On Wednesday the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) fought hard but ended up posting a 0.3% decline to 5,843.7 points.
Will the market be able to bounce back on Thursday? Here are five things to watch:
ASX futures pointing lower.
According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the day lower on Thursday. Current futures contracts are pointing to a decline of 0.15% or 8 points this morning. This follows a mixed night of trade on Wall Street which late in the session sees the Dow Jones up 0.3% but the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq down 0.45%.
Oil prices slide.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares dropped lower on Wednesday and could come under pressure again after oil prices continued to slide. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price has dropped 0.8% to US$52.58 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price is down 0.7% to US$61.08 a barrel.
Afterpay rated as a buy.
After looking back into its recent update, Goldman Sachs has declared the Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) share price as a buy with a $19.25 price target. The broker appears to have been impressed with the company's revenue growth and the improving trend in its bad debt ratio.
Lithium miners will be on watch.
This morning Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) will release its December quarter update. Investors will be looking for signs that lithium prices have improved following a tough end to the year. Rival Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) experienced a sharp decline in prices during the December quarter.
Local data release.
It is job day on Thursday with the unemployment rate and participation rate data due to be released later today. According to the AFR, economists are predicting an unemployment rate flat at 5% and the addition of 18,000 jobs to the economy in December.
