The market is up 11. Our futures were down 12 this morning having been up 36 first thing. The Dow Jones finished down 81 on heavy volume (again – volume confirms the trend – there has been high volume chasing all three recent large falls in the US market). The Dow was down 123 at worst and up 32 at best on soft economic data and company earnings.

US banks down — Morgan Stanley down 5.40%. Apple down 2.67% to $392.05, the stock is below $400, last time it was there was December 2011. Nokia down 11.45% after results that make it clear it has been left behind by Apple and Samsung.

Philly Fed survey was down from 2.0 to 1.3 in April, below expectations. The Conference Board leading indicator index was down for the first time in six months by -0.1% in March missing the forecast of +0.1%. Weekly jobless claims were up 4000 to 352,000 for the second week of April, missing the forecast of 347,000.

The VIX (Volatility Index) up 6.36%, up 44% this week. Best sectors — consumer staples, energy, telecom, materials, utilities. Worst sectors — consumer disc, financials, healthcare, technology. Spot iron ore was down 70c to $138.60.

European markets mixed — UK FTSE down 0.01%, German DAX down 0.39%, France flat, Spain up 0.12%, Italy up 0.63%.

  • Rio Tinto (RIO) — Although RIO are swimming against the tide on share price trend at the moment what it said at the AGM in the UK overnight continues the new resources management theme, which is one of cutting costs, not making big acquisitions and focusing on shareholder returns. RIO is up 3.9% to 5410c. BHP has also announced a new “Austerity Era” led by the new CEO getting paid 25% less than Marius Kloppers. BHP up 2.28% to 3136c.
  • Santos (STO) — First-quarter production report in line with expectations. Output 12.1mmboe down 2% on year. Sales revenue also fell 5% to $713 million. The company retains its financial year production guidance of 53-57mmboe despite suffering a fall in the first quarter. PNG LNG is over 80% complete, GLNG is over 50% complete. STO is up 2.02% to 1161c.
  • Woodside Petroleum (WPL) — Has said that it is no longer in talks with third-party gas suppliers that would underwrite an expansion of its $15 billion Pluto-2 LNG project. This is the second blow (post the Browse announcement) which potentially sets back both the expansion of the Pluto LNG gas project and their Sunrise venture in the Timor Sea. WPL is up 2.3% to 3464c. 
  • Lynas (LYC) — Quarterly activities report says the construction of its plant expansion is nearly complete and will be done by the end of the second quarter. Some $172 million cash on hand at the end of March. On track to hit their target of 11,000 tonne capacity at LAMP plant end of 2nd Q. LYC is down 0.52% to 47.75c.
  • Sydney Airport (SYD) — China traffic +19% on year. Airport March traffic +3.5% on year. SYD is up 0.3% to 336c.
  • Perseus Mining (PRU) — Third-quarter production numbers: gold output up 12% to 57,179oz. Cash costs were also up, 7% to $US1,132oz. PRU is up 6.97% to 130.5c