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

The Dow was up 95 at best and down 128 at worst. All markets were up overnight until the news that a German Constitutional Court would delay the European Stability Mechanism for up to three months. US markets were also down after profit warnings from US companies and disappointing first half earnings from some technology stocks. Fitch ratings agency said that their negative outlook on the US’s AAA rating is unlikely to change. In August Moody’s cut the US to Aaa and S&P followed giving the US a AA+ credit rating. European markets were all up for the first time in five sessions but missed the news that the ESM ratification may be delayed.

There were some better than expected Industrial production numbers from Britain and Italy. The German DAX was up 0.79%, the FTSE up 0.56%, France up 0.59% and Spain up 0.58%. Spanish relief — Spain was granted an extra 12 months to reach their budget deficit reductions and their banks will receive an advance 30bn euro in July from the EFSF. Oil was down $1.94 to $84.05. Recent data shows that China’s crude imports fell to 5.29mbpd last month — the lowest daily rate this year. Metals were mixed on the LME with Copper down 0.58% (Chinese copper imports fell 17.5% in June.), Nickel down 0.70%, Zinc down 0.81% and Lead up 069%. Gold was down $21.90 to $1567.00. BHP and RIO ADRs were down 2.18% and 1.86%.

  • Total housing finance fell 1.4% in May to $20.193bn.  Economists had forecast a 1.0% increase in May.
  • The WBC/Melb Inst Index of Consumer Sentiment is up 3.7% to 99.1 in July helped by recent interest rate cuts.
  • Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) — 2nd Q results — produced 632 tonnes of uranium oxide which was a 3% rise from the 1st Q. The company reiterated annual production guidance of 3,200-3,700 tons of uranium oxide. ERA is up 1.56% to 136c.
  • Alumina (AWC) — Alcoa in the US posted a US$2m second quarter loss for the three months to June 30. The fall was due to weaker aluminium prices and a provision for bribery allegations. Alcoa is asking for AWC to help repay part of a US$45m payment to settle a lawsuit. AWC is down 5.67% to 66c with one broker saying they may need to raise capital.
  • Seven West Media (SWM) — Reports suggest SWM will need to resort to a highly dilutive $500m capital raising to repay debt and boost the company’s balance sheet. SWM is down 1.57% to 156.5c.
  • CSR — There is speculation that the company may issue a profit guidance downgrade for 2013 at their general meeting tomorrow. JP Morgan has also cut their target price today from 225c to 185c. CSR is up 0.2% to 124c.
  • Myer (MYR) — Closed down 6.9% yesterday on fears that the they are cum a profit warning. They had a profit warning in May and the retail backdrop has not improved since. MYR is up 0.3% to 168c.
  • Chinese trade numbers yesterday saw resources sold off yesterday with iron and steel stocks SGM down 6.9%, BSL down 6.4%, MGX down 5.0% and ARI down 4.5%. The focus is now firmly on the Chinese GDP numbers on Friday to answer the question about whether the bearishness is overdone. We are expecting 7.9% GDP growth which is uncomfortably close to the growth target of 7.5% announced earlier this year – a forecast that was seen at the time as a worst case scenario

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