The market is down 11. The SFE Futures were down 12 this morning.

Wall St. closed down 47. The Dow was up 45 at best and down 50 at worst. Metals were quiet overnight, the oil price fell slightly to $66.71 and Gold held up at $US994. The Aussie dollar fell slightly to 87.12c versus 87.27c yesterday morning. The better-than-expected S&P/Case-Shiller home price index failed to inspire the market.

In the news today…

  • James Packer has sold the last lot of his Sunland Group (SDG) shares. It was confirmed that 35m shares changed hands at 80c yesterday. This latest sale has reignited the old rumour that he is planning to privatize Crown (CWN). SDG down 2.35% to 83c.
  • Clive Palmer, Australia’s 5th richest man, has labeled the federal government’s foreign investment rules as racist, and discriminates against the Chinese. He expects Beijing to spend its $1.8 trillion in cash reserves elsewhere.
  • Fortescue Metals (FMG) plan to obtain $US6bn of cheap funding from Chinese banks has been delayed. FMG says despite the deadlines being missed, it will work with CISA. FMG down 2% to 383c.
  • Front page of the AFR tells us the big 4 banks (ANZ, CBA, NAB, WBC) have around $6bn in surplus capital ready to take advantage of growth opportunities. They have more than enough to cover bad debt expenses. ANZ down 12c to 2461c, CBA down 12c to 5198c, NAB down 5c to 3117c and WBC down 24c to 2620c.
  • ANZ Bank has become the first global financial institution to sign an agency agreement with a state owned Chinese Bank, China Development Bank (CDB). The memorandum on understanding will result in ANZ bringing deals to CDB for financial and acting as its agent in Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Asia.
  • Moby Oil & Gas (MOG), the little company that is engaged in oil and gas exploration with a market cap of $28.6m, is up 34.7% today to 48.5c, adding to yesterday’s massive gains.
  • Macquarie Airports (MAP) – The Supreme Court of NSW has turned down an application from Global Airports for an injunction to delay voting on the proposal to internalize management which will go ahead today. MAP last traded at 283c.
  • Mirabela Nickel (MBN) has announced a net loss of $37.6m and no dividend. It undertook a $117.5m capital raising in July. MBN down 2c to 283c.
  • Babcock & Brown Infrastructure (BBI) has rejected a refinancing proposal from a group of international hedge funds. BBI last traded at 5.3c.
  • Stocks hitting a fresh yearly high: ARB Corp (ARP), Infigen Energy (IFN), Bell Financial Group (BFG).

The Dow Futures were up 4 at midday.

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

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