Our market is having a shocker down 116. The SFE Futures were down 134 this morning.

Wall Street fell 268 points (2.68%) overnight on high volume. The Dow Jones index went below 10,000 for the first time since November but closed just above it at 10002. It was the worst single session percentage loss since April last year. The fall came on concerns for the US economic recovery after poor jobless numbers and on concerns that Spain and Portugal will have their own Greek Tragedy. Gold dropped a massive $48 to $1064 and oil fell 5.09% to $72.86. The Aussie dollar fell to 86.57c compared to 88.25c yesterday morning.

Making the news headlines today:

  • Harvey Norman (HVN) down 10c to 362c – 2Q sales increased 6.8% from a year ago. On a like-for-like basis Australian sales were up 6.5% for the quarter. They have reiterated guidance of a 40% increase in pre-tax profit for the half year. HVN reported total group sales growth of 4% for the half and 2.5% LFL.
  • ResMed (RMD) doing well – up 6% to 635c – after reporting a better-than-expected 36% rise in 2Q net profit to $US45.9m. One broker predicted $US41.5m.
  • TABCORP Holdings (TAH) management says a demerger involving their gaming and casino businesses is not on the cards. They announced a better than expected earnings result yesterday. TAH up 5c to 710c.
  • Street Talk says both Extract Resources (EXT) and CuDeco (CDU) are lining up for capital raisings to help them with project development. EXT down 3.7% to 728c and CDU down 8.9% to 356c.
  • AED Oil (AED) acquires stakes in two Indonesian oil and gas properties from Canadian company Nations Patroleum, paying $US1.5m and issuing 12m shares. AED down 5.8% to 56.5c.
  • Ramelius Resources (RMS) expects a net profit (before income tax) for the half to be approximately $15m compared to the $1.03m next loss at the same time last year. RMS down 0.5c to 55c.
  • Sonic Healthcare (SHL) acquires Medhold Group in Belgium. SHL up 15c to 1443c.
  • Virgin Blue (VBA) announced last night that it expects a pretax profit of $80m-$110m for the financial year. VBA down 1c to 54c.
  • Eden Energy (EDE) up to 14c from 5.7c after signing terms sheet with Indian Oil Corp, India’s largest commercial enterprise.
  • The Australian performance of construction index hit its highest point in 2 years last month, up 8.4 points to 57.7.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly lows include: Dominion Mining (DOM), Elders (ELD) and Apex Minerals (AXM).

The Dow Futures up 12 at midday

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