Be prepared to hand back a big chunk of yesterday's stellar gains. Our market is expected to drop heavily as a rally on Wall Street petered out and commodities tanked.
The futures market is forecasting a 1.7% drop in the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) following yesterday's 2.1% rise as US stocks tumbled around 1.5% into the red on fresh worries of an interest rate rise in that country and a poor reception to Apple's product event.
Sentiment also took a blow with the West Texas Intermediate crude oil price falling 3.9% to $US44.15 a barrel, while the gold price slumped the most in nearly two months as it shed 1.4% to $US1,105.30 an ounce and copper gave up 0.4% to $2.4240 a pound.
The drop in the oil price is unlikely to dampen takeover fever in the energy sector following Woodside Petroleum Limited's (ASX: WPL) attempted $12 billion grab for Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH).
Oil Search will reject Woodside's demand for exclusivity to hammer out a deal, according to The Age. That won't come as a surprise as no one believes Woodside has tabled a serious offer.
What Woodside's move has done is trigger speculation of other deals in the sector and Santos Ltd's (ASX: STO) name is in a number of these conversations.
Santos may sell its stake in a Papua New Guinea gas project to Woodside, while The Australian reports that Tamarind Energy may be keen on buying Santos' Asian assets. That's good news for Santos as it needs to shore up its debt-laden balance sheet.
There is some good news for our iron ore producers like Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) as the price of the commodity bucked the market downtrend to finish 1.3% higher at $US58.18 a tonne. Iron ore's resilience is prompting some to speculate that the worst for the steel making ingredient is past as higher-cost producers have shut down operations.
There's plenty outside of the resources sector to watch too. Building materials company Boral Limited (ASX: BLD) said that it expects its US operations to post improved earnings for the current financial year, while wealth manager AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) is expected to launch its hybrid issue as soon as next week, reports the Australian Financial Review.
Drugs supplier Sigma Pharmaceutical Limited (ASX: SIP) will be closely watched as the company is expected to hand in its half-year profit results as its stock hovers close to its lowest level this calendar year.
Hospital operator Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) will also be in the spotlight after a block trade of 350 million shares exchanged hands at $2.70 a pop compared to Wednesday's closing price of $2.70. Private equity firms TPG and Carlyle are believed to be the sellers.
Embattled grocery distributor Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) might get a break after JPMorgan upgraded the stock by two notches to "overweight" from "underweight" following the stock's devastating 62% collapse over the past 12 months.
Finally, today is your last chance to buy insurance broker Steadfast Group Ltd (ASX: SDF) if you want its 3 cent a share fully franked dividend as the stock trades ex-div tomorrow.
