The market is up 42. The SFE Futures were up 47 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 76 overnight. Dow up 96 at best and down 3 at worst. The Dow closed up for the 3rd consecutive day. The S&P 500 was up 0.8% and the Nasdaq up 1%.  European markets were up on better than expected earnings. UK house prices rose to their highest in 9 months in April. European officials said euro zone nations will likely offer Greece more support, but it will require further austerity and reform measures. Commodities had a good night – oil price was up $1.33 to $103.88, Gold price up by $13.70 to $1516.90 and the Aussie dollar up to 108.42c from 107.92c.

Today’s main stories… it has been a busy day on the news front.

  • Chinese economic numbers this morning are pretty good with industrial production ahead of expectations and CPI below:
  • Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) – Trading Update – reported 3Q cash earnings of $1.7bn much in line with expectations.  CBA up 19c to 5240c.
  • The Budget is not having much of an impact on the market. More political spin than new revelations.
  • Boral (BLD) released a trading update for the 9 months to March in line with expectations. Guidance of $160m-$175m confirmed. BLD up 4.5% to 486c.
  • Westfield Group’s (WDC) Q1 sales numbers include a reiteration of guidance. WDC up 1% to 916c.
  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) has increased its coal resource base estimate by 38%. MCC up 4.5% to 1160c.
  • David Jones (DJS) has reported quarterly sales revenue of $411.7m, down 1.3%. A fall of around 1% had been expected. It is a relief to the whole retail sector not to see something worse. DJS up 3.1% to 459c.
  • Lynas Corp. (LYC) will cancel the proposed sale of a mineral deposit to Forge Resources (FRG). LYC up 4.2% to 222c, FRG down 41.5%.
  • CSR Ltd (CSR) reported full-year NPAT of $503.4m, up from last year’s $111.7m loss. Revenue was down 11%. CSR up 3c to 293c.
  • Myer Holdings (MYR) said sales fell 2% to $675m in the 3rd Q. Full-year net profit could fall as much as 5% on the year. MYR up 1c to 318c.
  • OZ Minerals (OZL) has agreed to settle 2 class actions for $55.1m plus costs of $4.9m. OZL up 4.3%.

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