Market news round up, upgrades & downgrades courtesy of Cantor Index

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UK Corporate Announcements

Sthree announces Q3 gross profit gained 6% year on year and states that it continued its strong financial position as it is debt free and has a strong balance sheet

UK Market News

The Markets gained some confidence yesterday afternoon following the statements from Draghi, although little was said that was fundamentally different from what had been expected, however the relief of not yet another major Euroarea disappointment seemed enough to bring the buyers in

The UK press watchdog states that it would not start an investigation into the publication of the recent prince Harry photos on concerns it would only further breach his privacy

Sir James Dyson has stated that without a much needed push to create more engineers in the UK the economy risks becoming a third world nation

Xstrata has urged shareholders to vote through the planned merger with Glencore at today’s vote in Switzerland, although Qatar Holding has not publicly altered their stance against the planned deal, they own 12% of Xstrata, expectations are that without a public change in stance the vote, and the deal, will fail

The UK is to sell £3bn in bills at 11:00

UK Analyst Upgrades

Barclays Raised To Buy Vs Hold At Deutsche Bank

Dixons Retail Pt Raised To 16P Vs 9P At Jpmorgan

Meggitt Raised To Buy Vs Neutral At Citi

Reed Elsevier Nv Added To Ubs’S European Key Call List

UK Analyst Cuts

Asos Rated New Buy At Jefferies

Lonmin Reinstated Underperform at BofAML

Legal & General Cut To Neutral Vs Outperform At Credit Suisse

UK Insider Buying

City Of London Investment, (CLIG), 2 insider(s) bought 153,125 shares, £3.25

European Market Summary

Peugeot’s slide from favour is highlighted as it is removed from the French blue chip CAC 40 due to its under-performance in recent years, and will be replaced by Solvay later this month, currently Peugeot has been trading close to 26 year lows

Germany’s state owned development bank is selling a 5% stake in Deutsche Post seen to be worth around €1bn

Monti states that the moves yesterday by the ECB would help remove the stigma in countries asking the ECB for aid

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Kroger Co/The, Q2, 0.49

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):-  Best Buy Co Inc, BBY, (.17),  CenturyLink Inc, CTL, (.725),  Ventas Inc, VTR, (.62)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Smith & Wesson was the major mover, up over 19% as it announces solid Q1 numbers and lifts its full year outlook

Biota gained around 8% after hours as it announces it is in advanced discussions for Russell Plumb to assume the role of president and CEO

Audience fell a hefty 56% in late trading as it detailed that it is unlikely to be used in the next Apple phone, while Korean press suggests that Apple is likely to cut reliance on Samsung parts for its new iPhone

US Market News

The S&P 500 yesterday posted a fresh high for the year, which is also the highest level its has posted since 2008

News Corp announces that it is to buy Packer’s Consolidated Media for Au$ 3.35/share in cash, in a deal worth AU$1.94bn, which would give the group control of Fox Sports in Australia

JP Morgan is reportedly set to face a new probe from the US senate on its recent trading losses

SunTrust Banks announces that it has sold its 93 year old stake in Coca-Cola for $1.2bn as it sells the historic position which resulted when it aided in the original IPO of the firm, and gained around 3% after hours on the news

Overnight Market News

The Times writes on how Nomura has ‘embarked on a retreat’ from London as it admits defeat on its previous ambitious expansion plans

A new survey suggests that consumers in Hong Kong are planning to cut back on luxury goods spending over the next 12 months

China announces its second major infrastructure spending plans just this week, with the announcement of 2,018 km of new roads planned

FX Summary

Peru’s central bank has left its key interest rate unchanged at 4.25%

Commodity Summary

Gold assets in exchange traded products gained to a fresh record yesterday as contrarians remain concerned that the record public participation is often the sign of a long term top

Reports suggests that wheat production in Australia may come in under the official government forecasts after a spell of dry weather

Economic Data Due

09:30 UK July Industrial Production 1.1% exp. -2.5% previous

09:30 UK July Manufacturing Production, 1.0% exp. -2.9% previous

11:00 German July Industrial Production, -0.1% exp. -0.9% previous

13:30 US August Change in Non Farm Payrolls, 120k exp, 163k previous

13:30 US August Unemployment Rate, 8.3% exp. 8.3% previous

Economic Events

EU Foreign Ministers Meet in Cyprus