Crikey

The market is up 115 and rising. The SFE Futures suggested a 107 point rise in the market this morning.

The Dow Jones closed up 150 overnight – The end of day rally in the Dow Jones rescued the market from being down 63 with half an hour to go to being up 150 (it moved in a 258 point range). It has been described as the “Hour of Power” and apologies for being bearish but the fact that it happened so quickly suggests that it reflects an “event” (like an institutional buy program) rather than a market-wide return of confidence. It suggests that Wall St will struggle to make further quick progress tonight if the buyer has gone.

Resources recovering well today after yesterday’s heavy falls…BHP up 87c to 3683c and RIO up 66c to 9186c. Metals all down overnight, Nickel down 2.2%, Copper down 1.9% and Aluminium 0.4%. Zinc down 0.7%. Zinifex up 49c to 1910c. Oil price down $1.71 to $76.49 after the US government announced a fall in crude inventories overnight. The price hit an all-time high during last night’s session. Woodside up 72c to 4292c.

• Allco Finance Group (AFG) tell us they have no exposure to the subprime mortgage market. AFG up 24c to 1013c.
• Talk of a bid for Western Australian Newspapers (WAN) from Seven Networks (SEV) has intensified after SEV upped their substantial shareholding in WAN to 17.3% from 16.1%. WAN is expected to report later today. WAN up 34c to 1419c and SEV up 23c to 1124c.
• Downer EDI (DOW) is down 16% this morning on the back of a profits warning and the news that the MD Stephen Gillies is to go.
• Corporate Express (CXP) announced their 1H07 result and is up 31c to 676c today.
• Brambles is up 5.6% this morning on the release of a presentation for analysts about their restructuring plans.
• Macquarie have upped their recommendation in Sally Malay (SMY) to OUTPERFORM with a 450c target price. Also this morning, Eagle Research Advisory analyst Keith Goode has put out a bit of research on Sally Malay with a 557c target price. SMY up 10.76%.
• News Corp (NWS) announced they have struck a deal with the Bancroft family to acquire Dow Jones & Co. NWS up 48c to 2697c.
• GRD Ltd (GRD) has turned down the takeover offer from Transfield (TSE). GRD unchanged at 270c. TSE up 43c to 1113c.
• Austar (AUN) up 3c to 164c despite announcing a 6.8% fall in 1H07 NPAT.
• Leighton Holdings (LEI) up 51c to 3887c after they announced their Thiess division secured a $345m extension on a contract for services at BHP Mitsui Coal.

We have an article in the Marcus Today newsletter explaining the “Abyss” that everyone is so fearful of falling into. In order to regain the Force you have to face your fears. This explains them. The good news is…we’re in Australia…and we’ll be right in the end.

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