The market is up 8. The SFE Futures were up 6 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 22 overnight although the S&P 500 fell slightly coming off the prior day’s 2.21% rise. The ADP Employment report (a precursor to the main jobs numbers on Friday) showed jobs fell 39,000 in September against expectations for a rise of 18,000. The gold price reached another record high, up $7.40 to $1347.70 and the oil price gained 41c to $83.23. The Aussie dollar hit 97.74c overnight and has jumped to 98.39c this morning on strong employment numbers.

Today’s main points…

  • Total employment was up by 55,800 jobs last month compared to expectations for a rise of 20,000 – the most in 26 months. The jobless rate remains at 5.1% in September as expected. The dollar rose to 98.36 US cents on the news. The media will focus on the likelihood of an RBA rate rise on Melbourne Cup Day.
  • Yesterday it was The Sydney Morning Herald, today it is the AFR reporting that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto’s iron ore JV is dead. RIO CEO Tom Albanese said they “are continuing discussions with regulators, but it’s more challenging now than it was a couple months ago”. BHP up 1.09%, RIO up 1.05%.
  • Dart Energy (DTE), the offshoot of Arrow Energy closed yesterday at 135c and is up 74% since listing on July 22. Southern Cross Equities has upped their valuation on the stock to 142c from 125c.
  • QR National == The IPO is on track to reach its pre-registration target of 1m before the 5pm deadline tomorrow. The final timing of the IPO isn’t set and will depend on market conditions.
  • Monadelphous (MND) has secured $120m worth of new contracts in WA and Papua New Guinea involving oil, gas, iron ore and water sectors. MND up 0.37%.
  • Mantra Resources (MRU) received a speeding ticket this morning for its 17% rise yesterday. Company says it is not aware of any information that has not been announced that could explain the recent rise. MRU down 6.67%.
  • The IMF has upped its 2010 economic growth forecasts for India on the back of increasing local consumer demand. They expect it to expand 9.7% this year, up from the 9.4% previous estimated, and by 8.4% in 2011. They downgraded US GDP forecasts.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs today include: NCM, OZL, RHC, WSA, APA, PNA, ITO, NXS

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