The market is down 15. The SFE Futures were down 9 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 54 overnight. It was up 90 points earlier on positive JP Morgan results and on a report showing jobless benefits claims fell, but it dropped when Bernanke cooled talk of any near term stimulus measures by saying there are no immediate plans for another rounding of quantitative easing. The US PPI numbers fell for the first time since June 2010 and retail sales were higher in June. The gold price was up another $3.80 to $1589.30, while the oil price fell $2.36 to $95.69. The Australian dollar is buying 107.27 US cents, down from 107.55c.

In the news today…

  • BHP Billiton (BHP) is to buy US-based oil company Petrohawk Energy for $US15.1bn (including debt), increasing its exposure to the American energy market. BHP said the two companies had entered into a definitive agreement for BHP to pay $US38.75 for each Petrohawk share in an all cash tender offer. BHP down 77c to 4284c. Petrohawk up 63% in the US. It is a vote of confidence in the shale gas industry.
  • Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal have agreed to improve their $4.7bn takeover bid for Macarthur Coal (MCC) by allowing MCC to pay a dividend of 16 cents per share without reducing the offer price of 1550c. In return, MCC have agreed to allow due diligence including access to their data room and mine sites. MCC up 14c to 1548c.
  • Flight Centre (FLT) announced a pretax profit upgrade for FY11 to between $243m and $247m, up from $220m-$240m, helped by a strong Australian dollar presenting affordable international airfares. JB Were have a BUY recommendation this morning and a target price of 2551c. FLT down 1c to 2121c.
  • China released its rare earths export quota. After a 40% reduction in rare earths exports in 2010, Beijing is now quite comfortable with its export levels and will only slightly reduce exports in 2011. Lynas Corp (LYC) – LYC down 2.5% to 193c.
  • Google is up 12.6% after hours on the Nasdaq after reporting second quarter results and providing an optimistic outlook. The result may support the US market tonight.
  • News Corp.’s (NWS) Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch will attend a UK parliamentary committee to answer questions about the phone hacking by News of the World. The FBI in now investigating whether News Corp tried to hack 9/11 victims and families’ phones. NWS down 2.4% to 1483c.
  • Beach Energy (BPT) and Icon Energy (ICN) have resolved their dispute over the prospective ATP 855P tenement and agreed to work together. BPT up 2.1%, ICN up 8.6%.
  • Fortescue Metals (FMG) down 8c to 634c after publishing quarterly production numbers.

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