The market is up 20 after being down 13 earlier in the morning. The SFE Futures were down 10 overnight.

Wall Street closed down 48. Down 1 at best and down 108 at worst. Recovered from early falls. Metals were unchanged due to the LME and FTSE being closed overnight. Oil fell $2.78 and Gold was down $5.30. S&P 500 finished its sixth successive intramonth gain. The Aussie went up to 84.36c from 83.23c yesterday morning.

RBA meeting today 1 Sept — expected to hold rates at 3% (2.30pm AEST).

Quiet day ahead…

  • Gunns (GNS) has asked for its shares to be halted until tomorrow. It is looking to raise $145m. GNS last traded at 114.5c.
  • Talk of Solomon Lew buying a stake in Myer if Myer’s share price goes pear shaped after the IPO.
  • Australia’s manufacturing index increased for the first time in 15 months, up by 7.2 points to 51.7 in August from July.
  • Qantas traffic numbers look OK but profitability continues to suffer due to discounting. QAN down 1.5%.
  • Leighton Holdings (LEI) has been awarded a Qatar currency 750m water infrastructure project in Qatar. LEI down 36c to 3659c.
  • The Seek Employment index for July shows the rate of decline in its online job ad listings has stabilized. But new job ads posted during July were still down 46.4% from last year.
  • Fortescue Metals has had its rating on its notes issued by its subsidiary FMG Resources Pty Ltd downgraded to ‘B’ from ‘B+” FMG down 1.59%.
  • Brambles (BXB) up 3.4% — it was talked up as a potential takeover target yesterday in the press. Toll Holdings has apparently approached BXB management with a friendly merger proposal which was knocked back.
  • Nexus Energy (NXS) said it will conduct a capital raising to cover the cost blowout at its Longtom Gas project. NXS last traded at 39.5c.
  • Panoramic Resources (PAN) down 4% on its FY profit result.
  • National Australia Bank has hit a fresh yearly high today.
  • Cudeco (CDU) in a trading halt. Last traded at 479c.
  • Elders (ELD) was suspended from trading pending the issue of results for last year ended June 30 and to finalize the terms of its recapitalization and refinancing. ELD last traded at 39c.

The Dow Futures are up 8 at midday.

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

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