The market is up 46 — we were up 66 first thing. The SFE Futures were up 43 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 144 overnight — at its high for the day, after being down as much as 64. Optimism that Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke will announce further stimulus measures on Friday is still holding the market up despite the fact that Fed officials have done nothing to encourage the speculation. Gold was the big mover overnight — down $104 an ounce or 5.5% to $1757.30. This was its biggest one day price drop since 1980 when it lost close to $150. Metals were mixed overnight, the oil price fell 28c to $85.44 and the Aussie dollar improved to 105.15c from 104.74c.

Today’s news and results…

  • Woolworths (WOW) down 5% to 2590c post their result. The net profit was OK, it was FY12 guidance that caused the sell off. FY12 guidance for 2-6% EBIT growth is the lowest ever given. Net debt increased to $4.3bn from $1.3bn. Declared a final dividend of 65c, up from 62c. Patersons maintain their Hold recommendation.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) down 4.6% after a 3.14% fall yesterday on the surprise replacement of their CEO David Stewart after just 8 months in the job and the appointment of a new CEO and Chairman. Seen by some as a pre-cursor to more bad news.
  • Toll Holdings (TOL) up 6.4% to 460c on the back of their profit result. Net profit increased by 1% to $281m and revenue jumped 18% to $8.23bn. Final dividend came in at 13.5c, unchanged from last year.
  • Iluka Resources (ILU) up 6% to 1643c after announcing a 1st half net profit of $145.9m after a $6.6m loss last year. Titanium dioxide and zircon product prices have increased substantially. They declared an interim dividend of 20c, compared to 23.6c predicted by the analysts.
  • Aristocrat (ALL) said 1st H profit fell 49.5% to $24.86m. The result was below analysts’ forecasts with profit hit by the strong $A, higher interest costs and generally weak global market conditions. ALL up 2% to 212c.
  • AGL Ltd (AGK) full year underlying profit was $431.1m, up 0.5% on the prior year, but above consensus estimates of $426m. They provided no formal guidance for the year ahead. AGK up 2% to 1444c.
  • Seven Group Holdings (SVM) said net profit fell to $70.4m due to a number of one-off events. They declared a final dividend of 18c. They now have a 30% stake in Seven West Media (SWM). SVM up 3.2% to 832c.
  • MAp Group (MAP) reported a first half loss of $273.5m, down from a $19.73m profit year earlier, due to lower values of its European airports. MAP down 4c to 313c.
  • Virgin Blue Holdings (VBA) reported a full year $67.8m loss, down from a $21.3m profit a year earlier. Consensus estimates were for a $57m loss. VBA up 1c to 24.5c.
  • Tatts Group (TTS) full year profit more than doubled to $275.4m from $119.4m a year earlier. TTS down 2c to 224c.

No change from yesterday … not buying into the US inspired mark ups. Notably the market was up 65 at one point yesterday and closed down 6 on the day despite a 322 point rise in the Dow Jones. We have also lost half our 66 point rise this morning already.

The market just doesn’t know what to do and ahead of Bernanke’s speech on Friday it’s simply not safe.

And yes we can see stocks like SWM jump 18% on results, Pacific Brands up 14%, Suncorp up 5.6% but we also see Woolworths down 5%, Wotif down 9%, IAG down 5% and Transfield down 30% on results. Which ones are you going to buy?

These are all one day movements in a very volatile market, they are not necessarily trends starting (might be but not necessarily). We’ll get to buying the market when it’s safe(r)… meanwhile you are on a hiding to nothing thinking you can catch bouncing knives without getting blown up by bombs going off. The market remains a crap shoot.

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