The market is having a good day. It is up 91. The SFE Futures were up 21 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 57, a new 2009 high. The Dow closed at its highest level since October last year. Dow up 87 at best and down 46 at worst. Metals had a good session. The oil price put on $2.07 and Gold closed $5.20 higher to $1006. The Aussie was up 86.33c compared to 86.16c yesterday morning. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last night, “From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over”.

In the news today…

  • Santos (STO) CEO says the PNG LNG project led by ExxonMobil should be approved this year and the deal signed early next year. STO up 8c to 1533c.
  • Macquarie Airports (MAP) has sold its 35.5% stake in Bristol Airport to Canada’s Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP) and has decided to buy a further 3.8% of Copenhagen airport from OTPP. MAP up 2% to 249c.
  • Street Talk tells us Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has decided to sell its 6.4% stake in Challenger Financial Services Group (CGF). CGF down 6c to 311c.
  • Paladin (PDN) has completed its $429m private placement of share to institutional investors. It has declared that it is going on the War Path to buy uranium assets. This coincides with Cameco doing a JV in Australia and perennial talk that the Chinese are looking to take stakes in uranium projects as well. PDN up 3c to 451c.
  • Chevron is getting closer to securing offtake contracts for its full 7.5m ton per annum capacity from its 50% share of the 15 mtpa Gorgon LNG project.
  • Talk of former Woolworths CEO Roger Corbett replacing Ron Walker as Chairman at Fairfax Media (FXJ). FXJ up 3c to 165c.
  • Street Talk suggest Tabcorp (TAH) might “roll the dice” with demerging its casino and wagering businesses. Separating its casino business would make it appealing to a takeover from the likes of Crown (CWN). TAH up 9c to 727c.
  • Leighton Holdings’ Wal King gives an upbeat presentation in a US investment conference and highlights the $40bn order book with a large order imminent. LEI up 3.47%.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) down 3% to 58.5c after completing its $1.3bn equity raising. The retail offer was oversubscribed and had to be scaled back.
  • Extract Resources (EXT) up 5% to a new yearly high after completing its $40.3m placement.
  • Cochlear (COH), David Jones (DJS), Lend Lease (LLC) and Orica (ORI) have all hit a fresh yearly highs today.

The Dow Future are up 22 at midday.

MARCUS PADLEY is the author of the MARCUS TODAY Daily Stockmarket Newsletter.

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