Good start to the week — the market is up 77. The SFE Futures were up 64 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 9on Friday after initially falling 54 after the Federal Reserve raised the discount rate. The Dow was up 46 at best and down 54 at worst and closed the week 3% higher. Gold up $3 to $1122, Oil put on 2.36% to $80.23 and the Aussie dollar recovered some ground to 90.10c.

Results today:

  • Seven Network (SEV) – Seven ‘Group’ proposes to acquire Seven “Network” as SEV announces a 1H net profit of $509.1m with an interim dividend of 17c. The result includes $468.3m worth of significant items. Kerry Stokes has proposed a merger between Seven Network and Kerry Stoke’s WesTrac unit to create a listed holding company including media and resources which will be majority owned by Stokes. SEV down 2.1% to 722c.
  • Fairfax Media (FXJ) — better than expected results — 1H net profit comes in at $143.5m, above analysts expectations of $132m. Declared an interim dividend of 1.1c (unfranked and represents a payout ratio of around 20%). 1H EBITDA fell 10.8% on last year. FXJ up 3.5c to 182c.
  • Caltex Australia (CTX) — top end of guidance — Net profit on replacement cost of sales basis (excludes impact of oil price movements on its stockpiles) increased to $203m, top end of guidance of between $180m-$205m. CTX up 1.5% to 1013c.
  • Challenger Financial Services Group (CGF) — slightly below expectations — net profit came in at $177m compared to the $180m expected. CGF up 5.4% to 405c.

In other news…

  • Ausdrill (ASL) — profit guidance — they expect to deliver a net profit (after tax) of $21.2m and aims to declare a dividend of 5c a share fully franked. ASL up 2.5c to 198.5c.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) up another 3% today to 3211c on the back of several positive broker reactions to their profit result last week.
  • Gunns (GNS) — profit warning — expects a 1H profit of $420,000 from $33.6m with no interim dividend. Says they have experienced tough trading conditions and the strong Aussie dollar hasn’t help.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs: ARP Corp (ARB), Ansell (ANN), REA Group (REA), Reece Australia (REH) and The Reject Shop (TRS).

The Dow Futures are up 24 at midday