The market is down 16. SFE Futures were up 9 this morning.

US markets closed. All US markets were closed for the Labour Day public holiday. US Construction spending, the ISM manufacturing index and vehicle sales out tonight. Metals up — Copper was up 1.56%, Nickel up 1.53%, Aluminium up 2.79% and Zinc up 2.24% on hopes that the recent round of soft global economic stats would prod the People’s Bank of China into additional stimulus programs. Copper inventories were down around 2%, after contracting 10 of the past 11 months. Spot iron ore down 30c to $89.10.

European Markets mixed — UK FTSE up 0.82%, German DAX up 0.63%, France up 1.19%, Spain up 0.18%, Italy up 1.10% and Greece down 0.68%. Spain has had to inject cash into the Bankia Group and another region (Andalucia) has put its hand out for funds. Lightest volumes recorded since December. ECB president Mario Draghi said the purchase of sovereign three year bonds by the ECB would not breach EU rules. The ECB meet on Thursday with some commentators suggesting the announcement of a bond purchase program will be an inflection point for them market.  German Chancellor Merkel asserted that bailouts were here to stay. She said that countries like Greece should be assisted as long as they meet commitments for reforming their economies. At the same time she conceded that Germany could not overburden itself — being “at the mercy of the financial markets”. Finance Minister Schaeuble warned that Europe should not raise “false expectations” over the ECB’s ability to stem the crisis. He stated that Germany would not accept ECB financing of state budgets. RBA decision at 2.30pm today.

  • Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) say they have taken “decisive action” to secure profitability and liquidity in the face of uncertain future iron ore prices. They are delaying capital expenditure of $1.6bn, cutting jobs and operating costs immediately to save $300m and are negotiating to sell the Solomon Power Station and stakes in their North Star magnetite project. They have also cut production guidance. FMG is down 0.7% to 353.5c.
  • 2Q12 current account deficit of $11.8nb, slightly under market expectations of $12.2bn; contribution to GDP +0.3 percentage points. A$ little changed.
  • Nathan Tinkler has failed to make a $14m court-ordered payment for land in a Newcastle industrial park.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) — Has not asked the SA Government for an extension of the agreement covering royalties for the $20bn+ expansion of Olympic Dam. BHP is up 0.92% to 3170c.
  • Retail sales fell 0.8% last month after two months of going up 0.6% and 1.2%. Department Store sales fell 10.2% in July. The Carbon Tax handout has been spent leaving sales to fall again.
  • Rio Tinto (RIO) — Has cut a number of jobs at their Argyle diamond mine in WA. RIO is up 1.56% to 5064c.
  • DuluxGroup (DLX) has again extended the offer period for their hostile $210m takeover bid for Alesco Corporation (ALS). The offer has been extended till October 2. DLX is down 0.3% to 328c and ALS is up 1.57% to 194c.
  • Moody’s have lowered the European Union’s long-term issuer rating outlook from stable to negative.

For a five day FREE TRIAL of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter Click Here. You will receive our renowned and popular Daily email about the stockmarket with all the stuff you need to know ahead of the trading day including:

  • Overnight developments, news, comments, rumours, broker recommendations and ideas from Marcus and his Team.
  • Our Portfolio recommendations which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers … no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly
  • managed your own long term investment portfolio.
  • Daily Technical Trading ideas and data, including daily scans of the ASX 300 for stocks changing trend.
  • Stock Database  —  all the numbers with comments on the top 300 stocks and more.
  • Educational section  —  Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles.

Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY. We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer … we have one of the highest re subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.