The market is down 7. SFE Futures were down 18 this morning.

US market down 107. The Dow was down 129 at worst again on low volume with the Dow just holding onto the psychological 13,000 level. US markets decided to take profits ahead of the Jackson Hole conference tomorrow and the Chinese PMI numbers on Saturday. All 10 industrial sectors finished in the red despite respectable July personal spending and income data. The figures showed a revival in household spending powered by some growth in incomes over recent months (retail stocks up). Weekly jobless claims numbers were also slightly better than expected. S&P 500 -0.8% and the Nasdaq -1.1%.

Mining stocks were down again in London with a 1.8% fall in the spot iron ore price, RIO down 2.1% and BHP down 3.26%. The president of the Steel Consultancy China overnight stated that “Australian miners were foolish and greedy; China cannot consume 1bn tonnes of Iron ore annually”. Iron ore consumption forecasts have been cut. FMG , BHP and most of the Mining Services companies down again today so far.

European markets down — UK FTSE down 0.42%, German DAX down 1.64%, France down 1.02%, Spain down 1.52%, Italy down 1.09% and Greece down 1.83%. Spanish PM Rajoy has again put off a request for another rescue package (the first being that provided for the country’s banking sector). This came despite Valencia putting its hand out earlier this week for more money to service debts. The €18bn fund created by Rajoy to fund shortfalls in regional finances is almost exhausted. Slovak PM, Robert Fico said that he saw a 50-50 chance of the 17-nation euro-zone bloc breaking up under the weight of the sovereign debt crisis. The German unemployment rate came in at 6.8% for August (up five months in a row). Spanish 10 year bond yield was up 13.1bpts (+2.03%) to 6.59%. Metals down — Copper down 0.06%, Nickel down 1.97%, Aluminum down 0.75% and Zinc down 1.21%.

  • Harvey Norman (HVN) — FY result in line with market consensus — Net profit was $172.5m down 31.6% from $252.26m. HVN is flat at 210c.
  • Hastings Diversified (HDF) — Subject to takeover offers — Net loss of $134m compared to a profit of $27m the previous year. HDF is flat at 256c.
  • Paladin Energy (PDN) — FY result below expectations — Net loss of $166.93 compared with a $79.88m loss the previous year. PDN is down 1.8% to 132c.
  • Grange Resources (GRR) — Interim result in line with consensus — Net profit of $55.4m down 4% from $58.1m. GRR is up 1.6% to 32.
  • Horizon Oil (HZN) — Net profit was US$7.7m down 80% from US$35m the previous year. Net production from Maari field of 439,298 barrels of oil. HZN is down 1.6% to 30c.
  • Aspen Group (APZ) — FY result below expectations — Statutory Loss of $99m down 673% from a profit of $17.4m the previous year. APZ is down 4.7%$ 30c.
  • Nextdc (NXT) — FY result was out late yesterday — Net loss of $10.6m which was in line with an expected loss of $10m. NXT is up 0.75% at 200c.

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