The market is up 13 points. ASX 200 Futures were up 24 this morning following a 53 point rise in the ASX 200. The lift is coming on the back of better than expected Chinese numbers over the last couple of days suggesting China is “on the mend”. There may also be an element of an “election rally” coming early as the polls suggest a decisive Coalition win.

Good gains in resources in the UK overnight — BHP was up 2.29% in the UK overnight. RIO up 4.19% in the UK. Wall St closed.

European markets saw strong gains on better than expected PMI numbers in the region which suggest Europe is coming out of recession. UK up 1.45%, Germany up 1.74%, France up 1.84%. Biggest rise in European markets in two months.

UK market up on a 3.37% rise in Vodafone after they sold $130 billion of Verizon stock and will return money to shareholders.

Goldman Sachs upgraded their recommendations on European Telecom stocks to Neutral from Cautious causing Telecom stock price rises. Telecom Italia up 3.9%.

The Dow Jones closed for the Labor Day holiday.

The S&P 500 closed.

The oil price fell 0.8% adding to yesterday’s 1.06% fall.

The Gold price fell $4.80 which follows a $16 fall the day before.

The A$ rallied again hitting 90.15c on the back of the better than expected Chinese PMI numbers yesterday from HSBC. Now 89.92c. It is down from its recent high of $92.34c and a low of 88.48c on 5th August.

The Japanese market was up 1.37% yesterday. The Chinese market was pretty much unchanged.

The iron ore price was up $1 to $138.70.

Metals mixed — Copper down 1.90%. Nickel up 0.37%.

US Economics tonight — ISM manufacturing index, Construction spending.

In Europe tonight — eurozone PPI.

US Economics last night — Wall St closed.

RESULTS & STORIES

  •  Wall St shut but the markets are going up …  factors include:
  • Good recent Chinese PMI numbers suggest China is “on the mend”.
  • Resources got a lift in the UK overnight. RIO was up 4.2% in the UK and 2.4% here first thing.
  • The “Election rally” seems to have started before the election as the polls suggest a win for the coalition as opposed to a minority government.
  • The delay to imminent military action is seeing a slide in Gold, oil and bonds (safe havens).
  • The European PMI numbers overnight suggest Europe will come out of recession in the recession half of the year.
  • Virgin Australia (VAH) — The ACCC has approved Virgin extending their alliance with Air New Zealand on the trans-Tasman route for another 5 years. They said that the alliance will ‘‘likely to result in material public benefits’’. Virgin now requires approval from New Zealand’s Ministry of Transport to extend their alliance.
  • IOOF (IFL) — Has launched a takeover approach to acquire 100% of the shares in The TrustCompany (TRU) by way of Scheme of Arrangement.
  • RBA Interest rate decision — 2.30pm.  No chance of a rate cut. Next rate cut likely to come after the next quarterly CPI number — so Cup Day at the earliest.