MARKET NEWS ROUND UP, UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES COURTESY OF CANTOR INDEX

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UK Corporate Announcements

Hays announces that markets have been stable overall through the quarter and sees Q1 total fees down around 1%, and states that parts of Asia and Southern Europe have been very difficult

XP Power sees a modest sequential improvement in H2 revenues although nine month revenues have fallen 11% year on year

Rio Tinto states that it plans further cost reductions and stays more cautious on the outlook over the next few quarters

May Gurney states that it is trading in line with its revised forecasts, after its recent profit warning

UK Market News

The World Bank announces that it has cuts its world growth forecasts, stating that the downside risks were rising and expects the global economy to remain difficult for a long time, and sees mildly encouraging signs in Europe

The IMF has also cut its global growth forecasts and warned of even slower expansion unless both the US and European economies address threats to their economies

As part of its announcement the IMF also cuts its outlook on the UK, and stated that additional stimulus from the Bank of England may be required

Barclays announces that it is to buy the assets of ING Direct UK, which has 750 employees and around 1.5m customers and a deposit book of £10.9bn

Mitie announces that it is buying Enara the home care service company for £110m

Informa announces that it is buy Zephyr Associates for $62m in cash

Megafon announces that it is to file for an IPO in London and Moscow this quarter

The Telegraph writes how a member of ENRC’s own board has accused the miner of acting like a ‘lynch mob’ and was ‘morally wrong’

The Times suggest that the Russian oligarchs that are involved in the TNK BP unit have reportedly stated that they now want out of the joint venture

Reckitt Benkiser is in focus after it has confirmed that it had previously failed to disclose that it had pledged £7m shares as collateral for a personal loan to its CEO two years ago, with the FT suggesting it may be probed over the matter

The BAE EADS deal continues to look doubtful as political and shareholder questions remain

The UK sells £1.75bn in 2032 bonds at 10:30

UK Analyst Upgrades

Schroders Raised From Underweight At Morgan Stanley

UK Analyst Cuts

Ferrovial Cut To Equalweight Vs Overweight At Morgan Stanley

Greene King Cut To Equalweight From Overweight At Barclays

UK Insider Buying

Dragon Oil Plc, (DGO), 1 insider(s) bought 10,000 shares, £6.05

Cls Holdings Plc, (CLI), 1 insider(s) bought 81 shares, £7.19

Havelock Europa Plc, (HVE), 1 insider(s) bought 25,000 shares, £0.15

Hydrogen Group Plc, (HYDG), 1 insider(s) bought 8,825 shares, £1.04

Porta Communications P, (PTCM), 1 insider(s) bought 70,000 shares, £0.05

Rolls-Royce Holdings Pl, (RR/), 5 insider(s) bought 1,032 shares, £8.78

UK Insider Selling

Bunzl Plc, (BNZL),  insider(s) sold 29,370 shares, £11.28

G4S Plc, (GFS), 1 insider(s) sold 5,000 shares, £2.68

Hargreaves Lansdown Pl, (HL/),  insider(s) sold 12,650 shares, £6.7

Vitec Group Plc/The, (VTC), 1 insider(s) sold 78,439 shares, £7.12

European Market Summary

As expected European Finance Minister did attempt to give praise to Greek ministers and their determination to cut its budget, and then ‘helpfully’ outlined a list of 89 further steps that Greece needed to implement to stay on track and Merkel is due to meet with Greek PM in Athens today, as Greece declares a ban on public gatherings and Greece is due to sell €1bn in bills today

Bloomberg details how Spanish property foreclosures have increasingly moved up to the middle classes, three years ago for example 80% of foreclosures were made by low income families, now in Madrid around 60% are small business owners, and middle class families

 Moody’s has cut the ratings of Cyprus further into junk territory to B3 with a negative outlook

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Edwards Lilfesciences came off over 15% after hours as it announces Q3 preliminary numbers came in under the forecasts

AngoDynamics came off 4% as it details it is paying $55m to buy Vortex Medical, and also announces Q1 revenues under the expectations

US Market News

KKR flags up that it is looking for deals in the energy sector

UnitedHealth announces that it is to acquire 90% of Amil for around $5bn

Principal Financial announces that it is to Chilean based Cuprum for $1.5bn

Goldman agrees to pay $6.5m to settle charges that it mis-labelled option orders as originating with customer orders, rather than orders from brokers or market makers in one of its units from 2004-2010

A new survey has half of Wall Street workers expecting bonuses this year to be ahead of last year

Twitter continues to be talked about as the next potential major tech IPO, and is already seen talking to consultants on how to avoid any possible backlash, as seen at Facebook

The US election is less than a month away and after the first televised debate Romney has started to make things a little more interesting, President Obama still leads the polls, but Romney has seen a noticeable bump from last week

Alcoa reports today, traditionally seen as the start of the US corporate reporting season which will accelerate into full speed in the next few weeks

Overnight Market News

Asian markets have gained largely overnight, recovering a touch from the slight losses posted yesterday, and as Asian currencies overall are up near seven month highs

Huawei Technologies denies a report that it is looking at a possible US listing soon, and also responds angrily to the suggestions made in the US congress that Chinese spies were getting access to US technology through Huawei and ZTE Corp

China Galaxy Securities one of the largest brokerages in China has gained approval from the State Council for dual mainland and Hong Kong listings, potentially by the end of 2012

Sharp continues its share price falls, and moved down to a 38 year low today after Goldman downgrades it to an outright sell, as Japanese consumer electronics groups continue to lose ground to their Chinese Counterparts

Major Global IPOs Due Today

Ambarella Inc, (AMBA), 6m, USD 9 – 11

Amira Nature Foods Ltd, (ANFI), 9m, USD 13 – 15

Victory Mines Ltd, (VIC), 20m, AUD 0.2

FX Summary

The euro has stayed lower after the IMF outlook cuts and as concerns linger on Spain

Bank of New York Mellon announces that from next month it will charge customers for depositing funds in Swiss francs and Norwegian Kroner, with negative interest rates, as the bank matches moves posted by the respective central banks

Commodity Summary

Washington is reportedly ‘uneasy’ about reports that Iran has been quietly exporting oil supplies to Syria

While Total the oil major has suggested that there was ‘inaccurate pricing’ in the benchmarks for the energy market

Milk prices have stayed strong as US farmers are increasingly seen talking dairy herds to slaughter due to the high feed costs, reducing milk supplies, which has posted its largest contraction in output for over a decade

Gold has seen additional buying interest after the IMF announcements

Economic Data Due

00:01 UK September BRC Sales, -0.4% previous

00:01 UK September RICS, -18% exp. -19% previous

09:30 UK August Industrial Production, -0.5% exp. 2.9% previous

09:30 UK August Total Trade Balance, £2.200 exp. £1,517 previous

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