The market is up 37. The SFE Futures were down 7 this morning.

Wall St. closed down 14 on Friday. The Dow was up 10 at best and down 61 at worst. Gold has another strong session — up $6.60 for the 6th day in a row — despite a stronger US$. Oil price fell 76c to $76.72. Homebuilder DR Horton fell 15% after announcing a lower-than-expected profit result. The Aussie dollar fell to 91.50c.

In the news today…

  • Not a lot economic news in Australia this week but the US is cramming five days worth of economics into just three days thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday.
  • James Hardie (JHX) — 2Q/1H profit result came in better than expected. JHX up 7%. Excluding significant items, it announced an operating 2Q profit of $US37.6m, up 4% of last year, above analysts’ expectations. Patersons maintain their Sell recommendation saying the stock is trading on a FY10 PER of 29x.
  • Rio Tinto (RIO) says it will receive at least $741m from the IPO of US coal producer Cloud Peak Energy. It has announced asset sales of $8.3bn since February 2008 to reduce its debt after its Alcan acquisition.
  • WorleyParsons (WOR) announces a $70m plus construction services contract for Suncor Energy Services. WOR up 10c to 2705c.
  • ANZ Bank (ANZ) has completed the acquisition of RBS in Philippines and announces it will complete the remaining RBS acquisition mid next year. ANZ up 9c to 2184c.
  • Talk of the cashed up ANZ Bank (ANZ) eyeing off Suncorp (SUN) as a potential acquisition. SUN up 2c to 874c.
  • Talk of Woodside Petroleum raising further debt to fund the additional Pluto costs, putting its credit rating further under pressure. WPL down 39c to 4830c.
  • Sims Group (SGM) down 4% after completing its $400m institutional placement.
  • Australian new motor vehicle sales increased 3.7% to a seasonally adjusted 81,122 units in October from 78,243 in September.
  • One broker says it is unlikely that BHP Billiton will launch another takeover for Rio Tinto saying most of the benefits of a full takeover will be captured in the iron ore JV.
  • Commonwealth Property Office Fund (CPA) — in a trading halt — pending a major transaction. CPA last traded at 98.5c.
  • Companies hitting fresh yearly highs: Andean Resources (AND), Avoca Resources (AVO), Lihir Gold (LGL), Wilson Htm (WIG).

The Dow Futures are up 33 at midday.

MARCUS PADLEY is the author of the MARCUS TODAY Daily Stockmarket Newsletter.

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