Market news round up, upgrades & downgrades

UK Corporate Announcements

Cobham announces an H1 pre-tax profit of £90m from £99m on revenues of £843m from £892m and states it remains positive on the outlook for commercial businesses

Quintain states that it has made good progress in reducing gearing

Old Mutual announces an H1 net profit of £931m from £738m and an ROE of 12.9% from 15.1%

Sportingbet states that it sees its full year results in line with the market forecasts as nine month trends have continued into Q4

Aquarius Platinum announces full year revenues of $486m down 29% with a basic EPS loss of 33.77c from 2.25c and expects full year results to miss estimates, citing ‘soaring costs’

Avon Rubber announces that it expects H2 to be stronger than H1

UK Market News

The FT writes that the Bank of England this morning is expected to trim the forecasts for growth and inflation

Standard Chartered may be forced to pay around $700m to settle US money laundering regulations, as it responded to the allegations that it was a ‘rogue institution’ while some UK MP’s have suggested that there was an anti City of London agenda in New York, as UK MP’s would never attempt to gain the populous vote with any banker-bashing of their own

Lloyds’ deal to sell 632 branches to the Co-Op is back in the news as the CEO of the Co-op has unexpectedly resigned

FTSE 100 Ex dividends (net): AstraZeneca PLC, AZN, ($.90),  Barclays PLC, BARC, (1),  BP PLC, BP/, ($.08),  BT Group PLC, BT/A, (5.70),  GKN PLC, GKN, (2.40),  GlaxoSmithKline PLC, GSK, (17),  Johnson Matthey PLC, JMAT, (100),  Pennon Group PLC, PNN, (18.30),  Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, RB/, (56),  Reed Elsevier PLC, REL, (6),  Rexam PLC, REX, (5),  Royal Dutch Shell PLC, RDSA, (.43),  SABMiller PLC, SAB, (.695),  Standard Chartered PLC, STAN, (.2723),  Unilever PLC, ULVR, (18.92) Estimated FTSE 100 Dividend Impact: 26 points

FTSE 250 Ex dividends (net): City of London Investment Trust PLC/The, CTY, (3.52),  Dialight PLC, DIA, (4),  Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust PLC, FRCL, (4),  Greene King PLC, GNK, (18.10),  Hiscox Ltd, HSX, (6),  Inchcape PLC, INCH, (4),  Jupiter Fund Management PLC, JUP, (2.50),  Law Debenture Corp PLC/fund, LWDB, (4.50),  Millennium & Copthorne Hotels PLC, MLC, (2.08),  QinetiQ Group PLC, QQ/, (2),  RPC Group PLC, RPC, (10.20),  Spirent Communications PLC, SPT, (.89),  Synergy Health PLC, SYR, (11.18),  UK Commercial Property Trust Ltd/fund, UKCM, (1.3125)

FTSE Small Share Ex dividends (net): 4imprint Group PLC, FOUR, (5.25),  Avon Rubber PLC, AVON, (1.20),  City Natural Resources High Yield Trust PLC, CYN, (2.52),  Dunedin Income Growth Investment Trust PLC, DIG, (2.50),  Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities PLC/fund, ECWO, (1.625),  Edinburgh UK Tracker Trust PLC, EUK, (2.55),  Investors in Global Real Estate Ltd, IGRE, (1.05),  JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust PLC, JCH, (3.50),  LSL Property Services PLC, LSL, (3.10),  ST Modwen Properties PLC, SMP, (1.21),  Standard Life Investment Property Income Trust PLC, SLI, (1.133)

UK Analyst Upgrades

Delta Lloyd Raised To Neutral Vs Underperform At Bofaml

Genel Energy Rated New Neutral At Citi, Pt 741P

Intercontinental Hotels Pt Raised To 1,670P Vs 1,472P At Nomura

Melrose Raised To Buy Vs Neutral At Bofaml

Standard Chartered Raised To Hold From Sell At Berenberg

Xstrata Pt Raised To 990P Vs 900P At Socgen, Stays Hold

UK Analyst Cuts

Hikma Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Ubs

Intercontinental Hotels Cut To Neutral Vs Overweight: Jpmorgan

Serco Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Ubs

Smiths Cut To Underperform Vs Neutral At Bofaml

UK Insider Buying

Rolls-Royce Holdings P, (RR/), 3 insider(s) bought 436 shares, £8.48

UK Insider Selling

Catlin Group Ltd, (CGL), 1 insider(s) sold 50,000 shares, £4.53

Experian Plc, (EXPN), 1 insider(s) sold 40,000 shares, £9.71

St James’s Place Plc, (STJ), 1 insider(s) sold 24,421 shares, £3.54

Major European Companies Reporting

Axel Springer AG, Q2, 0.76,  Brenntag AG, Q2, 1.573,  Cobham PLC, S1, 0.105,  Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, Q2, 0.82,  Freenet AG, Q2, 0.268,  ING Groep NV, Q2, 0.26,  Kloeckner & Co SE, Q2, -0.023,  Nokian Renkaat OYJ, Q2, 0.717,  OMV AG, Q2, 1.144,  Rio Tinto PLC, S1, 2.677,  Sampo OYJ, Q2, 0.555,  Securitas AB, Q2, 1.348,  Stada Arzneimittel AG, Q2, 0.582,  Swisscom AG, Q2, 8.657,  TDC A/S, S1, 0,  Tod’s SpA, S1, 2.287

European Market Summary

Greece has had its outlook cut to negative, although S&P does at least maintain its rating, while the Telegraph writes on how Jean Claude Juncker has stated that the world could cope with Greece leaving the euro, albeit with dangers, expressing openly the hopes that the past 24 months of Eurozone summit talks has bought enough time for the markets to be as prepared as they can be for any such exit

The ongoing costs to resolve the fallout left by the collapse of Quinn Insurance, has caused criticisms of the Irish government

Heineken may need to improve its offer for Asia Pacific Breweries after rival interest from Kindest Place Groups increases the pressure as it lifts its own approach

Germany is due to sell €4bn in 10 year notes

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Alpha Natural Resources Inc, Q2, -0.315,  CenturyLink Inc, Q2, 0.616,  Computer Sciences Corp, Q1, 0.221,  Dean Foods Co, Q2, 0.311,  Dun & Bradstreet Corp/The, Q2, 1.375,  Integrys Energy Group Inc, Q2, 0.412,  International Flavors & Fragrances Inc, Q2, 1.029,  Macy’s Inc, Q2, 0.638,  Molex Inc, Q4, 0.381,  Monster Beverage Corp, Q2, 0.608,  News Corp, Q4, 0.323,  NRG Energy Inc, Q2, 0.169,  PPL Corp, Q2, 0.409,  Ralph Lauren Corp, Q1, 1.773

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):- Altera Corp, ALTR, (.10),  American Electric Power Co Inc, AEP, (.47),  Wells Fargo & Co, WFC, (.22),  Pitney Bowes Inc, PBI, (.375),  PPG Industries Inc, PPG, (.59),   Charles Schwab Corp/The, SCHW, (.06),  JM Smucker Co/The, SJM, (.52),  CONSOL Energy Inc, CNX, (.125),  Spectra Energy Corp, SE, (.28),  Capital One Financial Corp, COF, (.05),  RR Donnelley & Sons Co, RRD, (.26),  EQT Corp, EQT, (.22),  United States Steel Corp, X, (.05),  Vornado Realty Trust, VNO, (.69),  Wal-Mart Stores Inc, WMT, (.3975),  Costco Wholesale Corp, COST, (.275),  International Business Machines Corp, IBM, (.85)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Chiquita Brands gained over 8% as it announced it is to find a new CEO, and that it is cutting around 300 jobs

CTrip.com gained 6% as the Chinese based leisure ticket group announced a deal to forge a partnership with Booking.com

Warner Chillcott fell 5% as it announced it has ceased talks on offers and plans a share buyback

The major mover was Primo Water down over 21% after a worse than forecasted Q2 loss and also as it lowers the full year outlook

Priceline came off over 15% as it announced Q2 numbers under the forecasts, citing the Eurozone issues, the move also caused the likes of Expedia to fall 4% after hours

US Market News

Knight Capital states that it will fully resume NYSE DMM duties from Monday

Amazon has announced a student text book rental service, where users could acquire titles for around 70% of the list price, if they return the books at the end of the term, rather than paying the full list price and then reselling them on its website

Bloomin Brands yesterday priced its IPO under the expected range and also detailed it is to sell fewer shares than initially planned for, while Peregrine Semi priced its IPO at the lower end of the indicative range

The Church of England details that it has sold its £1.9m stake in News Corp stating that it had not shown a commitment to corporate governance

Overnight Market News

Hong Kong Airlines is seen cancelling its all business class flights between Hong Kong and London from next month, it was launched in March 2012, but has failed to become profitable

Albert Yeung Sau-shing has served a writ against Google alleging defamation after Google searches of his name puts high up on the list a critical summary of his various past criminal convictions, such as witness tampering

The China Daily writes on how the government clamping down on counterfeit goods has caused large numbers of shops in Shenyang to close, as store owners are concerned about potential large fines from authorities

Dreamworks, the US based animation group announces that it is to spend $3bn in building a theme park in Shanghai, expected to open in 2016

Major Global IPOs Due Today

None Detailed

FX Summary

Oil prices recovering and some near term optimism on the global outlook has lifted the Canadian dollar up to three month highs

The Brazilian real also continues to move higher as traders increasingly price in some resolution to the Eurozone issues

Sterling naturally will be eyed at 10:30 with the Bank of England Inflation report

Commodity Summary

The price of Tea has gained to a 30 month high after some concerns at crops in major producing regions

Economic Data Due

00:50 Japan June Current Account, Y415bn exp. Y215bn previous

10:30 UK Bank of England Inflation Report

11:00 German Industrial Production, -0.8%exp.1.6% previous