Morning all,

Short and sweet one today as I just spent 40 minutes on the phone to the new CEO of MPO…not sure if I am convinced or not but one to watch.

Not much new to add to the running commentary today.US stocks pushing ever higher as the S&P 500 nears its all-time high..all this whilst recipients of Food stamps in the US also hits an all-time high around 48m people! Scary…but true…the fear index or VIX in the US fell 18% last week and is now down 36% for the year..everyone seems to be bullish at the moment.

In ‘Zombieland’ last night we once again saw the horror that is the Greek economy and the Portugese economy as GDP figures were released….’slightly not as bad as expected’ but pretty terrible none the less.

Our market will be mildly positive again today with the usual suspects to the fore..the Iron Ore price was a little stronger so maybe we will see the optimism feed through to BHP and RIO etc but the banks will be in focus as will WOW and WES ,TLS etc.

Big theme now happening is resource stocks around the World cutting back on projects..RIO has just announced their Guinean Iron Ore project has been put on ice and this will help commodity prices and probably share prices as cutting expenses and jobs is good for shareholder returns.  The switch from the Banks to Resources will start to happen in earnest as this cost cutting and asset sales theme develops in the coming months..let’s face it NAB have run 6 bucks since Xmas..do you really want to be buying up here…not sure the risk reward is justified!

Idea of the Day

APN has risen over 30% since the incumbent management fell on their swords. Expect this rerating to continue..a week or so ago on Sky TV I talked about my three tips in the sector TEN,APN and FXJ…all have done well but suspect the upside in APN is better at the moment..Buy this one for a move above 45c..

Also good to see the speculative SFX which I talked about the other day,as a speculative buy, moving from 62 to 76 yesterday…still think there is more to go here as they start drilling at the end of the month..their Red Bull project may give you wiings! Nearlogy to SIR is the key here and the good results they have had so far..the market is desperate for the next SIR and this one has some potential…

In the news

BHP Billiton’spush to sell non-core assets will probably attract wide interest from international buyers, with its oil and gas holdings likely to attract the most attention. The market has been busy speculating about asset sell-downs by large miners, including Rio Tinto and BHP, following the recent appointments of new CEOs.

BHP Billiton has up to $US25 billion of non-core assets it could look to sell and Rio Tinto has $US10 billion of assets it could put on the block, says an investment bank. Both companies have flagged they are interested in selling smaller assets to help pay down debt and focus on growth in the larger parts of their portfolios.

Cooper Basin gas explorer Senex Energy has confirmed flows of 1.2 million cubic feet a day at its Kingston Rule-1 well in central Australia that is targeting tight gas sands in the Patchewarra formation of the basin. The well is the latest in a string of successes for the Cooper Basin’s gas explorers, which are using the hydraulic fracturing and, in some cases, horizontal drilling techniques that drove the US shale gas revolution

And here’s a thought for the day from a senior Fed Official “‘Devaluing a currency ‘is like peeing in bed. It feels good at first, but pretty soon it becomes a real mess.’”

Have a good day

Clarence

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