The market is up 20.  SFE Futures were up 24 this morning.

The Dow was up 104 at best and down 20 at worst. US markets hit four month highs as German Chancellor Angela Merkel unexpectedly spoke about working “in line” with the ECB in defending the euro. Strong Building Permits numbers up 6.8% offset slightly lower than expected housing starts with the Philadelphia Fed survey also a bit below expectations with a negative reading for the fourth consecutive month. The Spanish market was up 4% on hopes Spanish banks were about to receive the first instalment on their 100bn bailout (unconfirmed). Best Sectors: Technology (+1.6%); Basic Materials (+1.4%), Energy (+1.0%) and Industrials (+0.8%). Worst Sectors: Utilities (-0.3%), Health Care (-0.2%) and Telecoms (-0.2%). US Stocks — Cisco was up 9.6% following surprisingly strong results. Wal-Mart down 3% on weak FY earning guidance. Facebook down 6% to 2000c (listing price of 3800c). European markets were all up with Spain +4.05%, Italy +1.87%, France +0.91%, Germany +0.71% and the UK FTSE +0.03%. The Banking stocks were the best performers with Angela Merkel comments lifting the banks. Oil up 90c to $95.23. Gold up $10.10 to $1616.60. A$ at 105.12c.

Reporting Season Results & Announcements

  • ANZ — 3rd Q trading update in line with estimates — Unaudited 3rd Q cash profit of $1.53bn which was 3.3% above the market consensus of $1.48bn. Underlying profit was $4.5bn up 5.5%. ANZ is up 1.84% to 2434c.
  • Santos (STO) — Interim results better than expected — Net profit of $262m down 48% from $504m but better than an expected $250.5m. Underlying profit was $283m up 20%.  STO is up 3.55% to 1182c.
  • QBE Group (QBE) — Interim results below consensus — Profit up 13% to US$760m which was below a broker consensus of US$789m. Revenue fell by 2% to US$8.9bn. Gross written premium rose 3% to US$9.2bn and net earned premium increased by 9% to US$7.3bn. QBE is down 6.81% to 1273c.
  • APN News & Media (APN) — Interim results disappoint outlook challenging – Net loss of $319.4m compared with a net loss of $98.3m a year earlier. APN is down 9% to 42.75c.
  • Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) — FY results OK profit up 40% – Net profit was $89.9m up 40% from $64.1m. The company said the results cannot be directly compared with last year’s results because the company demerged from Fosters Group. EBIT was $186.8m up 9.2%. Final dividend of 7c as expected. TWE up 3.85%.
  • Duet Group (DUE) — FY results — Net profit of $47.5m down 62% from the previous year. EBITDA down 4.3% operating revenue up 5.6%. Profit was down due to $112m in tax losses. Final dividend 8c. DUE is down 1.46% to 202c.
  • APA Group (APA) has increased their takeover offer for Hastings Diversified (HDF) and is offering 80c cash and 0.39 APA shares for each HDF share. HDF is up 2.37% to 259c.
  • It’s the last day to buy the CBA or Telstra before they go ex-dividend 197c and 14c on Monday. It is also the last day to sell them for those not interested in the dividend.

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