Our market is poised to take a beating this morning as renewed fears about the health of the Chinese economy triggered big overnight falls in global equities and commodity markets.
The futures market is forecasting a 0.6% slide in the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) and that's not a bad outcome given that US and European indices shed around 1-2% as the West Texas Intermediate oil price crashed 4.9% to $US40.55 a barrel and iron ore shed 0.9% to $US56.41 a tonne.
Perhaps traders are anticipating positive earnings news from companies that are set to release their profit results today.
One of the most anticipated results will come from Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) as the airline is forecast to post a big turnaround in profit for 2014-15. If the prediction is right, Qantas will be the best performing airline compared to Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines after underperforming its rivals for most of the last five years, according to Bloomberg.
Wealth manager AMP Limited (ASX: AMP) will also be in the earnings spotlight as management announced a first half underlying net profit of $570 million that was just ahead of consensus forecast and declared an interim dividend of 14 cents a share.
Global logistics group Brambles Limited (ASX: BXB) posted an underlying full year net profit of $985.8 million that was below market expectations but said 2015-16 profit will increase to at least $1 billion.
Cement supplier Adelaide Brighton Ltd. (ASX: ABC) should fare better after it announced a better-than-expected 36% jump in first half net profit to $83 million and declared a special dividend of 4 cents a share on top of its regular interim payout of 8 cents a share.
Stock exchange operator ASX Ltd (ASX: ASX) turned in a 5.2% increase in underlying net profit to $403.2 million as revenue increased 6.4% to $700.7 million for the full year, while outdoor advertising company APN News and Media Limited (ASX: APN) reported a 4% increase in revenue from ordinary activities to $427.6 million but a 67% plunge in net profit to $7.5 million for the six months to end June 2015.
Other noteworthy companies that are expected to unveil their results today include energy company Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG), port and logistics operator Qube Holdings Ltd (ASX: QUB), conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) and wagering company Tatts Group Limited (ASX: TTS).
In other news, integrated steel maker Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) will be in focus after the Australian Financial Review reported that Koch Industries is running the ruler over the company's grinding media division Moly-Cop.
This possibly means Koch has abandoned the idea of making a joint bid for Bradken Limited (ASX: BKN) after the latter rejected its advances and shareholders will be left wondering if Bradken has managed the process well.
Finally, fund manager Platinum Asset Management Limited's (ASX: PTM) initial public offer of its Asian fund has managed to raise the $150 million minimum target.
