The market is down 24. The SFE Futures were down 49 this morning.

Wall Street closed down 13 overnight. The Dow was up 23 at best and down 39 at worst. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, down 1% and 1.6% respectively, had their worst single-session losses in almost two months. Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Washington to discuss trade, business, human rights and intellectual property issues. No impact. Goldman Sachs’ result came in lower than expected. The oil price fell 52c to $90.86, Gold up $2 to $1370.20 and the Aussie dollar moved above parity to 100.05c from 99.85c.

Today’s main stories…

  • BHP Billiton (BHP) has released its 2ndQ production numbers. Iron ore production and shipments hit record highs for the 1st H, although the coal division struggled due to floods in QLD. Otherwise as expected. BHP down 75c to 4532c.
  • Oz Minerals (OZL) has also released quarterly production numbers. Both copper and gold production numbers came in better than expected. OZL down 6c to 172c. It was up 5% yesterday.
  • Santos (STO) — Quarterly Production Numbers saw production fall to 49.9m barrels of oil equivalent from 54.4m boe. Annual revenue increased to $2.23bn from $2.18bn. STO down 1.3% to 1374c.
  • BC Iron (BCI) has been bid for by its 2nd largest shareholder, Hong Kong’s Regent Pacific Group, with details of the deal expected to be announced today. Regent Pacific, owns 19.9% of BCI and is expected to offer $300m plus. BCI last traded at 317c. Regent Pacific own 3.9% of BMN which jumped 9% yesterday.
  • Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek has sold its entire stake in Fortescue Metals (FMG) for $880m to a group of overseas institutions. 129m shares or 4.1% of FMG. FMG down 6% to 676c. More a reflection on cash strapped Temasek than a judgement on FMG.
  • Consumer Inflationary expectations increased in January, for the first time in 2 months, to 4.6% from 2.8% in December. The survey was conducted while the flood crisis unfolded.
  • Karoon Gas Australia (KAR) in a trading halt this morning. It was also downgraded to underperform by Credit Suisse today. KAR last traded at 816c.
  • AWE Ltd (AWE) has reduced its proven and probable reserves at its Otway Basin. AWE unchanged at 178c.
  • Berkeley Resources (BKY) has completed a $55m fully underwritten placement. BKY down 3.5c to 179.5c.
  • Stocks hitting 52 week highs: CSL Ltd (CSL), Fleetwood Corp (FWD), Gindalbie Metals (GBG) and Monadelphous Group (MND).

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