The market is down 8. SFE Futures were up 6 this morning.

Dow Jones down 29. The Dow was up 30 at best and down 74 at worst. The Dow continued its weekly fall in a volatile session after US jobless claims came in higher than expected and a disappointing third quarter earnings report from Wal-Mart dented hopes for a consumer led recovery. US weekly jobless claims were up by 78,000 in one week in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which interrupted reporting and forced people out of work in the northeast. YonY core CPI figures came in a bit higher than expected at +0.2%. President Obama reiterated his call for Congress to pass an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the first US$200,000 of annual income for individuals and $250,000 for married couples. He again pushed for tax rates on earnings above those levels to rise when the cuts expire at the end of 2012.

The Eurozone has slipped into recession in the third quarter, with the eurozone economy shrinking 0.1% compared with the three months to June when it contracted 0.2%. Recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of decline, putting the eurozone technically in recession. CPI came in at 2.5% which was in line with the forecast and unchanged from the previous reading.

European markets mixed — UK FTSE down 0.77%, German DAX down 0.82%, France down 0.52% Spain up 0.29%, Italy down 0.59% and Greece down 0.84%. The Stoxx Europe 600 index down 1.0% with technology (-1.4%), consumer services (-1.3%) and health care (-1.2%).

  • Bank ratings — Research compiled by ProductReview.com.au says none of the four big banks rank in the top 10 when it comes to Australia’s preferred financial services provider. ING Direct rated number one, followed by Heritage Bank and ME Bank. The data was compiled by consumer feedback on the website.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) — AGM — Has maintained their FY earnings forecast. The company expects to post earnings per security of 32.3c for the 2012/13 financial year, up 6%. Goodman recently expanded their operations in Brazil and North America, and also operates in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. GMG is down 0.56% to 446c.
  • Whitehaven Coal (WHC) — Says they will scale back their presence in Brisbane and cut 10 workers. MD Tony Haggarty said “this decision has been taken in the context of our ongoing cost-reduction initiatives and adjustments across the business to ensure the broader business remains competitive.” WHC is down 2.15% to 273c.
  • Kathmandu (KMD) — AGM — Sales growth was up 13.4% to $NZ347.1 million. Profit was down 10.7% to $NZ34.9 million. The solid increase in same store sales and uplift in second half year profits was a good result for the company in particularly difficult economic times. Final dividend of NZ7c. KMD is up 7.78% to 145.5c.
  • Northern Star (NST) — Has confirmed plans to double production after strong results expand their Ashburton project. The company’s plans to become a 200,000ozpa plus WA gold producer were boosted by an extremely successful drilling program at their Ashburton Project. Resource upgrade and maiden reserve set for early next year. NST is up 2.52% to 142c.

For a 5 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 and forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly manage 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.