The market is down 12. The SFE Futures were down 26 this morning. We fell 75 yesterday ahead of the Wall St fall.

The Dow Jones closed down 117 overnight. The Dow was down 148 at worst. Biggest US market fall in a month. Not a lot of volume. Alcoa kicked off the US Q1 reporting season with disappointing revenue figures and the stock fell 6%. The oil price fell another $3.32 to $106.60 and Gold lost $15.10 to $1453. The Aussie dollar took a breather — now trading at 104.56c and commodity prices fell on the LME — all over 3%.

Today’s main stories…

  • Tabcorp Holdings (TAH) released their March Q trading update. All three divisions achieved positive revenue growth with normalised net revenue up 5.4% to $1.06bn. January floods did impact on business. They were awarded Victoria’s new exclusive 10 year Keno license, which will start in April 2012. TAH up 3% to 745c.
  • The AFR says Brambles (BXB) is considering offloading their Recall documents services businesses. BXB is also close to finalising their $1.3bn acquisition of IFCO. BXB down 3c to 716c.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) has submitted their interest, along with APG, to acquire ProLogis European Properties, which has a market cap of $1.4bn. GMG up 2% to 69.5c.
  • Whitehaven Coal (WHC) has been looking at final auction offers for the last 10 days. The AFR says Yanzhou Coal will be the winner and successfully acquire WHC, but there is talk that India’s Aditya Birla is still in the mix. WHC down 2c to 708c.
  • Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) announced last night that they expect to book a 1st half net loss of between $30m — $50m after wet weather forced processing to be stopped. ERA down 10% to 696c.
  • Webjet (WEB) says they have experienced a strong 3rd Q with total transaction values increasing 14% to $145m. They also confirmed FY net profit guidance of $10.5m. WEB down 1c to 205c.
  • Consumer sentiment in Australia was up 1.2% in April from March. In annual terms, the consumer sentiment index fell to a seasonally adjusted 9.3% in April.
  • Steven Kalmin, CFO of commodities trader Glencore and 40 years of age, is Australia’s newest billionaire. His shareholding in the company will be worth $1.5bn when it lists next month.
  • RIO quarterly production numbers are out later today.
  • White Energy (WEC) down 10% this morning as they pull the plug on the Cascade Coal acquisition.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) comes back on the market tomorrow after a profit warning and capital raising at 2250c. Last 2894c.

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