At lunch on Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is a sea of red following a broad market selloff. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 2.3% to 6,625 points.
Here's what is happening today:
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Market selloff
The ASX 200 has followed the lead of Wall Street, which was sold off overnight amid some disappointing earnings results and concerns about high levels of speculative trading activity. Overnight the Dow Jones dropped 2.05%, the S&P 500 sank 2.6%, and the Nasdaq index tumbled 2.6%. Every single sector is in the red on the Australian share market at lunch.
Bank shares tumble
The banking sector has been hit hard by today's selloff. All the big four banks are trading notably lower and weighing heavily on the ASX 200 index. The worst performer in the group has been the Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price. Its shares are down 2.6% at the time of writing.
InvoCare jumps on GameStop fears
The InvoCare Limited (ASX: IVC) share price has been a surprisingly positive performer today. The funerals company's shares were up as much as 10% at one stage today. This appears to have been driven by concerns that InvoCare could become the "GameStop" of the Australian share market. According to the AFR, Goldman Sachs named the company as the share most at risk of a short squeeze due to its high proportion of shares shorted compared with its average daily volume traded. Goldman notes that it would take 33 days to unwind all the shorts based on its average daily trading volume.
Best and worst ASX 200 performers
The best performer on the ASX 200 on Thursday has been the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield CDI (ASX: URW) share price with a 14% gain. This follows a sharp rise on its European listed shares overnight. The worst performer has been the IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) share price with a 9% decline. This follows the release of a disappointing second quarter update.
