The market is down 74. The SFE Futures were down 39 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed down 151 overnight and was down 187 at worst. EU officials met to discuss a second bailout for Greece and discussed the debt crisis spreading to Italy and Spain. One press article says the EU will have to double its bailout funds to 1.5 trillion euro to afford an Italian bailout, the third biggest European economy with the second highest debt to GDP ratio (120%). US budget talks remained in a stalemate with a resolution needed to avoid default by the August 2 deadline. The VIX jumped 15.3%. The oil price fell $1.05 to $95.15, while the gold price was up $7.60 to $1549.20. The Australian dollar is buying 105.95 US cents, down from 107.18c yesterday. Hong Kong down 2%, China down 1.5% at midday.

In the news today…

  • Macarthur Coal (MCC) received a takeover bid from Peabody and Arcelor Mittal of 1550c per share after the close yesterday – this is a 40% premium to MCC’s 1108c closing price yesterday. MCC advises shareholders to take no action. MCC up 37% to 1517c. Some other coal stocks up 2-3%.
  • News Corp (NWS) down another 4.2% today and hit an 18 month low after falling 5.1% yesterday as the UK refers the BSkyB bid to the competition regulator and on the back of  downgrades post the phone hacking scandal. Macquarie cuts their recommendation to Underperform from Neutral.
  • Macquarie Group (MQG) getting thumped today on talk of a profit warning. Noticeably a couple of brokers recently downgraded. They had a profit warning on the 1st August last year. Results in early September. MQG down 4.7%.
  • Energy World Corporation (EWC) up again after rising 8.7% yesterday after the agreed to sell 173 million new shares to Orchid Fund, which will become a 14.9% shareholder. EWC up 8% to 61c.
  • Transurban (TCL) reported that its 4th quarter toll revenue rose by 14% to $224.8m on year. FY toll revenue was up 10% at $891.0m. TCL up 2c to 522c.
  • Alumina’s (AWC) joint venture partner Alcoa reported in line 2nd quarter earning results overnight. Alcoa earnings jumped on an improving manufacturing sector. Clean earnings were in line with analysts’ forecasts. AWC down 0.5%.
  • An agreement has been reached for Foxtel to take over Austar United Commuications (AUN) for $2.5bn. The proposed deal will see AUN shareholders receive $1.52 per share and has the support of AUN majority shareholder Liberty Global. AUN up 3.9% to 134c.
  • Stocks hitting 52-week lows: ABC, APN, BCS, GBG, GNM, MQG, NWS, RMD, SGP, WBB.

For a free 5 day obligation FREE TRIAL of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter 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 recommendations and ideas from Marcus and his Team.
  • 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 Income Portfolio recommendations.
  • Daily Technical Trading ideas and data, including daily scans of the ASX 300 for stocks changing trend.
  • Stock Database – all the numbers with comments on the top 300 stocks and more.
  • Educational section – Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles.

We also offer a FREE END OF DAY EMAIL – Click here – A free summary of the day in the market.

Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY – Click Here.  We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer…we have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.