Our market is up 13. The SFE Futures were up 45 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 83. The Dow and NASDAQ closed above their 50 day moving average. The Dow was up 97 at best and down 15 at worst. After the market closed the Fed raised the discount rate to 0.75% from 0.50% causing some fairly heavy falls in after hours trade (see explanation below). The Dow Futures are down 68 as we write. Oil price closed up $1.30 to $78.73, Gold fell $1.40 to $1118 and the Aussie dollar fell 89.40c.

National Australia Bank (NAB) released their 1Q Trading Update. It wasn’t as good as Westpac’s on Monday, but managed to come in slightly ahead of consensus. They announced an unaudited cash profit of $1.1bn, up 20% from the previous quarter. NAB down 2.5% to 2530c after rallying almost 9% this week.

Results today:

  • Billabong International (BBG) — below expectations — 1H net profit came in at $69.7m, below the $74.7m expected. Declared an interim dividend of 18c.
  • Centennial Coal (CEY) — slightly below — announced a net profit of $31.1m for the half, down 27% on last year.
  • Boart Longyear (BLY) announced a loss of $US14.9m in 2009. They did not declare a dividend. Revenue fell 47% to $US978.2m.
  • Riversdale Mining (RIV) announced a net los of $4.2m for the 1H. Lower interest income, lower coal output and higher mining costs did the damage.

In other news…

  • Minara Resources (MRE) down 1c to 71c after providing FY profit guidance. They now expect a net profit of $48.5m on revenue of $446.1m.
  • Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory (WCB) down 4c to 400c after rejecting yet the takeover offer from Murray Goulburn at 435c a share.
  • RBA Governor Glenn Stevens at a talk this morning reiterated the RBA’s stance on interest rates returning back to normal historical levels.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs: The Reject Shop (TRS), Ten Network (TEN), Seven Network (SEV), Ansell (ANN).

The Dow Futures are down 63 at midday