The United States' Energy Information Administration said it expects oil output in all the major US shale basins to lift by December. The Permian, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Anadarko and Applachia basis are all expected to increase capacity.

Those basins (along with Haynesville) have been responsible for nearly all the growth in US oil output since the end of December 2015. The Energy Information Administration is expecting production will lift 16.5 per cent to 10.9 million barrels a day this year before rising a further 10.6 per cent next year. There are also a backlog of oil wells yet to be completed, with the number continuing to rise.

UBS believes G8 Education is beginning to recover following a tough year for the child care service provider. In the past 12 months, the company's share price had more than halved, before lifting in the past four weeks. The broker said while supply was likely to be tight for the company through 2019, its recent trading suggests its "self-help" initiatives are gaining traction. G8 downgraded its earnings guidance in its most recent trading update but analyst Tim Plumbe said there were positive signs and underlying trading had improved.

He noted like for like occupancy growth was tracking ahead of the previous corresponding period and wage pressures appeared to have stabilised. UBS upgraded its price target on G8 Education from $2.55 to $3.20 and retained its 'buy' rating on the company. G8 is trading higher at $2.87 today.

Viva Energy is still dragging on the S&P/ASX 200, which is down nearly 40 points in early afternoon trading to 5691. Viva is down 9.4 per cent to $1.86 after issuing a profit warning this morning. And Medibank Private is down nearly 8 per cent to $2.55 after losing a contract with the Defence Department that was worth $30 million in profits last financial year. Analysts were expecting the health insurer to deliver a profit of about $587 million before this announcement came through.

And big drops in Afterpay Touch and Xero are dragging the information technology sector down. Afterpay is down 6.6 per cent to $12.03 and Xero is down 4.8 per cent to $39.96.

Waste services company Cleanaway is up 6 per cent today to $1.85 after being upgraded by analysts on Friday. The stock is trading at $1.85, which is the highest price since 2 October.
Orocobre is up 6.7 per cent to $4.96, and Ausdrill is also up 6.7 per cent to $1.52.

Meanwhile the decision by Fairfax shareholders to vote in favour of the merger with Nine Entertainment has boosted shares in both companies and Domain Holdings, which is up 5.9 per cent to $2.49. Fairfax is up 2.9 per cent to 63 cents and Nine is up 2.9 per cent to $1.67.

Former director and chief financial officer of TZ Limited, John Falconer, has been sentenced to four and a half year's jail after pleading guilty in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He pleaded guilty to using his position as a director dishonestly, with the intention of directly gaining an advantage for himself or others, and one count of authorising or permitting the giving of information to the ASX relating to the affairs of TZ Limited, which he knew to be false or misleading.

In her sentencing remarks, Justice Christine Adamson said, 'As a director of TZ Ltd, the offender was placed in a position of considerable trust, which he abused over an extended period. He acted in gross dereliction of his duty. The offences involved both dishonesty and greed.'

Fellow TZ Limited director, Andrew Sigalla, was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment (with a minimum of six years to serve) in February 2017, in relation to 24 counts of dishonest conduct.

The Supreme Court of Western Australia has approved Wesfarmers' demerger of Coles. Wesfarmers intends to make the scheme effective from tomorrow with Coles trading under the COL ticker on Wednesday this week on a deferred settlement basis. The demerger will be implemented a week later on 28 November with COL shares trading normally from Thursday, 29 November.

Wesfarmers will send payment to ineligible overseas shareholders, selling shareholders and ShareGift on 2 January.

Medibank Private says it has lost a Defence Forces contract and has dropped 7 per cent after emerging from a trading halt.

It was "verbally informed" by the Defence Department this morning it has not been selected for renewal for the Garrison Health Services contract, which provided $30 million operating profit last financial year. Medibank advises exit costs will be about $5 million. An investor briefing is scheduled for 12pm.

Shares are trading at $2.57.

An Australian-listed company that owns and operates 300 foot massage clinics in China has gone into administration. Traditional Therapy Clinics (TTC) once traded as high at 70 cents in late 2015, but has been trading under 10 cents since the start of this year.

On Monday it advised Pitcher Partners had been appointed administrators and was suspended. In September the company told the market it could not finalise its audit because "all Australian-based directors and the chief financial officer" had resigned and the "auditors could not obtain to their satisfaction an independent confirmation from TTC's bank in China to support the company's true cash bank balance". Australians Geoff Ross and Christian Drysdale both resigned on September 1.

Medibank Private is in a trading halt until Wednesday morning pending an announcement.

The shares last traded at $2.77. The former government-owned insurer was sold off in 2014 at $2.15 to institutional investors at $2 to individual investors.

After the first hour of trading the market is 13 points lower, a drop of 0.2 per cent, at 5718 points. It did reach as low as 5704 in the early drop, but has since recovered.

a2 Milk is up 4.3 per cent this morning to $9.97 and AMP is in green, up 3.5 per cent to $2.67. Cleanaway is up 5.7 per cent to $1.85 after it was upgraded by Credit Suisse analysts late last week.

And this morning's laggers are Woodside Petroleum, down 1.2 per cent to $32.63, and Macqaurie Group is down 0.8 per cent to $118.06. Viva Energy is a relatively small stock, but the big drop of 13 per cent is dragging on the index. It is currently trading at $1.78.