The market is down 7. The SFE Futures were up 19 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 12 overnight. The Dow Jones index is now up 1.1% for the year. Gold was the big mover overnight – down $25.10 to $1158. The consumer confidence index fell to 50.4 in July from 54.3 in June, below what economists expected. BP fell 2.3% in London after recording a $17bn loss for the 2nd Q and Deutsche Bank closed up 2.84% on strong results. Metals were mostly down in London and the oil price fell $1.48 to $77.50.

In other news…

  • The all important CPI Figure is out — 2nd Q consumer prices increased by a less-than-expected 0.6%. Economists expected between 0.8% and 1%. Core inflation was up 0.5% on the quarter, compared to 0.8% expected. This basically keeps interest rates on hold one would think. The Aussie dollar is now under 90c.
  • Alesco Corp (ALS) announced a FY net loss of $124.3m thanks to a large impairment charge on their water products division. Excluding the $133.1m write down, net profit came in at $12.4m, down 57.4%, but above the $11.9m Patersons was expecting. Revenue fell 10% to $773.2m and they said they won’t be paying a dividend after paying a 7c dividend last year. Patersons maintain their HOLD recommendation. ALS down 3c to 248c.
  • Downer EDI (DOW) up 5% to 479c — they have signed mining contracts with BHP Billiton Mitsubishi worth around $2bn until June 2015.
  • BlueScope Steel (BSL) has signed an agreement with Nippon Steel to undertake joint research and development on next-generation coated steel products. BSL down 4c to 237c.
  • Lihir Gold (LGL) — 2nd Q Production Report — Production was in line with guidance of 244,000 oz, up 6% on the previous quarter. The figures are rather irrelevant at the moment as LGL is currently under takeover by NCM. LGL down 6c to 403c.
  • Monadelphous Group (MND) has secured an $85m contract with Chevron Australia. MND down 4c to 1371c.
  • Eastern Star Gas (ESG) expects first exports from their Newcastle LNG project as early as 2014 with conditional offtake deals to be completed in coming months. ESG up 1c to 87.5c
  • Sigma Pharmaceuticals (SIP) has appointed Jeff Sells as their CFO. SIP last traded at 45.5c
  • Riversdale Mining (RIV) — Production Numbers — 4th Q coal production came in at 177,130 tons. RIV down 24c to 1024c.
  • Stock hitting fresh yearly highs today include: Intoll Group (ITO) and Reckon (RKN).

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