Agriculture

The Dow fell 42 points following big falls in commodity prices including oil, metals and gold.

Current year guidance was lifted slightly but a significant increase to expected FY09 earnings has seen a number of upgraded Buy ratings for Nufarm.

Oil fell over US$5 last night as a coordinated Bernanke/Paulson/Dimon rhetorical effort bolstered the greenback and turned the financial sector on its heels. The Dow rallied 152.

It was a wild night on Wall Street as investors traded off a lower oil price against more financial sector weakness. The Dow closed down 56 points.

While some investors may be getting nervous about the outlook for commodity prices Barclays Capital notes structured products and those targeting new markets in the sector are growing in popularity.

Salmon farmer Tassal Group has a solid earnings growth outlook but this is largely priced according to Austock Securities, which has initiated coverage with a Hold rating.

Weekly musings from your editor. Banks are out, resources in. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all of them, does it?

New regulations are about to hit financial markets in the US and Australia, and in Australia the four pillars policy has been ratified. Good or bad?

AWB’s half-yearly profit result was in line with guidance but a number of issues mean brokers continue to have difficulty forecasting the group’s outlook.

A good jobs report kicked off a day that ended in mixed book-squaring ahead of the weekend.