The market is down 61. The SFE Futures were down 52 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 178 overnight and was down as much as 212. Euro zone finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on a 2nd bailout and the Greek PM will form a new cabinet as he pushes for further austerity measures. Meanwhile there are riots in Athens. US Industrial production was lower than expected. CPI numbers OK. The oil price fell $4.56 to $94.81, while the gold price was up $1.80 to $1526.20. The Aussie dollar fell to 105.72 from 106.80c.

In the news today…

  • Market not helped by RBA Governor Glenn Stevens’ speech yesterday – the interpretation is that rate rises are still on the cards and maybe as soon as August (after the June Q CPI number on July 28th). There is a lot of resistance to a rate rise from industry.
  • Telstra (TLS) – Suggestions the NBN deal will be announced by Gillard on Tuesday. TLS also looking to boost its cloud computing services by investing $800m over the next 5 years. CEO David Thodey said they would build a new data centre, expand applications and an online account management portal. TLS is down 2c to 303c.
  • The press says the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) “ran the ruler” over Insurance Australia Group (IAG) three times in the last four years with a view to a possible $7 billion-plus takeover. But the CBA say they wish “to clarify that, contrary to the implications contained in today’s media reports, it has no current interest, nor has it ever had any interest, in acquiring Insurance Australia Group”.  CBA down 66c to 4966, IAG down 3c to 348c.ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) has opened its first branch in India after the Reserve Bank of India granted ANZ a banking licence last October. ANZ said India is now Australia’s 4th biggest export destination. ANZ down 36c to 2146c.
  • Nufarm (NUF) down 6% after yesterday cutting full-year operating profit by $21m due to an ongoing legal dispute.
  • BHP Billiton (BHP) said they will invest more in exploration activities in Zambia as it seeks to boost its producing assets saying “Zambia remains very attractive because of its stability, mineral potential and a competitive fiscal regime”. BHP down 173c to 4216c.
  • Linc Energy (LNC) has paid US$50m for a controlling stake in an undeveloped Alaskan oil field. LNC down 1.9%.
  • St Barbara (SBM) said it was reviewing the merger agreement between Catalpa Resources (CAH) and Conquest Mining (CQT) and would consider its position. CAH said yesterday that it had terminated discussions with SBM in relation to a proposed unsolicited takeover proposal by SBM. SBM down 4.4%, CAH up 1.4%, CQT down 1.2%.
  • The Melbourne Institute consumer inflationary survey shows the expected inflation rate stayed steady at 3.3% in June.

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