The market is up 56. SFE Futures were up 25 this morning.

Dow Jones up 48. US markets up on low volumes ahead of their Thanksgiving public holiday (US markets closed tonight with a half day on Friday) and on some better than expected economic figures.

The US leading index was up 0.2% in October which was inline with the forecast. The flash PMI for November was up from 51.0 to a five-month high of 52.5 in November. New claims for unemployment in the US fell from 451,000 to 410,000 in the week which was also inline with forecasts and the weekly mortgage market index fell 2.2% with refinancing down 3.2% and the purchase market index up 2.7%.

Best sectors — Energy (+0.6%, despite news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas), Telecoms (+0.6%) and Technology (+0.4%). Worst sectors — Utilities (0.4%). European market up for their third session in a row — UK FTSE up 0.074%, German DAX up 0.16%, France up 0.44%, Spain up 0.34% Italy up 0.82% and Greece was up 1.10%. The Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.2% with Technology (+1.2%) and Utilities (+0.9%) sectors.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers in the national parliament in Berlin last night that budget talks may slide into next year. The 27 European Union leaders are preparing to square off over the budget in Brussels tomorrow.

  • The Chinese HSBC manufacturing flash PMI reading is due out today at around 12:30pm. The previous reading was 49.50.
  • Woolworths (WOW) — AGM – Guidance remains unchanged for fiscal 2013 despite volatility in consumer confidence and uncertainty in global financial markets. The company expects profit to grow 3%-6% in fiscal 2013. The company reported a profit from continuing operations in fiscal 2012 of $2.18 billion. WOW is up 0.93% to 2874c.
  • Santos (STO) — Guidance update – Expects production to go up in 2013 as new projects come online. The company repeated their forecast for production in 2012 to be in the range of 51mmboe-55mmboe. This will rise to 53mmboe-57mmboe in 2013. STO is up 1.55% to 1111c.
  • Horizon Oil (HZN) – Is looking to sell their stake in their PNG LNG assets after good drill results beat expectations. The deal could be worth around $250m. HZN is up 3.66% to 42.5c.
  • Sonic Healthcare (SHL) – AGM – Delivered a record profit up 7% from the previous year. The company met FY guidance and had strong revenue growth. Final dividend of 35c franked at 45%. FY13 guidance growth of 5%-10% as expected. SHL is up 1.67% to 1308c.
  • Orocobre (ORE) – Has commenced construction at their fully-funded Olaroz Lithium Project in northwest Argentina. On completion of construction of the US$229m lithium project in early 2014, it will be the world’s first large-scale, low cost brine lithium operation to be built. ORE is down 0.29% to 170c.
  • Goodman Fielder (GFF) – AGM – Remains on track to achieve $100m in annualised savings by 2015. The company said they will review their dividend policy and are keen to resume dividends soon. GFF is up 4.31% to 60.5c.
  • St Barbara (SBM) – Is down 1.46% after their AGM today.

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 & 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.