The market is up 62. The SFE Futures were up 43 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 96. The Dow was up 122 at best and down 1 at worst. Metals had a strong session in London with Copper putting on close to 4%. Oil price fell 14c to $78.45 but the Gold price continued its impressive form closing up $6.60 to $1058. The Aussie dollar improved to 92.93c versus 91.41c yesterday morning. It was the 22nd anniversary of the 1987 Black Monday crash. Better-than-expected results dominated the session.

RBA October Minutes are out: Reveal that rates were raised due to worries about inflation and to prevent any build up of “imbalance” in the economy. Minutes indicate there was debate as to whether to keep rates on hold at 3% or raise them, but decided “the risks in waiting had increased” as the economic outlook has improved.

Making news today…

  • Woolworths (WOW) down 0.7% on the back of its 1Q sales numbers. They have come in a bit below expectations. WOW down to 3027c. Talk of its bid for Danks not getting regulatory approval.
  • Oil Search (OSH) down 8.7% after its $895m institutional share placement which was oversubscribed. It was forced to raise capital after the ASX disallowed it to sell a minority stake in its Papa New Guinea gas project.
  • Cochlear (COH) CEO says its outlook remains positive and new products will support earnings growth going forward. It failed to give a profit forecast. COH up 1.06% to 6458c.
  • Street Talk tells us American International Assurance Company (AIA Group), the Asia-Pacific life insurance business of AIG, is set to go public raising $US15bn. AIA was spun out of AIG as part of the government bailout agreement. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are looking after the float.
  • Lots of positive comments about BHP’s bid for United Mineral (UMC) with the general consensus being it might be small but makes lots of strategic sense. UMC last traded at 126.5c.
  • Macquarie Airports (MAP) released their traffic numbers. Traffic was up 4.9% from last year at its Sydney airport. MAP up 1c to 278c.
  • Metcash (MTS) has reiterates its earnings outlook and says it is seeking bolt-on acquisitions and new business opportunities. MTS up 2c to 458c.
  • Australian merchandise imports fell 4% to $16.19bn in September from $16.84bn in August in seasonally adjusted terms.
  • Flinders Mines (FMS) in a trading halt. Last traded at 17.5c.
  • Stocks hitting fresh yearly highs: Equinox Minerals (EQN), Horizon Oil (HZN), OrotonGroup (ORL), Ten Network (TEN), West Australian Newspapers (WAN). Elders (ELD) has hit a fresh yearly low.

The Dow Future were up 23 at midday.

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

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