The market is up 59. The SFE Futures were up 56 this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 102 overnight. Dow up 119 at best and down 66 at worst. The big news overnight was Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saying he will resign after the new budget measures currently making their way through parliament is approved. The yield on Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond jumped to 6.77%, the highest since the euro’s introduction in 1999 and close to the 7% level that saw Greece, Ireland and Portugal seek international bailouts. The oil price put on $1.41 to $96.93 and Gold fell $4.50 to $1786.66c. Metals were mixed overnight on the LME and the Aussie dollar improved to 103.92c from 103.66c.

Main points:

  • §  Chinese CPI numbers are in line with expectations up 5.5% for October and down from 6.1%. PPI numbers are +5.0% against Est. 5.8% versus the prior 6.5%. Good numbers.
  • §  Housing finance numbers have come in better than expected up 2.2% in Sept versus expectations for 1.5%.
  • Myer Ltd (MYR) has reported that first quarter sales down 5.1% on a like-for-like basis and down 3.5% on the previous quarter. The result was in line with the company’s expectations and they continue to expect full year sales to be flat.   MYR up 14c to 247c.
  • Downer EDI (DOW) have confirmed full earnings guidance. They expect full year net profit to recover up to $180m from the previous year’s full year net loss. DOW up 7% to 338c.
  • CSR Ltd (CSR) net profit in the 6 months to September 30 was up 13% from the previous first half to $34.9m. They now expect full year operating profit to be at the lower end of the market’s expectation range of $82 million to $100 million. CSR will pay a 6¢ interim dividend. CSR up 1% to 239c.
  • White Energy (WEC) has resumed trading after an update on its 51% owned KSC’s Tabang Operation in Indonesia. It was found that “upgrading the Tabang run of mine coal may no longer deliver acceptable economic returns”.  WEC down 44% to 84.5c.
  • UGL Ltd (UGL) is in talks with DTZ Holdings about a possible takeover bid for DTZ. But they say there is no certainty that a firm offer will be made. UGL up 3% to 1322c.
  • Computershare (CPU) say they expect first half earnings to fall by around 15% from a year earlier due to tough and volatile markets. CPU down 6c to 820c.
  • SP Austnet (SPN) posted a net profit of $146.2 million in the 6 months to September 30, down 11.9% from a year earlier. SPN up 1.5% to 99.5c.
  • Today is the last day to buy ANZ Bank (ANZ) and the National Australia Bank (NAB) before they go ex-dividend 76c and 88c (respectively) tomorrow.

For a free 5 day obligation 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 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 Income Portfolio recommendations.
  • 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.

We also offer a FREE END OF DAY EMAIL — Click here — A free summary of the day in the market.

Subscribe to MARCUS TODAY — Click Here. 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.