A per cent here, a few per cent there and soon enough you're back in correction territory.

To little fanfare, Australia's benchmark ASX200 this week tumbled down below the 10 per cent peak-to-trough line, condemning it to its first correction since 2015.

It took the ASX more than two-and-a-half years — April 2015 to December 2017 — to clamber back out the last one.

The sell-off earlier this year didn't pass "correction" muster. While dramatic and headline grabbing, the market fell little more than 6 per cent from its January peak to the April bottom.

Over in the US, Wall Street has just slipped into correction mode, again.

It's the second 10 per cent-plus funk the US has tumbled into this year. All up, it has been in correction mode for nine months since January.

US President Donald Trump correctly called the peak on September 21 with a congratulatory tweet. Two months on, the US is back down more than 10 per cent.

Loading

The President's "all-time high" call should give cause for concern, if correct — even the President's most ardent supporters would hope the S&P500's current 2931-point record will be bettered one day.

Semantics aside, it has been pretty well down hill at a fair clip since then.

Tech stocks have been tossed overboard and profits taken as doubts about heroic sales growth projections in a slower economy fail to square up.

Worries about a trade war have mounted, oil stocks have been pummelled and risk aversion is the new black.

A little pause?

Loading

But it's all good in the White House. Mr Trump's latest call is the market is just having a little pause.

That little pause saw the S&P500 lose almost 4 per cent over the week. The third-worst Thanksgiving Day week since Franklin D Roosevelt spared a turkey's life back in 1939.

Tech stocks such as Apple and Amazon fell again and energy giants Exxon and Chevron, were hammered as the oil rout continued.

"I see this as a continuation of the market trying to come to terms with slower growth next year," BNY Mellon market strategist Alicia Levine said.

The ASX's decline was a more modest 0.3 per cent over the week.

However, the futures market has taken its lead from the US and not the ASX's mini-bounce on Friday, pricing in a sharp fall to start the week here.

Markets on Friday's close: ASX SPI 200 futures -0.6pc at 5,666 ASX 200 (Friday's close) +0.4pc at 5,716

ASX SPI 200 futures -0.6pc at 5,666 ASX 200 (Friday's close) +0.4pc at 5,716 AUD: 72.3 US cents, 63.8 euro cents, 56.4 British pence, 81.6 Japanese yen, $NZ1.07

AUD: 72.3 US cents, 63.8 euro cents, 56.4 British pence, 81.6 Japanese yen, $NZ1.07 US: Dow Jones -0.7pc at 25,413 S&P500 -0.7pc at 2,633 NASDAQ -0.1pc at 6,939

US: Dow Jones -0.7pc at 25,413 S&P500 -0.7pc at 2,633 NASDAQ -0.1pc at 6,939 Europe: FTSE -0.1pc at 6,953 DAX +0.5pc at 11,193 EuroStoxx50 +0.3pc at 3,137

Europe: FTSE -0.1pc at 6,953 DAX +0.5pc at 11,193 EuroStoxx50 +0.3pc at 3,137 Commodities: Brent oil -0.5pc at $US59.19/barrel, Gold -0.4pc at $US1221/ounce, Iron ore -2.8pc $US70.13/tonne

Oil's slide continues

The capitulation in equities is small beer compared to the global oil market.

US oil fell almost 8 per cent on Friday, the global benchmark, Brent crude, was down 6.6 per cent.

It is the seventh consecutive week prices have fallen.

Up until the retreat, debate had been about whether $US100 a barrel was in sight. Oil's down below $US60 barrel.

Production is again outpacing demand and a widespread economic slowdown next year is increasingly being factored into the price.

Oil production has swung from deficit into surplus, driving prices down in recent weeks. ( Supplied: Refinitiv, EIA )

Stockpiles in Asia are building up. Singapore's refineries are reporting the highest inventories in more than three months.

Among the big winners are Australian motorists who have seen the cost of filling up the average tank fall by around $12 in recent weeks.

That fall is likely to accelerate.

The Saudi-led OPEC cartel meets early next month.

On one hand the Saudi's owe Mr Trump a big favour and will be under pressure to keep production up and prices down. On the other, budgetary problems across OPEC states dictate the need to pump prices back up.

The current betting is the meeting in Vienna will deliver cuts of around 1.4 million barrels a day.

"We expect that OPEC will manage the market in 2019 and assess the probability of an agreement to reduce production at around 2-in-3," Morgan Stanley commodities strategists told their clients.

"In that scenario, Brent prices likely recover back into the $70s."

Iron ore looks shaky too

Iron ore is another market looking rather shaky at the moment.

It is still tootling along above $US70 a tonne (just) at the moment, but its future prospects are clouded by a dramatic collapse in the profitability and prices of Chinese steelmakers.

Margins have collapsed from a heady 1200RMB a tonne ($240 per tonne) to barely break even in 18 months.

CBA's mining & energy commodities analyst Vivek Dhar says the crushed margins will affect Australian iron ore prices in two phases.

"First, low margins will see steel mills prioritise affordability over productivity and emission reduction," Mr Dhar said.

"That will see mills move to low-grade ore, a trend that has already resulted in mid-grade (62 per cent content) and high-grade (65 per cent content) iron ore premiums falling.

"Second, low margins will discourage steel mills to produce, weighing on iron ore demand and prices. That appears to be happening now."

Mr Dhar said it was surprising to see steel prices collapse so suddenly, given reforms to reduce capacity and improve air quality had supported healthy operating rates and margins.

"We still believe China's steel sector has structurally changed, but low-to-nil steel margins return China's steel sector to a world they thought they could forget," he said.

"Subdued steel margins will eventually mean weaker iron ore and coking coal prices as mills struggle to stay afloat."

First look at Q3 GDP

The Australian macro-data flow picks up again this week with the first two important third quarter GDP partials — construction work done and capex — being published.

Construction work (Wednesday) is expected to have risen 1 per cent over the quarter, an OK but not breath-taking pace.

Capex — or business investment — was weaker than expected in Q2. That may well be revised up.

After all the swings and roundabouts, the market is expecting a 0.4 per cent capex rise over the quarter.

Of more interest is likely to be investment intentions over 2018/19.

The previous estimate came in at $102b, the market is guessing it will push up to $107b this time.

As the CBA economics team said: "Anything larger than this would be considered an upgrade, anything lower a downgrade."

Construction work done and capex are expected to have reported a modest lift in spending in the third quarter. ( ABC News: Mark Moore )

October's private sector credit data is released on Friday. It should be up around 4.5 per cent over the year, but largely propped up by business loans.

The figures will be examined for any evidence of "crunchiness" in home loans.

RBA top brass is out on the speaking circuit.

Assistant governor Christopher Kent's speech on 'Securitisation and the Housing Market' may be the most interesting. It is likely to have some juicy tidbits from the RBA's top-shelf mortgage database.

His boss, governor Philip Lowe is speaking on a topic unrelated to monetary policy, "A Journey Towards a Near Cashless Payments System". Plenty of good seats are probably still available.

AGM season still has a few fireworks

AGM season starts to wind down this week, just 16 are slated in after 30 last week.

On the Australian Shareholders' Association reckoning 10 remuneration reports have been voted down. So investors are a bit grumpy, but not furious.

Telstra will be happy its record for having the highest protest vote on the ASX200 was short-lived.

Its 62 per cent has just been pipped by Perth-based miner Mineral Resources' 64 per cent vote last week.

It was the third straight strike against the Mineral Resources board, but they're still not out.

Their shareholders now have had two opportunities to vote for a spill, and so far they have overwhelmingly declined.

Maybe such votes are just a sport over there in the west.

The ASA will be voting against the Harvey Norman remuneration report again, arguing short- and long-term bonuses use the same, not-too-tough hurdles.

It will also vote against the re-election directors given the rusted-on nature of the board.

Myer is a department store down on its luck and already has one strike from last year against the board. The ASA won't be kicking Myer when its down.

"ASA will vote in favour of the remuneration report, against the performance share grant. If the second strike is achieved ASA will vote against the spill resolution," the ASA said.

A small mercy, given its major shareholder and furious agitator, Solomon Lew from Premier Investments, will have his proxy at the AGM microphone tearing as many strips off the board as time, and chair Garry Hounsell allows.

Royal commission wraps up hearings

Round seven of the banking royal commission moves back to Melbourne with NAB, AMP, ANZ, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and APRA bosses trooping back into the witness box this week.

Normally in one-sided contests one can feel a degree of sympathy for those being pulverised.

The royal commission seems to be different.

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne and his counsel assisting side-kicks have smacked down all comers for 64 days. Days 65-to-69 shouldn't be any different.

The only good news for the bankers is the torment is over at the end of the week. Over, that is, until the final report is released next February.

Australia

Date Event Comment Monday 26/11/2018 Banking royal commission Round 7 resumes in Melbourne. NAB, AMP, ANZ, Bendigo & Adelaide and APRA bosses up this week RBA speeches Governor Philip Lowe talks up cashless payment systems, Asst gov Chris Kent discusses securitisation in the housing market Tuesday 27/11/2018 AGMs Harvey Norman, Seek Wednesday 28/11/2018 Construction work done Q3: Fairly flat result with residential construction looking like it has peaked AGMs IOOF Thursday 29/11/2018 Capex Q3: Investment may have lifted over the quarter, but the more important figure is future spending intentions Aristocrat Leisure FY profit Gaming technology company and pokie maker tipped to see profit jump more than 30 per cent to $730m AGMs Estia, Bank of Queensland, Premier Investments Friday 30/11/2018 Private Sector credit Oct: Business driving overall credit growth of 4.6 per cent YOY, while home loans a drag AGMs Myer, Mesoblast

Overseas