The market is up 31. SFE Futures were up 5 this morning. Dow was down 50. The Dow was up 31 at best and closed on its lows.

Markets saw lighter volumes as Wall St awaits the non farm payrolls data due out tonight, the previous reading was 155,000 and the forecast is a lift of 5000. QualComm up 3.9%,Dow Chemical down 6.96%, ConocoPhillips down 5.06%, UPS down 2.39% on results. Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Merck will report before tonight’s open. US personal income was good — up 2.6% in December with spending up by 0.2%. The Chicago PMI reading bounced from 50.0 to 55.6, a nine-month high. Initial jobless claims were up by 38,000 to 368,000 last week. The US 10 year bond yield was down 1bpt at 1.987%.

European markets down — UK FTSE down 0.73%, German DAX down 0.45%, France down 0.87%, Spain down 2.45%, Italy up 0.86%.

Precious metals, Oil and Copper down in New York. Spot iron ore up $3.10 to $152.50. The US$ made a 30-month high against the Yen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • The Chinese PMI number has come in at 50.4 this morning, below consensus of 51 and down on last month’s 51.6.
  • The Producer price index rose 0.2% in the three months to the end of December. Analysts were expecting a 0.3% rise.
  • Kathmandu Holdings (KMD) — Has issued a interim profit upgrade on the back better than expected sales growth in the first quarter and a solid performance during December and January. The company now expects profit for the first half of between $NZ9.5 million – $NZ10.5 million up from $NZ6 million an increase of 75%. KMD is up 5.37% to 186.5c.
  • Westfield Group (WDC) — Expects to meet their first-half distribution guidance of 24.75c. WDC is up 1.03% to 1129.5c.
  • ResMed (RMD) — Shares closed down 7.73% yesterday after the US government made changes to reimbursements to medical equipment suppliers. RMD is up 3.23% to 431.5c.
  • Cabcharge (CAB) — Buys QLD Tax company Maxi Taxi. CAB is up 1.63% to 500c.
  • Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) — Financial community presentation. ERA is down 1.81% to 136c.
  • Resources Equipment (RQL) — Down 28% after issuing a profit downgrade.
  • Sirius Resources (SIR) has released additional visual estimates which extends the limits of the Nova mineralisation to the north, east and south. SIR is up 8.29% to 222c.
  • After the profit warning on Whitehaven Coal (WHC) yesterday there are three BUY recommendations in the research today. The stock fell 19c to 328c yesterday  and another 6c today to 322c. The stock remains a takeover possibility.
  • Next week — Telstra results, NAB Trading update, Macquarie Operational Briefing plus results from TTS, TAH, WEB, REA, NCM, COH