2,523, whilst the broader S&P 500 was 3 points lower, at 1,480.

In London, the FTSE 100 was boosted by a late rally yesterday but still failed to stay out of the red, closing 7 points lower at 6,479. Blue chip financial Barclays fell by over 2% as investors expressed doubts over its tie-up with Dutch bank ABN Amro, and pharma AstraZeneca tumbled over 4% despite an 11% rise in first-qurater profits. The Frankfurt DAX-30 also closed down 13 points, at 7,335, whilst the Paris CAC-40 was 20 points lower, at 5,917.

In Asia, the Nikkei was little-changed at 17,452 today - a 3-point fall - as investors awaited results from the likes of Canon and Fanuc, due after the close. STI did not shine much, closing at 3,374 today, 14 points below yesterday. The Han Seng was also relatively flat today, closing just 16 points higher to find 20,572.

Crude oil had climbed to $66.09 in New York and Brent spot was at $67.84 in London.
Spot gold had fallen back to $685.70 this morning, whilst silver had edged up to $13.93.

Suggestion for the day:
Play safe, please! The month of May is just round the corner. The U.S. dollar is not done with its falling. The housing woes in the U.S. are not over yet. In fact, they're getting worse. And no matter what the profit potential may be overseas, no matter what earnings report comes out, I feel strongly that your first priority NOW must be capital preservation.
That means putting SAFETY first.
That means keeping a good chunk of your core holdings in the most conservative investments you can find.
And don't say I didn't say hor, for I have said already!