The market is up 10. SFE Futures were up 13 this morning.

Dow Jones up 133. The Dow was up 178 at best. US markets started off the session well with the Cincinnati Enquirer website posting that Romney had a considerable lead over Obama in Ohio; the newspaper later retracted the claim, and said that the page accidentally showed a template with nominal data. Energy and Material stocks performed well with a rebound in the oil price and some better then expected earnings from Martin Marietta, Texas Industries and Vulcan Materials. Best sectors — Energy (+1.6%), Financials (+1.2), Industrials (+1.2%) and Basic Materials (+1.1%). The US 2 year bond yield was flat at 0.286% and the US 10 year yield was up 4pts to 1.742%. European markets up — UK FTSE up 0.79%, German DAX up 0.70%, France up 0.87%, Spain up 0.24%, Italy up 0.90% and Greece up 3.30%. Trading volumes were thin ahead of the US Presidential election and Greek parliament vote on the austerity package. The Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.6% with Financials (+1.1%), Technology (+0.9%), Telecoms (+0.9%) and Industrials (+0.9%). The only Stoxx 600 sector to fall on the day was Utilities. The Greek parliament is headed for another austerity measures-related vote that could go either way. Greece has already collected €240bn of bailout cash from the EU and IMF since 2010 and is putting its hand out for more in exchange for further belt tightening. Adding to the political tensions in the country, a 48 hour general strike commenced Tuesday. Germany’s MonM factory orders came in at -3.3% which was well below the forecast of -0.5% and the previous reading of -0.8%.

  • Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) — 1st Q trading update — Statutory net profit of $1.8bn. Cash profit was  $1.85bn up from $1.75bn previously. The result puts the bank on track for a FY profit of about $7.2 billion, which would be up from a record net profit of $7.1 billion last year. CBA said its revenue growth continued to reflect a combination of conservative business settings, relatively slower credit growth and elevated funding costs. Overall result broadly inline. CBA is up 0.02% to 5749c.
  • News Corporation (NWS) — 1st Q earnings — Net profit, for the three months to Sep 30 was US$2.23 billion up from US$738m million. The profit was boosted by the sale of the company’s stake in software company NDS for a US$1.4 billion gain. EBIT was US$1.38 billion down from US$1.39 billion. The publishing arm posted a significant fall in earnings as advertising revenues fell. NWS is up 3.17% to 2410c.
  • Downed EDI (DOW) — AGM — Maintained guidance for FY EBIT to be $370 million and net profit to be $210 million despite uncertainty about the level and timing of investment in major infrastructure projects. DOW is up 4.68% to 358c.
  • The AiG/HIA performance of construction index (PCI) showed activity rising to an index of 35.8 in October, up from 30.9. Construction activity is still weakening but at a slower rate.
  • Orocobre (ORE) announced today that the Company has completed a placement of 12.35 million ordinary shares to institutional investors at an issue price of $170c raising $21 million.

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