The market is down 2. The SFE Futures were down 22 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 94 overnight. It was down 184 points at worst. The US debt ceiling issue remains unresolved as the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the limit approaches — just two weeks away. The European debt crisis remains in focus as EU leaders discuss the next steps at a summit this week and the ECB President resists a Greek debt restructure. The gold price extended its longest run of gains since 1980 and was up $12.30c to $1602.40. The oil price fell $1.31 to $95.93. The Australian dollar is now buying 106.28 US cents, down from 106.42c.

In the news today…

  • The RBA Minutes are out – The RBA’s July policy meeting minutes suggest the RBA could hold off on raising rates for some time. They say their forecasts for 2011 GDP will likely be cut as recent data suggests there is “more time” to assess inflation risks and that it would be “prudent to use that time.” They did drop from their commentary any reference to the need to raise interest rates “at some point”. Second quarter CPI data is due out next week.
  • Western Areas (WSA) has beaten its nickel production guidance by 10% in the 2nd quarter and their sales hit a record in the year to June 30. WSA up 6.1%.
  • Oz Minerals (OZL) reported a 9% rise in copper production in the 2nd quarter. Gold production was up 5.5% in the quarter. They announced they will return up to $200m to shareholders through an on-market buyback. OZL up 8c to 1304c.
  • Wesfarmers’ (WES) bid for Burrup fertilisers looks unlikely after WA’s Environmental Protection Authority cleared the way for a $500m expansion of Wesfarmer’s Kwinana site. The decision will hurt Burrup Fertilisers’ receivers and ANZ’s chance of being returned the $900m in debts that Burrup owes them.  WES up 12c to 3028c, ANZ down 11c to 2064c.
  • There are also suggestions that Wesfarmers (WES) is going to take advantage of the interest in coking coal assets to sell their Curragh coal mine in QLD. An Indian bidder thought to be interested.
  • Tabcorp (TAH) has been placed in a trading halt prior to the Victorian Government awarding a new betting and wagering licence. TAH last traded at 310c.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) says it has sold half its stake in 8 Chifley Square Sydney for between $154.4m and $169.8m to a Singapore’s K-REIT Asia Management. MGR unchanged at 123c.
  • Gindalbie Metals (GBG) in a trading halt pending a $209m capital raising via a 1 for 3 issue at 67c. They are doing the institutional placement today. The stock is in a trading halt.

For a free 5 day obligation FREE TRIAL of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter Click Here. You will receive our renowned and popular Daily email about the stockmarket with all the stuff you need to know ahead of the trading day including:

  • Overnight developments, news, comments, rumours, broker recommendations and ideas from Marcus and his Team.
  • Our Recommended Portfolio which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers.…no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly managed your own long term investment portfolio. It includes Income Portfolio recommendations.
  • Daily Technical Trading ideas and data, including daily scans of the ASX 300 for stocks changing trend.
  • Stock Database – all the numbers with comments on the top 300 stocks and more.
  • Educational section – Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles.

We also offer a FREE END OF DAY EMAIL – Click here – A free summary of the day in the market.

Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY – Click Here.  We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer…we have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.