The market is down 8. The SFE Futures were up 9 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 56 overnight. It was up 73 at best and down 31 at worst. The Dow closed higher for the sixth time in seven sessions. The eurozone’s largest banks met to discuss ways they could contribute to a new bilout package for Greece. Financial markets expect the ECB to lift interest rates tonight and the Bank of England will announce their rates decision. Metals were mostly down. The oil price fell 24c to $96.65 and Gold added another $16.50c to $1529.20. The Aussie dollar is now buying 107.4c, up from 106.98c earlier on strong jobs numbers.

In the news today…it’s been a quiet day.

  • Following media reports that Foxtel is about to formalise its bid for Austar United Communications (AUN), AUN said that talks were “continuing” but there was no guarantee that the Proposal will lead to a definitive transaction. AUN up 0.5c to 133.5c.
  • Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) have called on the Federal and Northern Territory governments to set up a cattle pool scheme to protect cattle producers in the NT from market situations such as the Indonesia export ban. AAC up 1.5c to 144.5c.
  • Elders (ELD) says it is well advanced on an application to resume cattle exports to Indonesia, following the Federal Government lifting its ban yesterday. ELD up 7% to 42c.
  • Aston Resources (AZT) said a study has estimated its share of development costs for the Maules Creek coal project at $553m. AZT up 3.4% to 905c.
  • Bradken (BKN) announced they have acquired Canada’s Norcast Wear Solutions for $202m and Australian & Overseas alloys for $20m. They expect the acquisitions to increase EPS by 6% in FY12. Patersons maintain their Buy recommendation. BKN up 3.2% to 821c.
  • ConnectEast Group (CEU), the operator of Melbourne’s EastLink motorway, said average daily revenue during 2010/11 was up 11.2% from a year earlier. Average daily trips for the financial year rose 9.1%. CEU unchanged at 46c.
  • ResMed (RMD) has bought Irish medical technology company BiancaMed Ltd. for an undisclosed cash amount. RMD down 2c to 287c.News Corp (NWS) down 3.6% after advertisers boycotted the News Corp publication News of the World, after it emerged they that been phone hacking victims of crime.
  • Job numbers up – The number of jobs rose by 23,400 in June, the biggest monthly gain since July 2008 and more than the 15,000 rise that was forecast by economists. The unemployment rate has remained at 4.9% in June for the fourth consecutive month.

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