It’s been a good couple of days for my idea of the day…AGO recommended this morning leapt 10% whilst last weeks recommendation of LNC at around 70 ish is now trading above a buck!!Makes up for some of my really bad calls like LYC which is still suffering from issues in Malaysia with its rare earth plant (that’s an interesting sentence) and has been suspended!

Anyway here is the wrap for today!!

Market Wrap

Another day, another 20 points up as we push through the 2012 high. Santa has come a bit early but news out of China on Iron Ore pricing and demand was enough to kick up the resource stocks. BHP Billiton (A$35.41, +1.3%) led the way followed by Rio Tinto (A$61.77, +0.8%), Atlas (A$1.52, +9.7%) and Fortescue Metals (A$4.21, +4.0%). Risk on was the order of the day as banks and Telstra (A$4.34, -0.7%) took a breather. This trend may continue for a few more days as the commodity stocks play a little catch up. It does feel like the market is being pushing higher on a combination of short covering, sellers running for cover and money drifting back in as deposit rates fall. Keeping your money in the bank has been a very safe and crowded trade this year and it is starting to turn around. The smart money was buying high yielding stocks six months to a year ago and has been reaping not just good yields but also capital appreciation. You don’t get that in the 90 day deposit market.

Defensives generally were slower out of the blocks than the resource plays, although Fairfax Media (A$0.48, +5.5%) had another good ay as did Ten Network (A$0.25, +2.0%) but market darling Telstra (A$4.34, -0.7%) was a drag on the index.

Business confidence fell to levels not seen since the GFC which is somewhat worrying as the economy is still going along reasonably well if you believe the numbers that is. A strong dollar and the pullback in mining investment seem to be weighing on the ‘warm and fuzzies’ continually.

Some good recoveries were also evident today in mining services as the falls of the past few weeks attracted some sharks for the blood in the water. Als Limited (A$9.52, +2.37%), Ausdrill (A$2.36, +5.4%), Cardno (A$6.17, +3.4%), Mineral Resources (A$8.98, +4.8%) and NRW (A$1.43, +5.9%) led them higher as value emerged.

Stocks in the news

More problems for Lynas (A$0.605, unch) as Malaysia tells them they must take the waste from its processing plant off shore. That should cause a few problems. Not sure who will want the radioactive waste. The stock remains suspended. Probably a good thing!

In the news was Southern Cross Media (A$1.07, +2.9%) again today as the fallout from the ‘Royal Prank’ continues to reverberate around the world. Although news that the company had cancelled their Xmas party and are donating the money instead to charity did help the sentiment a little. Fairfax Media (A$0.48, +5.5%) looks to have been a beneficiary of the cancellation of adverts on 2DayFM as their radio network may be able to poach some business from the disgraced rival.

In BBY house stocks, Buru Energy (A$2.71, -2.2%) had another drilling update which although promising the market seems to be hard to please these days. While star performer Linc Energy (A$1.04, +17.5%) continued its huge bounce off 70 cents to hit 1.00 in a matter of days. News that the Chelsea owner is looking at doing deals with the company once again helped sentiment. Maybe he can get Peter Bond as the club manager at the same time! In other movers and shakers Orpheus Energy (A$0.085, +11.8%) had a stellar day as well as the recovery continues. Whilst Universal Coal PLC (A$0.091, -17.3%)  had a shocker after the announcement the other day on funding for its South African project.

Superstar stock Sirius Resources (A$2.21, +1.84%) announced they had completed a capital raising at $2.00 to raise $44m.They have had some spectacular success this year with their Nova Discovery and they are ramping up exploration to try and really kick things along. The company will not die wondering that’s for sure.

In other news today, Lend Lease (A$9.03, +2.1%) will carry out a $1 billion revamp of Sydney’s convention and entertainment centre precinct in a public private partnership with the NSW government.

And in a sign of the times for infrastructure project, Chevron has sold all the chairs and is now making contactors and staff stand, things must be tough!

Tomorrow’s News Today

FOMC meeting kicks off today for a couple of days, not that there will be anything truly stunning. The Fed is expected to announce it will buy $US45 billion per month of longer-dated Treasuries beginning in January to replace the current Operation Twist program, which expires at the end of December. The big event, however, is the Fiscal Bluff so that will cause volatility as the “will they won’t they” has more twists and turns than a Jennifer Aniston Rom Com! And way more laughs!

Israeli Drug company TEVA has an investor briefing tonight where we hope to get some more clarification of whether they will fund the phase III trials of #MSB# heart treatment. Expect a positive answer but any disappointment will hurt!

We will surely get more on the Italian situation with ‘Bungasconi’ doing the dirty on the ‘Full Monti’.Elections to come but ‘Beersarnie’ is shaping up as the favourite to replace the unelected technocrat.

And HSBC look to have copped a huge $1.9bn fine for money laundering for Iran.

Finally in fascinating but slightly worrying signs of things to come, there are now 47.7m people in America on food stamps and considered living in poverty according to the US Dept of Agriculture! Land of the Free, home of the brave and now country of the poor!

Clarence

xxxx

Xmas party tonight so don’t expect big things in the morning!!!