The market is having a good day — up 83. The SFE Futures were up 81 this morning.

Wall Street closed 225 up overnight. The Dow closed on its high led by the Energy sector and Financials which rallied on comments from the Bank of America and Wells Fargo that the credit markets were improving. Metals struggled, the oil price put on 28c to $72.86, Gold price fell $4.30 to $1222.60 and the Aussie dollar improved to 84.18c from 83.24c.

In other news today…

  • AGL Energy (AGK) has announced a profit upgrade this morning. They now expect FY profit to come in between $420m-$430m, compared to previous guidance of $390m and $420m. Management say the upgrade reflects the “continued strong performance of AGL’s underlying business”. AGK up 15c to 1422c.
  • Boom Logistics (BOL) up a massive 38.5% to 41.5c after confirming that Archer Capital and McAleese Group intend to offer 52c a share. They have received a highly conditional, confidential and incomplete proposal from Archer via a scheme of arrangement.
  • Fortescue Metals (FMG) has failed to find a bank prepared to fund its $US15bn Pilbara iron ore expansions as concern over the proposed RSPT. FMG up 15c to 418c.
  • Lots of talk yesterday of QBE Insurance (QBE) having a greater exposure to the Gulf of Mexico disaster than the $US50m it announced last month. They released an announcement reassuring investors this morning that their maximum exposure is $US50m and that claims reserves for UK motor liability claims include an allowance for anticipated higher bodily injury claims in the US.
  • Minara Resources (MRE) say the nickel mining industry could be “brought to its knees’” by the proposed resource tax.  MRE up 3% to 72.5c.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) has been awarded a $273m contract to develop and operate Mongolia Energy Corp’s Khushuut coal mine. LEI up 3.6% to 3252c.
  • Xstrata announce they have suspended $586m of expenditure to develop both the $6bn Wandoan thermal coal project and another $600m project with immediate effect. They blame the proposed RSPT.
  • Australia’s terms of trade have swung into a trade surplus of $134m during April, compared to March’s $2.04bn deficit. Economists expected a deficit of $800m.  The Aussie dollar has improved to 84.54c on the back of the news.
  • New cars sold fell a seasonally adjusted 7.6% in May compared to April.
  • Stocks hitting fresh 52 week highs include: STW Communications (SGN), Silver Lake Resources (SLR) and Eldorado Gold Corp (EAU). Stocks hitting fresh yearly lows include Alliance Resources (AGS), Bauxite Resources (BAU), iSoft (ISF) and Skilled Group (SKE.

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