Crikey

The market is up 10. The SFE Futures were up 21 this morning.

Wall St. closed up 78 overnight. The Dow up 89 at best and up 1 at worst. Personal income figures were OK as were the January personal spending numbers. Oil fell $1.36 to $78.75 and Gold down 60c to $1118. The Aussie dollar improved to 90.11c from 89.75c yesterday morning.

Most economists expect the RBA to lift rates by 25bps when they announce their decision post today’s meeting at 2.30pm.

In the news today…

• The Corporate Express final results (CXP) are described as ‘solid’ making $57.2m (down 7%) against consensus of $52-56m. Dividend at 12.5c is above the 11.5c expected. They say “Not yet seeing real signs of sustained upturn in demand from clients.” CXP down 3c to 427c.
• Nufarm (NUF) says they expect to announce a $40m loss for the 6 months, which includes a $33m loss from material items. Although they do predict a 2nd Half profit of between $120m-$140m, with a FY operating profit of between $110m-$130. NUF down 4.7% to 929c.
• Tatt’s Group (TTS) — The NSW government has sold a 40 year exclusive licence to the NSW state lotteries to TTS for $850m cash. TTS has gone 10c ex dividend today. Brokers not over-excited. TTS down 20c to 228c.
• Interesting comments — Rio Tinto (RIO) CEO Tom Albanese (pictured) said overnight he is “somewhat concerned” that the global economy could fall back into recession and reduce demand for commodities in the next 18-24 months. RIO has now divested $10bn worth of assets from their Alcan deal and is now looking for investment opportunities. RIO up 1% to 7208c.
• In their letter to shareholders, Telstra (TLS) says they are very concerned about last week’s federal draft legislation that gives the government power to allow the $43bn NBN to become a retailer in some situations. TLS has hit a fresh yearly low this morning and is down 2c to 292c.
• Leighton Holdings (LEI) has recommenced its $125m contract at Toka Tindung Mine. LEI up 1.95% to 3869c.
• The Qantas CFO resigns for health reasons.

In economic news…

• Retails Sales up by a better-than-expected seasonally-adjusted 1.2% in January. Economists expected 0.5%.Australian Building Approvals fell 7% in January, seasonally adjusted from December. In the year to January, building approvals were up 47.6%.
• Government financial consumption expenditure increased 1.8% in the 4Q.

The Dow Futures up 4 at midday.

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