The market is down 43. The SFE Futures were down 67 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 144 overnight. S&P 500 closed lower for the first time in three sessions. It has now fallen 12% since its high for the year on April 23. Disappointing unemployment numbers did the damage prompting GDP downgrades and talk of a double dip recession.

The Congressional Budget Office has predicted the US budget deficit for 2011 will reach $1.066 trillion, revised up from March’s $996 billion estimate. Metals were mostly down overnight, Gold put on $4 to $1235.40 and the oil price fell 99c to $74.43. The Aussie dollar fell to 89.21c from 89.87c.

Busy day on the results front…

  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) — Good 3rd Q Trading Update — ANZ the only bank in positive territory today — up 1.5% to 2272c. Underlying profit for the quarter came in at $1.3bn, up 70% of last year. Underlying profit for the 9 months was $3.6bn, up 26%. Tier 1 ratio was 10.3%, core Tier 1 ratio 8.2%.
  • The Age says the iron ore JV between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto is “dead”. Unnamed senior executives have apparently said the deal “died months ago” because any hope of convincing regulators that the JV would not have price-setting power had been destroyed by the success with which both companies recently managed to introduce a new quarterly pricing-setting system on their Asian customers. BHP down 48c to 3782c and RIO down 2.06% to 7167c.
  • Billabong International (BBG) — Results missed analysts’ expectations — the stock is down 9.76% to 804c. They missed guidance provided in February by 7% and expect another challenging 12 months ahead.
  • Specialty Fashion Group (SFH) — annual profit up 35% to $30.4m from $22.563m the prior year. Revenue was up 2.1% at $572.2m, and EBITDA up 13% to $60.136m. SFH up 2% to 126.5c.
  • DUET Group (DUE) made a FY net profit of $140m, thanks to an increase in the market value of their derivative investments. Revenue increased 11% to $1.15bn. DUE down 0.5c to 164.5c.
  • Macmahon (MAH) has been awarded an $86m Karara Iron Ore Project earthworks and track contract. MAH down 0.5c to 61.5c.
  • Austal Ltd (ASB) has announced a 3.5% improvement in net profit to $37.12m. The result was in line with Patersons expectations. Declared a 6c dividend (currently yielding 2.7%). Patersons maintain their BUY recommendation. ASB up 6c to 230c.
  • Australia’s imports have jumped to an 18-month high of $18.8bn  – a level not seen since before the financial crisis as mining companies bring in equipment to meet China’s demand for commodities.

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