The market is up 11. The SFE Futures were down 14 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 21 on Friday. The Dow was down as much as 160 before rising in the final hour to close down just 21. It was disappointing jobs data that did the damage. The US unemployment rate remained at 9.5% but labor force fell. The oil price fell $1.31 to $80.80, Gold put on $5.70 to $1205 and the Aussie dollar increased slightly to 91.92c, up from 91.51c.

In the US the FOMC make an interest rate decision tomorrow (4.15am Wednesday our time). They are not expected to raise rates which are likely to remain “exceptionally low” indefinitely.

In other news…

  • JB Hi-Fi (JBH) — FY Net Profit within guidance — up 26% to $118.7m from $94.4m last year. FY guidance was $117m to $120m. Sales came in at $2.73bn, below guidance of $2.8bn. Patersons maintain their BUY recommendation and say the stock is a good buy below $20 a share. JBH up 13c to 1968c.
  • Bendigo & Adelaide Bank (BEN) — In-Line with Expectations — Cash profit up 60% to $291m. Consensus was for $295m. Declared a final dividend of 30c, slightly above the 29c analysts had expected. BEN up 2.42% to 847c.
  • The ACCC will seek views from market participants on the NAB’s proposal to sell the North platform to IOOF in the next two weeks and will make a final decision on the NAB’s bid for AXA on September 9. AXA up 6% to 553c and the NAB down 20c to 2483c.
  • Mirvac Group (MGR) announced that a Mirvac Industrial Trust CMBS loan facility was in default but it will not have an impact on their FY result or balance sheet. MGR down 1.11% to 134c.
  • Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) has encountered intermittent gas show at their Tuatara-1 exploration well in NZ but is yet to find oil. AWE up 2c to 172c.
  • Eastern Star Gas (ESG) has launched a $100m share placement for institutional and sophisticated investors and has acquired some land to accommodate their small scale LNG project in NSW. ESG wants to start exporting LNG by 2014. ESG unchanged at 91.5c.
  • Conquest Mining (CQT) has agreed to buy a new SAG mill from Hillgrove Resources (HGO) for a cash price of $6.95m. CQT unchanged at 34c. HGO down 0.5c to 27.5c.
  • Elders (ELD) up 10% to 55.5c after Rural Bank, which ELD owns 40% of, reported a 23% rise in net profit to $55.4m.
  • Iron Ore Holdings (IOH) has confirmed an agreement to sell RIO ore from their Phil’s Creek project has been terminated. IOH down 3% to 160c. RIO up 40c to 7360c.

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