The market is down 143 on the back of Wall St. falling over 3% on Friday night. The SFE Futures were down 114 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 323 on Friday. It was down 6 at best and down 365 at worst. European debt issues (in Hungary) and poor US job numbers caused most of the damage. The Euro fell to a four year low and the US$ rallied. Commodities fell. The oil price fell over 4% to $71.51, Gold put on $7.70 to $1217.70. The Aussie dollar fell to 82.18c from 84.23c. The Dow is now 11.4% off its high. Metals down 3-6%.

In other news today…

  • Brambles (BXB) lost their 7th largest US customer ConAgra Foods Inc on the weekend. ConAgra is switching to plastic pallets within the next three months. BXB said it will have no impact on FY10 results and that ConAgra’s contribution to annual sales was less than 1%. No disaster but not a good trend for BXB customers. BXB down 5.2% to 615c.
  • The Sunday Times reported on the weekend that the National Australia Bank (NAB) may accept a $3.5bn bid from Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria for their UK assets, Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank. The NAB also announced they have dropped their bid for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s UK assets and is looking to exit the region altogether. NAB down 3.6% to 2348c.
  • ConnectEast (CEU) announced their average daily revenue in May was up 16.8% from last year. CEU down 2c to 37c.
  • DUET Group (DUE) has put their 29% holding in US utility Duquesne Light up for sale. DUE down 3.3% to 159.5c.
  • Photon Group (PGA) in a trading halt. Last traded at 102c. The CEO and James Packer have been buying shares in the company recently.
  • North QLD Metals (NQM) says the offer from Conquest Mining (CQT) for half a CQT plus 10c in cash for each NQM share is “inadequate”. The offer values the company at $58m. NQM down 0.5c to 26.5c.
  • Arrow Energy (AOE) said the proposed $3.44bn takeover of their Australian assets by Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina remains on track and expected to be completed by late July. AOE down 2c to 483c.
  • CSG Limited (CSV) have closed a number of high profile customers in May with contracts worth approximately $22m in revenue with the largest being with the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. CSV down 3c to 201c.
  • Australian construction activity increased for the third straight month but at a slower pace. Down 2.6 points to 53.2, a reading above 50 indicates expansion.
  • Stocks hitting fresh 52 week lows include: Ausenco (AAX), ASX Ltd (ASX), Elders (ELD), Fantastic Furniture (FAN), Nufarm (NUF), Sims Metal Management (SGM), Skilled Group (SKE) and Toll Holdings (TOL). Reckon (RKN) has gone against the trend and hit a fresh yearly high today.

MARCUS PADLEY is the Author of the MARCUS TODAY Daily Stockmarket Newsletter.

For a free 5 day obligation free trial of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter (and no we won’t ask for a credit card number) please Click Here —  you will receive our renowned and popular Daily email about the stockmarket with all the stuff you need to know ahead of the trading day including overnight developments, news, comments, rumours, broker stuff and Ideas from Marcus and his Team. You will also be given a password to the MARCUS TODAY website including access to our Recommended Portfolio which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers … no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly managed your own long term investment portfolio.

It includes an Income Portfolio. And for the traders we monitor short and medium term trades on top of the portfolio. Members also get access to our Database —  all the numbers with comments on the ASX 200 stocks and more. Members also get access to our Educational section which includes an archive of Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles.  We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer. Thousands of subscribers enjoy and profit from our services every day. We have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.

For your FREE TRIAL — Click here

To Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY — Click Here

We also offer a FREE END OF DAY EMAIL — Click here — A free summary of the day in the market.

To buy MARCUS’S BOOK “Stock Market Secrets”  —  Click here