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

UK Corporate Announcements

IAG announces Q3 EBIT of €263m ahead of the forecasts of €231m seen, and states that Iberia continues to cause concern, and will cut 4,500 jobs in the unit

Hammerson states that it remains cautious on the economic outlook in Europe

Rolls Royce announces that it expects good growth in full year underlying profit and keeps its full year outlook unchanged apart from its Marine unit which now only expects flat revenues

Rentokil Initial reports a Q3 pre-tax profit of £36m on revenues of £36m and states that it remains cautious

Lonmin details a planned $817m rights issue at 140p/share and gives a guidance for full year 2013 of 680,000pt oz of saleable metals

Hornby announces H1 revenues of £27m and states that it is facing short term challenges

Tullet Prebon reports year to date revenues fell 5% to £731m and that market conditions still challenging

Anite states that total trading conditions for the group in H1 have been encouraging

UK Market News

The MPC as expected left rates unchanged yesterday and also froze its asset purchasing scheme

The Times highlights how Balfour Beatty has suffered in recent months citing a lack of major projects and despite the support of the contract to build the 2012 aquatic centre, the stock started the week at 320, and closed yesterday after a surprise profit warning down at 250

The paper also details an interesting fact that BTG, which announced results yesterday, brings in revenues of more than $10,000 each time an American hiker gets bitten by a rattlesnake, due to the costs in producing the anti-venom

The Telegraph writes on how a whistleblower has provided UK tax authorities with every British client of HSBC in Jersey

The WSJ suggests that Diageo may pay $1.8bn for United Spirits

A few of the papers today report on market M&A talk on Speedy Hire

The UK sells £2.5bn in bills today

UK Analyst Upgrades

Admiral Raised To Buy Vs Underperform At Bofaml

Burberry Pt Raised To 1,400P Vs 1,300P At Berenberg, Stays Buy

Carphone Warehouse Raised To Neutral Vs Underperform At Bofaml

Croda Raised To Equalweight From Underweight At Barclays

Delta Lloyd Pt Cut To Eu13 From Eu13.50 At Ing, Stays Buy

Michael Page Added to UBS’s Most Preferred List; Adecco Cut

Reed Elsevier Pt Raised 3% To 720P At Exane; Kept At Outperform

Signet Jewelers Raised To Buy Vs Neutral At Bofaml

UK Analyst Cuts

Big Yellow Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Citi

Randgold Resources Pt Cut To 7,900P Vs 8,300P At Morgan Stanley

Spirent Cut To Add From Buy At Numis

UK Insider Buying

Admiral Group Plc, (ADM), 1 insider(s) bought 97,500 shares, £10.22

Barr (A.G.) Plc, (BAG), 1 insider(s) bought 6,590 shares, £4.41

Firstgroup Plc, (FGP), 1 insider(s) bought 30,534 shares, £1.97

Petroceltic Internation, (PCI), 1 insider(s) bought 140,000 shares, £0.09

Sierra Rutile Ltd, (SRX), 1 insider(s) bought 125,000 shares, £0.5

Smith & Nephew Plc, (SN/), 2 insider(s) bought 1,836 shares, £6.54

UK Insider Selling

Hays Plc, (HAS),  insider(s) sold 25,000 shares, £0.82

Renishaw Plc, (RSW), 1 insider(s) sold 4,740 shares, £18.04

Major European Companies Reporting

Aker Solutions ASA, Q3, 1.946,  Alcatel-Lucent/France, Q3, -0.029,  Beiersdorf AG, Q3, 0.486,  Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Q3, 0.031,  Spirent Communications PLC, Q3, 0.036

European Market Summary

The ECB as expected left rates unchanged yesterday and the ECB president stated that its Outright Monetary Transactions had visibly improved market confidence

The FT writes that the UK ambassador ‘forcefully’ stated that the UK government could not agree to the full banking supervision package until the issue of its possible dominance over EU rulemaking was solved

Credit Agricole announces a Q3 loss of €2.85bn worse than the forecasts, with additional losses tied to its Greek unit

The Russian Central bank has left its refinancing rate unchanged at 8.25%

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Kayak Software the specialist search company gained 26% after hours as it announces it was being acquired by Priceline.com for $40/share

Disney came off 2% as it announces adjusted Q4 EPS in line with the forecasts but on revenues that just missed the consensus

Groupon came off 15% after hours as it announces that international coupons decline and as its Q3 revenues missed the forecasts

Nvidia gained 2% as it announces Q3 earnings ahead of the estimates due chips used in tablet computers

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Ameren Corp, Q3, 1.41,  Covidien PLC, Q4, 0.998,  JC Penney Co Inc, Q3, -0.155

US Market News

The focus on the US remains on the fiscal cliff, with the CBO stating that fiscal tightening would cut 3% points from GDP

US press in recent days has noted the share price falls in Apple, from its record highs above $700, to $537 yesterday, with the latest numbers suggesting that Samsung’s Galaxy S3 is not the world’s best selling smartphone

Overnight Market News

China’s October consumer inflation was lower than forecasted, coming in at 1.7%, against calls of 1.9%

China currently has no exchange traded products backed by gold, however planned ETPs expected to be launched in 2013 are likely to further boost local demand

Major Global IPOs Due Today

CJ Hellovision Co Ltd, (037560), 18.8924m, KRW 16000

FX Summary

The euro has moved down towards 2 month lows as concerns continue that Greece will not be able to secure the required additional bailout funds, as an EU official states that euro area finance ministers may not make a decision on unlocking funds for Greece until the end of the month

The Bank of Korea has left its interest rates unchanged at 2.75%

The RBA has cut its GDP outlook for 2013 citing weaker mining and fiscal tightening

Brazil’s real has fallen to its lowest level in a month after talk that the central bank will maintain its policy of intervention to support exporters

Commodity Summary

Morgan Stanley suggests that Corn may beat all other commodities in H1 2013, and could gain as much as 34%

Economic Data Due

09:30 UK September Visible Trade Balance, -£9,150 exp. -£9,844 previous

13:30 US October Import Price Index m/m, 0.0% exp. 1.1% previous

14:55 US November Uni of Michigan Confidence, 82.5 exp. 82.6 previous

15:00 US September Wholesale Inventories, 0.4% exp. 0.5% previous