The market is up 18. The SFE Futures were up 8 this morning.

Wall St. fell 11 overnight. Down 5 at best and down 77 at worst. Housing Starts and Building Permits for October disappointed. The S&P 500 has been up as much as 64% from the 12 year low in March. The historic PE on the S&P 500 is now 22x, the highest since 2002. Oil up 44c to $79.58 and Gold finished $1.90 higher. The Aussie dollar closed down 92.96c versus 93.08c yesterday morning.

In the news today…

  • ANZ Bank is loaded up with further funds for acquisitions, announcing it has doubled its $750m hybrid capital raising to $1.7bn. Rumour is that it will launch a takeover bid for AMP Ltd (AMP) now that is has a wealth management platform.
  • Moly Mines (MOL) up 9.8% to 112c after the FIRB approved a $US200m investment in the company by privately owned Sinchuan Hanlong Group. The deal now remains conditional on Moly investors.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) tells its shareholders it is well positioned to pursue growth opportunities and its cost savings program is set to cut $25m a year. It raised its bid for MRZ yesterday to the equivalent of 59.4c a unit, still well below its NTA of 85c. MGR down 1.5c to 156c.
  • Sonic Healthcare (SHL) — AGM — reiterates 10-15% net profit growth guidance for FY10. SHL unchanged at 1418c.
  • Iluka Resources (ILU) says its Jacinth-Ambrosia zircon mineral sands mine in South Australia has began production ahead of schedule. ILU up 3c to 343c.
  • Goodman Fielder (GFF) says it is close to selling its fats and oils division and is in talks with a potential acquirer. GFF up 0.5c to 155c.
  • Eircom Holdings (ERC) says it doesn’t know which parties are involved in a large parcel of its shares. ERC is subject to a friendly takeover from Singapore Technologies Telemedia. ERC up 1% to 53.5c.
  • AMP Ltd (AMP) is offering 5 yr, senior secured notes backed by office properties. Price guidance is capped at $250m and is 250 bps over swap.
  • Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) — AGM — tells investors it continues to assess acquisition opportunities. AWE up 5c to 282c.
  • Monadelphous Group (MND) has been awarded $60m worth of contracts for the Gorgon Project. MND up 19c to 1364c.
  • Amcor (AMC) is planning to raise $US850m in debt from the US private placement market. AMC up 4c to 565c.
  • Incitec Pivot (IPL) goes 2.3c ex dividend today. IPL up 5c to 290c.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs include: Cape Lambert (CFE), Macquarie Media (MMG), NIB Holdings (NHF).

The Dow Futures were down 8 at midday.

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

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