The market is up 38. The SFE Futures were up 41 this morning.

Good night on Wall St. The Dow closed up 132. Up 156 at best and down 33 at worst. Metals were mixed in London and the oil price fell 18c to $81.19. Gold fell $5.90 to $1059 and the Aussie dollar also fell to 92.75c compared to 92.89c yesterday. Market finished strongly after a slow start helped by some good earnings numbers. All ten S&P 500 sector closed higher.

Making the news today…

  • Wesfarmers (WES) up over 6% first thing after releasing a better-than-expected 1Q trading update. The Coles turnaround is on track, which is the main driver of the stock and consumer sentiment is improving. Today was supposed to be all about MYER closing its offer, but WES might have stolen the show by flexing their muscle and showing how good a retailer they are.
  • The MYER offer closes at 5pm today — Street Talk reports that one CLSA analyst has labeled it expensive saying it doesn’t provide compelling value if it is priced above 355c a share, which is 12.7x forward earnings.
  • Woodside Petroleum (WPL) — 3Q Production Report — announces 3Q production was up 6% compared to the previous Q. 2009 production to be within 81m-86m barrels of oil equivalent. It also announcies a setback in its drive to secure third party gas to underpin Pluto 2 with Apache and KUFPEC, and have decided to funnel their gas to Chevron’s project instead.
  • Street talk was on the money this morning regarding Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG). It is down 5.5% after its second largest shareholder, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan board, sold its 11.7% stake.
  • Australian Pharmaceuticals (API) has completed the institutional component of its offer and has raised $88m.
  • Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) down 2.7% after the US court ruled against it in a trial relating to its bond holders. It will review the verdict and whether to appeal the decision.
  • Foster’s Group (FGL) said it will transfer 13 Australian wine brands to a JV with Vok Beverages. FGL last traded at 553c.
  • Macquarie Airports (MAP) announces a 3.5% rise in earnings for the 9 months to September. MAP up 1c to 283c
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs today: DWS Advanced (DWS), Seek Ltd (SEK), GUD Holdings (GUD), Sirtex Medical (SRX), Wesfarmers (WES).

The Dow Futures were up 18 at midday.

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

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