The market is down 2. The SFE Futures were up 1 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 59 overnight having been down 235 at worst sending European markets down close to 2%. Weekly Jobless claims were higher than expected. New homes sales fell in May, but not by as much as forecast. The oil price fell 4.6%, or $4.39 to $91.02 after the IEA said it would release 60mb of oil from emergency stockpiles. The gold price was down $32.90 — the largest fall in seven weeks. The Aussie dollar was at 105.41c v 105.63c.

In the news today…

  • Telstra (TLS) fell 7c to 296c yesterday on the announcement of the NBN deal. In anticipation of the deal TLS had jumped from 260c from mid March to 308c (up 18%) in a market that recently fell 10%. A case of better to travel than arrive…profit taking following an announcement that added little in the way of new information. TLS down 7c to 289c.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) will invest a further $US488m in its Jansen Potash project in Saskatchewan in Canada, taking BHP’s investment in the project to $1.2 billion. The money will fund the preparation of the site and enable the development of the first 350 metres of production and service shafts if government approvals are received. BHP up 19c to 424c.
  • Murchison Metals (MMX) — Struggling with their Oakajee 570km rail and deep water port project (JV with Mitsubishi) as one of their biggest customers Sinosteel (China) cancels plans for an iron ore mine in the WA complaining about rising costs and delays. The mine was to contribute one-third of the Oakajee project’s proposed start-up capacity. MMX is in a trading halt after falling 5% yesterday. Gindalbie Metals (GBG) a customer of the project also fell 5% yesterday.
  • Echo Entertainment (EGP) — Packer confirms he holds 4.9% post the split from Tabcorp but brokers are thinking any move on EGP by Crown is unlikely until after the renovated Star City Casino is complete in October November this year. The Merrill Lynch analyst says Crown could pay up to 525c without a capital raising (11x). EGP unchanged at 417c.
  • Mirvac (MGR) says its residential development project at Tennyson Reach in Brisbane was affected by the January floods, leading to a provision of $80.8m.  MGR down 1.57%.
  • APA Group (APA) has completed its $300m capital raising from institutional investors to fund the purchase of a wind farm in WA.  APA down 9.6%.
  • Spotless (SPT) — Talk that Goldman Sachs will initiate an auction process next week including Blackstone and other international bidders. SPT up 3c to 222c.
  • Echo Entertainment (EGP) – Talk that Crown will not bid until the Star City casino renovation is complete in October November and could afford to pay 525c. Now 417c.

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