The market is up 13. The SFE Futures were up 15 this morning.

Wall Street closed up 19 overnight. The S&P 500 closed up after four four days of losses. New home sales fell 12% in July, reaching a record low (since 1963).  Durable goods orders were up less than expected. Metals were mostly down on the LME, the oil price fell $0.58 to $72.52 and Gold was up $12.80 to $1241.30. The Aussie dollar was up to 88.49c from 88.25c.

Results today…

  • Santos (STO) — Net profit for the half rose 94% to $198m from $102m in the previous year, above the $187m analysts expected. STO down 0.14%.
  • Insurance Australia Group (IAG) reported annual net profit fell to $91m from $181m the previous year. Will pay a final dividend of 4.5c, down from 6c a year ago. IAG up 0.92%.
  • Woolworths (WOW) — Slightly better-than-expected result — FY net profit came in at $2.02bn, up 10% on last year and slightly above the $2bn analysts expected. They also announced a $500m off market share buyback. See below.  WOW up 4.72% to 2817c.
  • Virgin Blue (VBA) — Announced an underlying profit before tax of $31m. VBA up 3.57%.
  • Toll Holdings (TOL) — Results in line – Profit rose 3% to $279m from $270m. Volumes and margins up in the 4th Q. TOL up 2.4%.
  • IOOF Holdings (IFL) — Annual net profit rose nearly fivefold to $68.4m. Underlying profit was $97.2m versus consensus at $98m. 18c final dividend a bit below the 20c expected. CEO describes results as “strong”. IFL up 10c to 635c.
  • Ramsay Health Care (RHC) — up 0.15%. Full-year net profit up 39% to $148.3m, up from $106.5m. Underlying was $178.5m above analysts’ estimates of $176m.
  • Iluka Resources (ILU) had a net loss of $6.6m in the 1st half, compared to a $43.6m loss a year before. ILU down 0.95%.
  • Cabcharge (CAB) — up 4.71% – profit below consensus — Annual net profit fell 6.2% to $57.6m and was below consensus estimates of $60.4m but they are cautiously optimistic about the future. Final dividend of 17c.
  • Tatts Group (TTS) — annual profit more than halved to $119.4m compared with $277.4m last year. Consensus estimate including one offs was $114m. They have announced a special dividend of 11c. TTS up 1.29%.

For a free 5 day obligation free trial of the MARCUS TODAY newsletter (and no we won’t ask for a credit card number) please 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 stuff and Ideas from Marcus and his Team. You will also be given a password to the MARCUS TODAY website including access to our Recommended Portfolio which is actively managed on behalf of subscribers.…no “set & forget”. Everything you need to effortlessly managed your own long term investment portfolio.

It includes an Income Portfolio. And for the traders we monitor short and medium term trades on top of the portfolio. Members also get access to our Database – all the numbers with comments on the ASX 200 stocks and more. Members also get access to our Educational section which includes an archive of Marcus’s Educational and Entertaining articles. We are sure you will enjoy and profit from what we offer. Thousands of subscribers enjoy and profit from our services every day. We have one of the highest re-subscription rates in the financial newsletter industry.

For your FREE TRIAL — Click here

To Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY — Click Here