The market is down 27. The SFE Futures were down 12 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 4 overnight. It was up as much as 124 and down as much as 84. Tech stocks were worst, down 0.9% on cautious comments from Dell (down 10%) and Net App missing revenue forecasts. 2 Fed officials voiced their concern over the level of stimulus in the economy with one saying the Bernanke interest rate policy (on hold for two years) was inappropriate and that policy should not be developed to protect stock markets. Producer prices and core PPI were higher than expected in July. CPI tonight. The oil price was up $0.93 to $87.58 and gold up $8.80 to $1793.80. The A$ is buying 105.10c up from 104.42c. It hit 106c last night.

In the news today…

  • Foster’s Group (FGL) has rejected a hostile takeover bid by UK-based SABMiller, saying the $4.90 offer price undervalues the company.  FGL up 1.4% to 501c. Expectations are that they will have to pay 510c-530c in the absence of a counterbid.
  • Wesfarmers (WES) – Result slightly better than expected – FY net profit came in at $1.92bn, analysts expected $1.88bn. Declared a final dividend of 85c versus the average Est. of 81c. They remain positive on the outlook. WES up 1% to 3061c.
  • AMP Ltd (AMP) – underlying net profit up 19% in H1, beating analysts’ estimates. But they say investment markets are likely to remain volatile in face of the euro debt crisis and U.S. uncertainty. Declared a 15c interim dividend, 30% franked. Goldman Sachs said it was “a very pleasing outcome all round”. AMP up 4.8%.
  • ASX Ltd (ASX) – met analysts’ expectations, reporting annual net profit of $352.3m, up 7.4% on the prior year. Declared a final dividend of 93c fully franked. No surprises. ASX up 25c to 2975c.
  • APN News & Media (APN) reported a first half loss of $98.3m, down from $38.98m. They say the publishing market is difficult. The result missed analyst’s estimates. They say 2nd half EBIT will be in line with the previous year’s $118m. Will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 3.5c. APN down 10%.
  • Goodman Group (GMG) FY net profit came in at $383.9m, 24% higher than the prior year. The result was above previous guidance and in line with analysts’ expectations. They forecast 20% growth in FY2012 operating profit to $460m. GMG unchanged at 67c.
  • Adelaide Brighton (ABC) reported a 10.6% drop in first-half net profit to $61.5m from $68.8m a year earlier amid weakness in the housing sector. ABC says it’s confident of future earnings. The result was in line with company guidance and slightly better than Goldman Sachs’ estimates. ABC up 3.9% to 266c.
  • OM Holdings (OMH) – H1 net profit down 35% to $10.4m, in what was a “challenging operating environment, significantly stronger AUD exchange rates and a back-drop of substantially weaker manganese ore spot prices”. OMH unchanged at 85c.

BIG Resources – All Peaked, all trending down.

It’s a bit of a wake up call to realise that despite the constant talk of a mining boom and the continued strength of the Chinese economy, BHP is down 20%, RIO 16.3%, AWC 30.5% and Woodside 25.7%. The only stocks that are doing relatively OK are Newcrest and Fortescue but you wouldn’t have actually made any money in them without perfect short term timing. Although all of them have or are close to triggering short term BUY signals on a daily MACD the weekly charts are a long way off saying BUY and traders, let alone investors, wouldn’t touch them on the current trends. However, Telstra is now looking like a buy. See why at MarcusToday.com.au.

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