The market is down 21. The SFE Futures were up 19 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 153 overnight and was up 166 at best. The Dow rose 480 points in the last 4 days of the month and the S&P 500 had its biggest four-day gain since September. The Greek parliament passed a cost-cutting bill that was required prior to lenders releasing $17bn in rescue funds. Weekly jobless claims fell and the Chicago Purchasing Managers index was jumped unexpectedly.  Oil up 65c to $95.42, while gold fell $7.60. The A$ rose to 107.14c from 160.73c.

In the news today…

  • AGL Energy (AGK) announced they expect to pay fully franked dividends again, starting with the coming final dividend which is expected to be paid on September 29. AGK down 0.6%.
  • Austal (ASB) reported that the U.S. Navy has ordered two more Joint High Speed Vessels from the company as part of a 10-vessel program potentially worth more than US$1.6bn. ASB up 0.7%.
  • Sigma Pharmaceuticals (SIP) has won 2 pharmacy supply contracts. The contracts with Pharmacy Alliance and Independent Pharmacists of Australia Group run until 2016. The groups comprised about 380 pharmacies and $400 million in wholesale revenues. SIP up 1c to 54c.
  • Lynas Corp. (LYC) said their processing plant being built in Malaysia is suffering no unusual construction difficulties. The statement is in response to a New York Times article alleging that the company had fallen short of construction standards in building the plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency also confirmed that the plant complies with international standards. LYC down 9.3% to 180c.
  • Equatorial Resources (EQX) has taken a 19.9% stake in African Iron (AKI) — the maximum stake a company can acquire without having to officially launch a takeover offer. AKI is up 4.2%.
  • Arafura Resources (ARU) has signed a land purchase agreement with OneSteel (OST) to purchase approximately 800 hectares of land at Whyalla in South Australia to locate its proposed rare earths processing complex. ARU up 4.8%.
  • Seek (SEK) put on 4% yesterday after announcing they had upped their stake in online employment company JobsDB Inc. to 55.2% from 41.2% for $77.1m. Brokers had positive responses this morning. SEK down 0.3% to 652c.
  • The AIG/PwC Performance of Manufacturing Index jumped 5.2 points to 52.9, the highest since July 2010 and back above the 50 level that marks an expansion. The jump is largely due to strength in the construction and metals sectors.

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