The market is up 9. The SFE Futures were unchanged this morning. The market has jumped this morning after the release of Chinese GDP data.

Dow Jones closed down 31 — The Dow was down 112 at worst and up 26 at best. The S&P500 finished fell 0.5% to 1,334.76. Results not helping. The lack of QE3 prospects post the FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday continuing to dampen the market. The FTSE 100 index fell 0.99%. Germany down 0.53%, France down 0.7%. The US technology sector was hit the hardest with profit warnings coming from Advanced Mirco Devices Inc (down 0.2%) and Infosys (down 11.2%). The S&P tech sector index finished down 1.1%. Procter & Gamble rose 3.7% on talk of someone building a stake in the company. Merck & Co shares rose 4.1%. Bank of Japan held their policy meeting without announcing further quantitative easing. European markets fell as the euro hit a new two-year US dollar low. Spanish 10-year bond yields up 5.8bp to 6.635%. The Euro fell to $US1.2167 before recovering slightly to $US1.2205. Metals were mostly down on the LME with Copper up 0.34%, Nickel down 2.00%, Zinc down 0.23% and Lead down 0.55%. Gold was down $4.70 to $1571.00. The A$ is at 101.41c. The A$ versus the Euro was down buying €83.09c.

Main Points:

  • The Chinese GDP and Industrial production numbers are out. There were rumours yesterday that they would show GDP growth in the 2nd Q closer to 7% than 8%. They are a bit below forecasts (7.8%) but are not a disaster. The market jumped 40 points in minutes on the news with the A$ up as well although the rally has immediately begun to fade.
  • Origin Energy (ORG) — 2nd cost blowout — Announced another cost   blowout and delay in the BassGas project due to severe weather conditions. The cost blowout has now risen to $490m from $460m. Origin says an attempt to put up a compression module onto the platform was unsuccessful.  ORG is down 0.5% to 1194c.
  • Specialty Fashion (SFH) — profit warning — Has warned that their FY earnings are likely to halve amid tough trading conditions. Revenue for the FY ended 30 June is expected to be $573m. SFH is down 3.85% to 50c.
  • DuluxGroup (DLX) has again extended the date of their takeover bid for Alesco Corp (ALS) from July 20 to August 3. The company has 29.9%. DLX is up 0.5% to 304.5c & ALS is down 0.25% to 198.5c.
  • Myer (MYR) chief executive Bernie Brookes has blamed the toughest retail conditions in 25 years for the recent announcement that they are cutting 100 employees. MYR is up 0.3% to 166.5c.

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