Changes in Substantial Shareholdings

The market is up 70 well ahead of the 7 point rise predicted by the SFE Futures this morning.

Financials are up 3.7% - all the banks flying on a CBA guidance upgrade – CBA up 9% and pulling the whole sector up. Westpac up 8.0%. Resources up 0.3% - BHP and RIO up 2.9% and 4.3%.

Gold stocks down on the lower gold price. Newcrest down 4.3% after completing their $750m institutional placement. Property tanking – down 5.0%. Stockland Group, CFS Retail Group, Dexus, GPT and Goodman Group all big fallers – all down 9-13%. Lend Lease (LLC) up 5% on being selected as the preferred partner to build GBP1.2bn in Birmingham schools.

The Dow was down 64. Down all session – negative 133 at worst. Nasdaq outperformed. Microsoft and Intel up over 4%.

Tech stocks higher, financials and blue-chips lower. Uncertainty about the stimulus package and bank rescue plan is paralyzing the markets. Low volumes with slow news flow. Poor consumer and construction spending data. Manufacturing activity still at all-time lows.

Financials up 0.2% – down 3.5% at worst. Big banks down 0.7%, Investment Banks and Brokerages down 0.88%. Bank of America down 8.8% and JP Morgan down 1.25%. Industrials and resources down. Metals up. Oil down. Gold down. Bonds up.

The market is down 160 on the back of the Dow Jones closing 450 points lower.

The SFE Futures predicted a 153 point fall this morning. Financials falling steeply – down 4.9% as the continued credit-crisis turmoil surrounds the future solvency of major US banks.

All sectors in the red – industrials down 5.2% and property down 4.6%. Overnight the Dow plummeted 449. The S&P 500 has lost nearly 10% in just two sessions this week and is down 7.6% week-to-date – having wiped off half the gains made in the 5-year bull market and is 26% off its October all-time high.

Financials fell another 8.9% as the Fed’s $85bn loan to AIG failed to stem fears about the US’s largest financial institutions collapsing. The Fed said an uncontrolled failure of AIG would have added to the financial instability of world economies.

Lehmans was down another 57% after filing for a $613bn bankruptcy and selling it investment banking arm on Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the only two independent brokerages left on Wall Street – both fell sharply with Goldmans having its steepest fall in its history – down 14% and 24% - as Meredith Whitney form Oppenheimer and a Merrill’s analyst downgraded the bank’s 4Q profit estimates.

After WashingtonMutual’s March rejection of a JP Morgan takeover offer, it has now removed a $1.5bn obstacle to a possible potential takeover acquisition. Treasury set up an additional financing program to auction Treasury bills to help raise money for the Fed’s creaking balance sheet which is under substantial pressure.

3-month Treasuries up steeply on a flight to quality with the yield down to only 0.04% - the lowest yield since World War II. The US dollar was down 1.2% - down 1.4% against the euro and down 1.9% against the pound. It was up against the Aussie.

In a massive flight to safety, hard assets like oil, gold and commodities spiked on market concerns about Treasury lending to the Fed. Newmont Mining up 9.4% as precious metals soared.

Commodities overall were up 3.2%. Metals all solidly down. Resource stocks down - BHP and RIO down 5.37% and 7.73% in ADR form.

US Homebuilders were down 7.4% on poor housing start data and a continuing crisis in America’s residential mortgage market.

Metals all down overnight – Nickel down 2.34%, Zinc down 1.80% and Copper down 1.69%. Aluminium down 1.33%.

Oil price up $5.90 to $97.39 but analysts’ say we are unlikely to see oil rally sharply on the back of the economic downturn hurting demand. The government announcing lower-than-expected inventories also helped the bounce.

Gold up a massive $70 or 9% to $850.50 – the largest ever single day gain in dollar terms.

US Bonds up with the 10 year yield down to 3.41% from 3.43%. VIX Volatility index down 19.54% to 36.22.