The market is down 10. The SFE Futures were up 32 this morning. Looks like we did our dash for now going up 113 points yesterday.

The Dow Jones closed up 104 overnight for its third straight day of gains. The S&P 500 is now up 11% in October and is on track for its best month since December 1991. Caterpillar reported better than expected results. Volume was light ahead of the EU’s final decision on a strategy to tackle the debt crisis on Wednesday. CRB commodity index was up 2.4% – oil up $4.22 to $91.62 to hit a 2 month high. The gold price was up $18.40 to $1654.50. The Aussie dollar was up at 104.73¢ from 103.42¢.

Main points:

  • Oil Search’s (OSH) — 3Q revenue was down 26.4% from the prior quarter, while production was up 16%. The reduced revenue was due to lower oil sales and the closure of some processing facilities. They continue to forecast 2011 oil and gas production to be at the upper end of the previous estimated range of 6.2m to 6.7m boe. OSH up 5¢ to 607¢.
  • Billabong (BBG) up 5% on their AGM today. Q1 sales are up 25% on the year on higher margins. This follows a profit warning and share price fall post results in August.
  • Pacific Brands (PBG) down 5.6% on its AGM today. They say conditions have worsened and are set to continue with sales and earnings down in the year to date. Shareholders have also rejected the Directors remuneration resolution.
  • The Australian Financial Review has reported that the ACCC sees “significant unresolved issues” in the agreement to separate Telstra’s (TLS) wholesale and retail arms. TLS down 2¢ to 317¢.
  • Resmed (RMD) — first quarter profit down 11% to $50.5m as operating expenses rose due to the appreciation of the Australian dollar against the euro and USD. Revenues were up 12% in the quarter. RMD down 11%.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) and ExxonMobil have announced a major gas development project in the Bass Strait, the South East Longtom project, reports The Australian. BHP has said it is also considering two new offshore WA gas projects. BHP up 1.3% to 734¢.
  • Virgin Australia (VBA) say they have raised their domestic capacity by 5% over the last few months and have signed 17 corporate accounts in the past three months. VBA unchanged at 36¢.
  • Atlas Iron (AGO) say production in the first quarter of its 2012 financial year was consistent with the previous quarter and cash costs were likely to remain on track during the year. They hope to grow their output to 22 million tons of iron ore by 2015. AGO down 1.6%.
  • Other AGMS today include GWA, TCL, TWE.

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