The market is up 35. The SFE Futures were up 20 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 44 overnight. The Dow was up 95 at best and down 1 at worst. The S&P 500 index hit a 13 month high. It is up six sessions on the trot now. Metals were slightly higher in London, oil closed 23c higher at $79.28, and Gold put on another $12.30 to $1114.50. The Aussie dollar fell slightly to 93.03c versus 93.05c yesterday morning. Wal Mart announces results tonight.

Making the news today…

  • The Australian Jobless rate increased to 5.8% in October, slightly higher than the 5.7% registered in September, and in line with what economists predicted. The number of people employed increased by 24,500 despite the increase in the jobless rate.
  • Westfield Group (WCD) up 13c to 1272c after releasing its 3rd Quarter Review. The market was impressed with its occupancy rate, but sales numbers disappointed a little.
  • SP Ausnet (SPN) announces a 1H net profit of $135.4m and says it is on target to meet FY distribution of 8c after announcing an interim distribution of 4c. SPN up 0.5c to 87.5c.
  • Lend Lease (LLC) CEO says he is cautious but confident about its prospects going forward. He didn’t give specific earnings guidance at the AGM this morning and says he is yet to see a broad and sustainable recovery. US and UK markets remain difficult and the recovery will be slow. LLC down 19c to 950c.
  • The AFR says Royal Bank of Scotland could launch a $1.5bn bid for Babcock & Brown Infrastructure (BBI) if investors reject a bid by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management. RBS has a history of offering to inject capital into BBI. BBI unchanged at 3.5c.
  • Centro Properties Group (CNP) expects it FY underlying profit to drop by nearly half (45%) from last year due to the stronger Aussie dollar and the economic downturn. CNP down 1.5c to 32c.
  • The board of Polaris Metals (POL) has recommended the improved takeover offer from Mineral Resources (MIN), which they believe is a superior to Malaysia’s Lion Group’s offer. POL down 1c to 64c and MIN up 8c to 693c.
  • Gold stocks doing well on the back of another rise in the Gold price overnight. Newcrest Mining (NCM) up 1.8% to 3597c and Lihir Gold (LGL) up 2.3% to 349c.
  • Consumer expectations of inflation fell by 0.3% to 3.2% in November from 3.5% in October.
  • Bow Energy (BOW) in a trading halt. It last traded at 152c.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs yesterday include: Rio Tinto (RIO), Molopo (MPO), Cooper Energy (COE) and Sirtex Media (SRX).

The Dow Futures suggest were up 8 at midday.

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

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