The market is down 12 after being up as much as 35. The SFE Futures were up 44 this morning. Our market has lost a 35 point gain this morning with the falling starting with the release of the weaker than expected jobs numbers which saw unemployment up from 5.1% to 5.3% in August. The A$ dropped on the news. The numbers tend to confirm the recent post RBA Meeting impression that interest rates have already peaked. Brokers are now firming up on their hopes for an October interest rate cut…much to the annoyance of all those investors now looking towards term deposits.

The Dow closed up 275 points overnight. Financials were up 4.8% after losing 8% over the past 3 days. European markets were up as a German court rejected a lawsuit seeking to declare German participation in EU bailouts as unconstitutional. The Fed’s Beige Book found that “Economic activity continued to expand at a modest pace, though some Districts noted mixed or weakening activity”. Obama’s jobs speech is scheduled for tonight — he is expected to propose $300bn of tax cuts and government spending to boost jobs. The oil price was up $3.32 to $89.34 and the gold price was down $55.70 to $1817.60. The Aussie dollar was up at 106.54¢ from 104.86¢.

Today’s news …

  • Total employment fell by 9,700 jobs in August with 12,000 fewer full time jobs created and 2,900 more part time jobs. Total employment was forecast to rise by 12,000.
  • On the back of the weak jobs numbers one of the worst performing stocks this morning is Seek (SEK) which is down 3.4%.
  • Foster’s Group (FGL) – The takeovers panel has decided that it won’t act on issues raised by SABMiller about Foster’s outlook statements. FGL up 2¢ to 486¢.
  • Ausenco (AAX) has received two Letters of Intent to deliver $70m of engineering services for two separate copper projects. The combined installed capital value of the projects is in excess of US$3 billion. AAX up 1.2% to 257¢.
  • Stockland (SGP) has gained approval from Queensland’s Urban Land Development Authority to build a residential community centre comprising about 700 homes.  SGP down 1¢ to 293¢.
  • Anti-mill group Pulp the Mill has launched legal action in the Hobart Magistrates Court to prevent further works on Gunns (GNS) Tamar Valley pulp mill in northern Tasmania. The group argue that Gunns no longer has planning permission to build the mill which is an offence against the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act.  GNS last traded at 21¢.
  • Aquila Resources (AQA) has gone into a trading halt as they prepare to make an announcement in relation to their Eagle Downs Hard Coking Coal Project.  AQA last traded at 603¢.
  • Stocks hitting 52-week lows: AJA, BCS, CNP, CTY, FPH, PPX, SXE, TAH.

Which stock you buy for a ‘market bounce’ rather than a stock story specific bounce is down to what sort of investor you are. The more timid will be buying the banks, Telstra and BHP and that will be where the brokers focus… telling people to buy the ‘moron stocks’ is easy stuff and easily defended on a ‘long term opportunity’ basis.

The ‘hair on fire’ people amongst you will be buying the disaster stocks…the worst performers, the profit warning stocks, the big fallers…they include:

  • Macquarie (MQG)
  • Goodman Fielder (GFF)
  • Wotif (WTF)
  • Caltex (CTSX)
  • Bluescope (BSL)
  • Seven West Media (SWM)
  • QBE Insurance (QBE)
  • Billabong (BBG)

But from a Marcus Today point of view… sorry… can’t buy into it yet… I won’t put up a trade I wouldn’t do myself… and I’m happy not to gamble in this volatility… I can’t lead anyone into this mess and anyway… technically the move is too quick to trigger any reliable buy signals. Join Marcus Today to read more.

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