Equivocal. Tue May 3

I haven't got a clear idea this morning. The index is down 37, 11 better than the lows. The US did nothing as the reaction to the death of Bin Laden was not market moving. Gold and oil fell but within the intraday ranges from yesterday.
The Asx 200 has made a higher low than yesterday so the potential is there for a completed 3 wave pullback and a resumption of rally but I do think that's unlikely. Anz has reported this morning and it's a story of a flat economy; the banks are moderately lower. Resources stocks are also under pressure, although the good news is that consensus opinion considers that there's no chance that the RBA will hike today.
I got out of Qan at 211 but it's actually been up to 214. I was uncomfortable with it though, so I'm happy enough.
One Steel has been re-rated by a few brokers on the basis that the sell off is overdone and it's very cheap. The stock has recovered 7 to 215. Bsl is nowhere near as good a story - no iron ore hedge - but I punted a few of these at 172 assuming that they'll squeeze up too. This is just a day trade though. It's possible that traders could buy one and short the other but at these levels, I doubt it.

11.12 I think it's time to walk away from the screens for a while. I just stopped out of Bsl at 171 about 10 minutes after putting on the trade.

12.41 Out of Toll holdings at 562 and 561. The stock has outperformed in a falling market but although it's well bid, it's not going up, so I'll wait for another chance. Entry was around 565 about two weeks ago.

2.43 No rate increase but warnings about the potential for rises later in the year. No surprises in the commentary as far as I can tell.
The Asx 200 hasn't moved since late morning, it's down 53 and is slightly above yesterday's low.

The AUD has slipped below 1.09 versus the USD and the index has popped up about 10 points in double quick time.

2.49 The tea leaf readers are suggesting that the tone is more hawkish than they thought. I'm clearly not paying enough attention to the nuance. AUD back above 1.09.

I think I'll go away again now before I do something.

3.41 Not sure what I'm missing in Boral; barring a brief slump yesterday, it has been holding up well. Very few brokers like it so it may simply be already heavily shorted. Perhaps more likely to fall when the more volatile stocks find support and traders start looking for low risk hedges.

The index made a higher low intraday and is down 35 now but the bounce is sluggish and momentum isn't great.

4.12 Down 41 at 4785.