The market is down 18. The SFE Futures were up 7 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 36 on Friday. Another new yearly high. Dow Jones up 64 at best and up 4 at worst. The US market has now closed up 9 of the past 11 sessions. S&P is also 58% off its lows registered in March. Metals finished weaker as did the Oil price. Gold fell $3.20 and the Aussie dropped to 86.57c.

Quiet week ahead on the diary front … FOMC decide on interest rates on Wednesday. They basically at zero, their outlook comments is what we are after.

  • Macquarie Airports (MAP) knocks back internalization offer. A group (Global Airports) led by businessman Mike Fitzpatrick has made an offer to MAP to internalize management without paying Macquarie Group an exit fee of $345m. The board committee received the offer on September 11 and decided to knock it back. MAP up 1c to 264c.
  • Gunns (GNS) has put its hand up for some of Timbercorp’s Forestry Assets. GNS up 4c to 118.5c.
  • Street Talk suggests Chinese oil company Sinopec may be buying shares in Arrow Energy (AOE). AOE up 2.95% to 453c.
  • Vale, the Brazilian miner, completes the acquisition of Rio’s iron ore operations at the Corumba mine in Brazil.
  • Rio Tinto (RIO) says it remains cautious on the short term outlook for the aluminium market. Cash preservation remains the key priority for its aluminium business. RIO up 8c to 6108c.
  • The National Australian Bank (NAB) raised $690m to lift support for its offshore operations via a hybrid tier-one capital note issue to Asian and European institutions. NAB down 51c to 2935c.
  • Rumours of Ron Walker walking from the Fairfax Media (FXJ) board in the 1Q of next year if he survives re-election in November that is. FXJ down 0.5c to 171c.
  • Street Talk suggests Centennial Coal (CEY) as the next company to announce a capital raising with a number of $200m being suggested. The AFR has also suggested a possible tie up with Whitehaven Coal (WHC). CEY down 7c to 339c and WHC is unchanged at 368c.
  • John Thain, the former CEO of Merrill Lynch who was accused of overspending on an office renovation told students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School, “We decorated it in the style that Merrill Lynch offices were, which was very, very nice … it was a mistake, and I’m sorry that I did that. If I had that to do over again, I’d furnish it in IKEA.” The room full of students burst out laughing. For the record, he spent $1.2m on his office. A spokeswoman for the retailer said, “John, stop by IKEA anytime”, there is a $49.99 3 draw set waiting for him … and an allen key.

Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs today: ARB Corp (ARP), Cash Converters (CCV), Customers (CUS), MEO Australia (MEO) and Tox Free Solutions (TOX).

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

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