The local market is now on a 4-day losing streak – its worst run since January (5 sessions) – with today being the worst of the batch. As we said this morning, US stocks are leading the weakness, having fallen for six consecutive days; their worst losing streak since June. Equities were on the back foot early following a soft session overnight, stemming from strong-than-expected retail sales numbers, which put pressure on rate cut expectations. Early buyers were hurt today with the market not “feeling right all day”, come the close, 92% of the ASX200 finished down, and not surprisingly, all sectors finished lower today, though there was some relief late in the session as the index closed 27pts / 0.35% off the lows.