The market is down 18. SFE Futures were down 16 this morning. 

Dow Jones was down 89. The Dow was down 99 at worst and up 13 at best. The reports out of Europe that the IMF and Eurozone finance ministers had agreed on terms of the next instalment of Greek bailout funds did little to boost US markets. As part of the agreement, the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline from 190% in 2014 to 124% in 2020. US markets were more focused on Washington and Senator Harry Reid who said “little progress” has been made in “fiscal cliff” negotiations although he was still optimistic about a deal. Gold, Oil and US bond yields down. US Durables goods orders were flat in October following a 9.2% jump in September. Durables orders e transportation were up by 1.5%, which was better than the expected -0.4%. Conference Board consumer confidence was up 73.7 for November, a four year high. The Richmond Fed manufacturing index was better than expected, up from -7 in October to +9 in November.

Best sectors — utilities (+0.2%). Worst sectors — energy (-1.0%), financials (-0.9%) and telecoms (-0.7%). European market mixed — UK FTSE up 0.22%, German DAX up 0.55%, France up 0.03%, Spain down 0.14%, Italy down 0.26% and Greece up 0.29%. The Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.3% with technology (+0.7%), industrials (+0.6%), health care (+0.6%) and consumer goods (+0.5%).

  • Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) — FY12 Profit has more than doubled to $45.5 million in the nine months to September 30 up from $19.9 million. The result was driven by their efforts to improve efficiencies and their ability to win a greater share of the slot machine market. Earnings were up 76%. ALL is down 0.7% to 284c.
  • JB Hi-Fi (JBH) — Have announced that they will expand into white goods and cooking appliances. The launch of JB Hi-Fi’s HOME concept stores will hold a full range of white goods, cooking and small appliances. These home entertainment and appliance super stores will be located at the company’s existing larger homemaker centre sites. Four stores in QLD will trial home appliance sales initially, with 2 to follow next year. JBH is down 6.55% to 999c.
  • NRW Holdings (NHW) — profit downgrade — The company provided a trading update and says they are targeting revenue growth of 15% in FY2013 and expects profit margins in the range of 5%-6%. For the first half 2013 they expect profit in the range of $45-50 million. NHW is down 13.8% to 155c.
  • Cabcharge (CAB) — Holds their AGM today and will address a raft of problems ranging from — the RBA taking aim at the 10% surcharge on taxi fares, the Fels inquiry which is looking at breaking up CAB’s stranglehold on the taxi industry, a battle over new technology that threatens the viability of the business and a possible second shareholder “strike” vote over executive pay. CAB is down 0.5% to 395.5c.
  • OrotonGroup (ORL) — AGM — Sales in the 17 weeks since the end of July were up 7% on a like-for-like basis. The company is cautiously optimistic of the Christmas season ahead. ORL is down 0.62% to 645c

For a five day 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 Portfolio recommendations which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers … no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly managed your own long term investment portfolio.        
  • 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.

Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY.  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.