The market is down 83. 30 points off the low. The SFE Futures were down 93 this morning.

Wall St. fell 213 overnight, adding to the 122 point fall the day before. The Dow index is now down over 3% in two days. The main issue was Obama planning to restrict the size and trading activities of banks. There is also concern about the strong quarterly Chinese GDP numbers leading to Chinese tightening policy. Metals all down expect Nickel (up 0.77%), Oil fell 97c to $76.65 and Gold dropped $9 to $1103. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has completed its 50-for-1 Class B share split with Buffett saying the split was necessary, but he enjoyed issuing Berkshire shares “as much I enjoy prepping for a colonoscopy”.

In the news today…

  • Woodside Petroleum (WPL) released their production numbers. Its FY09 production came in at 80.9m barrels of oil equivalent, a touch below revised guidance for 81m barrels. WPL down 95c to 44956c.
  • Lihir Gold (LGL) produced 1.12m ounces of gold for the FY, up 27% on last year, in line with guidance. 4Q09 production came in at 278,391 ounces, up 19% on the previous quarter. They say finding a new CEO could take months. Patersons maintain their BUY recommendation. LGL down 10c to 303c.
  • Macmahon Holdings (MAH) has won two limestone quarrying contract worth $US140m with France’s Lafarge, the world’s biggest cement maker in the world. MAH down 1c to 61c.
  • Macquarie Infrastructure Group (MIG) has cut the valuation of its portfolio by 0.3% ahead of its restructure proposal vote today. MIG unchanged at 151c.
  • PanAust (PNA) produced a record 16,854 metric tons of copper and 19,283 troy ounces of gold during the 4Q. It expects 2010 EBITDA of between US$165m-$US225m. PNA down 0.5c to 56.5c.
  • Fortescue Metals (FMG) says it is targeting non-Chinese steel mills to expand its customer base. FMG released its quarterly production numbers yesterday which included for the first time ever a load of iron ore to a non-Chinese buyer. FMG down 24c to 475c. Lot of HOLD recommendations this morning.
  • Australian Agricultural (AAC) have warned of a net loss for FY09 in the range of $53m-$60m. AAC down 6.07% to 131.5c.
  • Australia Infrastructure Fund (AIX) down 1c to 186c after announcing 1H Australian airport passenger growth of 6.3% on last year. AIX down 1c to 189c.
  • Atlas Iron (AGO) up 4c to 218c has struck two long term sales deals with medium seized Chinese steel mills covering 1.1m tonnes of iron ore.
  • Stocks hitting a fresh yearly high include: Schaffer Corp (SFC), Webjet (WEB) and DKN Financial Group (DKN).

The Dow Futures are down 5 at midday

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