The market is down 14. SFE Futures were up 5 this morning.

Dow Jones up 26. The Dow was up 87 at best and down 37 at worst on light volumes ahead of third quarter GDP figures out tonight. US markets started the session on their highs with the better then expected jobless number coming out before the market open. Initial jobless claims dropped by 23,000 to 369,000 last week and Durable orders were better than expected up 9.9% for September. There were also stronger leads out of the UK with their QonQ GDP coming in a +1.0%, which was above the forecast of +0.6% and a huge turnaround from recent months thanks to the Olympics. Olympic ticket sales alone were estimated to have added 0.2% to third quarter GDP and Olympic activity and tourism another 0.5%. Apple down 0.2% after hour as they released fourth quarter figures after the close in the US. Microsoft was flat after the company unveiled its Windows 8 operating system, and launched the Surface tablet at an event in New York. Metal mixed – Copper down 0.01%, Nickel down 1.62%, Aluminium down 0.04% and Zinc up 0.16%. Gold up $12.20 to $1713.80. Spot iron ore up $1.30 to $120.00.  Oil up 48c to $82.21. Best sectors – Energy (+0.9%), Health Care (+0.8%) and Utilities (+0.5%).Worst sectors – Telecoms (-0.3%) and Technology (-0.2%).

  • Macquarie Group (MQG) — Interim result misses consensus but share price rallies — Profit was $361 million up 18% from $305 million but below a consensus estimate of $374 million. Revenue weaker than expected but was offset by disciplined cost management, with costs down 10%. The group cut staff by 739 to 13,463. MQG is up 4.40% to 3113.
  • AMP — Third quarter update — Has increased their cash flows in the third quarter due to growth in self-managed superannuation funds. Net cash flow of $605 million compared to a net cash outflow of $335 million in the same period in 2011. AMP is down 2.35% to 485c.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) — AGM in London — Says they are confident about the group’s long-term outlook and expects urbanization and industrialization in China to continue to support growth in demand for commodities. The company expects commodities’ demand in volume (not price) to grow by 50% – 80% in the next 15 years. BHP is down 0.26% to 2429c.
  • Resmed (RMD) — First quarter result — Profit rose 41% to US$71 million which was 9% above consensus estimates. EPS rose 48% to US$0.49 which was 8% more than expected. RMD is flat at 399c.
  • Toll Holdings (TOL) — AGM — Says they expect to increase earnings this financial year even though economic conditions were impacting parts of their business. Net profit in the year to June 30 was $64.6 million down from $281.4 million after $203 million in impairments related to Toll Express Japan and Toll’s properties in Australia. TOL is down 0.47% to 425c.
  • Whitehaven Coal (WHC) — Profit warning — Says EBITDA would be around $50 million at the current coal price well below the average analyst FY EBITDA forecast of $185 million. First quarter coal sales down 1% to 1.84 million tonnes. Coal production up 21% at 1.63 million tonnes. WHC is down 3.75% to 307c.

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