The market is up 19. The SFE Futures were up 1 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 59 overnight. It spiked 60 points on the minutes of the Fed’s June meeting which was interpreted as hinting at a new round of quantitative easing (QE3). But it fell late in the day after Moody’s cut Ireland’s debt rating to junk status. The US trade deficit widened in May to its widest since October 2008 on higher petroleum imports. The oil price was up $2.28 to $97.43, while the gold price was up $13.10 to $1562.30. The Australian dollar is buying 105.92 US cents, down 3c from yesterday.

In the news today…

  • The Chinese economic numbers are out — 2nd Q GDP and industrial production a touch better than expected. Our market jumped 20 points on the news but settling now.
  • Nufarm (NUF) now expects underlying earnings to rise by at least 50% in the year to July 31, excluding previously announced write-downs. The company anticipates strong sales in July and said trading conditions across its various regional operations have varied from “positive to difficult” over the past few months. NUF up 0.5% to 450c.
  • Lynas Corp.‘s (LYC) Malaysian subsidiary, Lynas Malaysia, will spend up to $US210m on the second phase of construction on a planned refinery plant in Kuantan. LYC up 0.8%.
  • Minara Resources’ (MRE) says production at its Murrin Murrin nickel plant will be as much as 22% below previous forecasts due to problems with its acid plant.   MRE down 1.4%.
  • Energy Resources Australia (ERA) has raised its annual production guidance, but says second quarter output was down 90% year-on-year and first half output down 65%.  ERA up 2.2% to 415c.
  • Kagara (KZL) raised its quarterly zinc production by 121% taking their annual production to 40,125 tonnes, below their previously stated target of 42,000 tonnes. KZL up 2.5% to 62c.
  • Consumer sentiment has dropped to its lowest level in 2 years in July on the Westpac-Melbourne Institute index. The index fell 8.3% in July to 92.8, from 101.2 in June. The index is now below the 100 mark for the first time since June 2009.

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