The market is down 19. The SFE Futures were down 23 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 39 overnight. Disappointing economic data stalled the Dow’s recent run. Nearly three quarters of the companies that have announced results so far have exceeded analysts expectations. Gold recovered $2.40 to $1160.40 after falling over $20 the previous day, the Oil price fell 51c to $76.99 and the Aussie dollar fell to 89.15c from a high of 90.69c after the CPI numbers yesterday.

In other news…

  • Talk of Rio Tinto and majority shareholder, Chinalco, formally committing to their West African Simandou iron ore JV at a signing ceremony. Shares in Chinalco’s listed unit, Aluminum Corp of China, are suspended from trading pending discussions of a significant issue. RIO up 6c to 7110c.
  • Lihir Gold (LGL) CEO says Newcrest Mining’s (NCM) $9.7bn takeover offer could be trumped by a superior bid. NCM down 11c to 3267c, LGL unchanged at 406c.
  • Photon Group (PGA) has released a “Capital Structure Review Update” saying it is considering a number of options to address their position. The press says they are considering selling assets to help raise $100m.
  • Centro Properties Group (CNP) has completed financing agreements for around $2.7bn of their $3.2bn in debt within Super LLC which was due to expire on or before 31 December. They have also secured a one year extension for $US2.3bn of debt and commenced talks with lenders on potential restructuring options. CNP up 10% to 22c.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) confirms they are interested in becoming the manager of the ING Industrial Fund (IIF) but there is no certainty that any transaction will proceed. GMG down 1c to 63.5c, IIF up 1.1% to 45.5c.
  • The $1.5bn Aston Resources IPO will proceed despite fears it could be pulled due to volatile markets. A last minute deal with Noble Group and Itochu has now guaranteed the IPO will proceed. They took up 25% of the available shares.
  • Moody’s Investors Services says Australia’s sovereign AAA rating is amongst the world’s strongest and will likely not change for some time.
  • Silver Lake Resources (SLR) up 8% to 192c after announcing a 70% rise in total gold production to 2.5m ounces, with ore inventory now at 17.8m ounces.
  • Nufarm (NUF) has received final approval for their acquisition (in March 2008) of AH Marks Holdings. NUF down 5c to 373c.
  • Stock hitting fresh yearly highs today include: Mitchell Communications (MCU) — currently in a trading halt, last traded at 104c — Reckon (RKN)

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.