The market is up 35 points. Dow Jones down 59 — US stocks ended lower as the political debacle continued into its second day, raising fears that the US Government shutdown could continue longer than first expected. Losses were a reversal of yesterday’s gains, when the market rally rallied on hopes that the shutdown would be short term.

US private sector was weaker than expected. Jobs were up 166,000 in September. Consensus was for a 180,000 gain.

The weekly mortgage market index fell from 451.9 to 450.2 in the latest week.

European shares fell as markets started worry that the US government shutdown could be prolonged and a US Jobs report came in weaker than expected.

Mining shares up on the back of strong commodity prices. RIO up by 1.1% and BHP up 1.2%.

US treasuries were up with yields higher.

The US dollar fell against major currencies.

The Aussie dollar rose from its low of US93.35c to US93.90c before ending near US93.80c. It is currently trading at US93.88c.

Spain’s 10-year bond yield up eight basis points to 4.30%, Portugal’s bond yield up 18 basis points to 6.68% and Greek bond yield up 13 basis points to 9.32%.

Metal prices mostly up. Oil up 2.02% to $104.10. Gold up 2.69% to $1320.70. Iron ore was unchanged at US$131.40 a tonne (Chinese markets closed).

STORIES

  • President Obama is currently meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress in Washington. The meeting will try to break a stalemate between the two parties that has caused the US federal government shutdown, but a solution seems unlikely as both sides are unwilling to budge from their stance. Republicans are holding the Government to ransom. They want to tie continued government funding with laws that would weaken Obama’s healthcare law. Obama and his Democrats say they are not willing to negotiate. Which makes this meeting all the more confusing.
  • BlackBerry is being looked at by private equity group Cerberus.
  • CBA says it’s looking more and more likely that the RBA won’t cut rates again this year.
  • Oil was up on news that TransCanada’s southern leg of their Keystone pipeline is near completion.
  • Iron ore price unchanged — producers are affected by the Chinese market shutdown for the Golden week holiday.
  • Seven West Media (SWM) is expected to announce a management reshuffle.
  • The Silk Road — an Internet site which became a black market for more than $1 billion in transactions — has been closed. The site was being used for illegal services paid for with Bitcoin.
  • Mirabela Nickel (MBN) — Standard and Poor’s ratings agency have reduced the company’s credit rating from B- to CCC+. This comes after one of their two customers closed their smelting operations.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) — According to internal files, they expose plans to pay multimillion dollar kickbacks in Iraq, Indonesia and Malaysia together with other serious corporate misconduct.
  • Clean Seas Tuna (CSS) — Plans to raise capital to increase the production of Kingfish. The company held an AGM yesterday. Details of the capital raising will be released before Friday. Kingfish production is expected to increase to 1500 tonnes per annum. The company will use cash flow and debt to steadily increase Kingfish production to 3000 tonnes per annum. Shares have been suspended.
  • Paladin Energy (PDN) — Closed up 10.4% yesterday after announcing more job cuts, reducing executive pay and cost cutting.
  • The AIG Performance of Services Index (PSI) rose 8.1 points to 47.1 in September. The services sector fell at a slower rate in September, thanks to gains in sales, new orders and supplier deliveries.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) — down 10%.  Has responded to allegations of corruption published in news media. The company says they were not aware of any “new allegations or instances of breach in their ethics”. They continue to co-operate with the AFP while they undertake their investigation.
  • Iluka Resources (ILU) — Has announces the successful acquisition in PKD Resources which is a Sri Lankan company that owns tenements in the country, containing a large mineral sands resource.