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

UK Corporate Announcements

Hikma Pharma announces H1 profit of $40.4m on revenues of $532m on sales of $532m

Carclo states that it is trading in line with its expectations

Micro Focus announces plans to return 50p/share to shareholders, as it keeps its full year guidance unchanged

Xaar announces H1 revenues of £37.9m and an H1 adjusted pre-tax profit of £6.7m

BATM announces an H1 gross profit of $17.8m on revenues of $53.2m and states its telecom unit is poised to return to growth

UK Market News

UK Business press details how the Bank of England role has become a little more complex after the economic data yesterday had job growth, amidst the output falls

The FT writes that Barrick Gold is looking to capitalise on the historically high gold prices as it reportedly looks at a possible sale of its 74% stake in African Barrick, and Barrick responds to the speculation and confrims the talks, but states they are at a preliminary stage

The Telegraph writes that BDO has agreed to buy PKF, BDO is currently the 6th largest accountancy firm in the UK

Manchester United is expected to announced today the signing of Robin Van Persie from Arsenal, though to be in a deal worth around £24m, which would be the first move of a player directly from Arsenal to Manchester United in premier League history

The Independent suggests that Russian Railways is considering a possible London IPO in 2015-2016

The HMRC has launched a Top 20 most wanted list, with a picture gallery of the Top 20 most wanted UK tax evaders, who in total owe around £765m

The UK is to sell £1.5bn in 2034 bonds at 11:30

UK Analyst Upgrades

Shire Raised to overweight at Barclays

UK Analyst Cuts

Vodafone Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Bofaml

UK Insider Buying

Anglo Pacific Group Plc, (APF LN), 1 insider(s) bought 3,280 shares, £2.4

UK Insider Selling

Moneysupermarket.Com, (MONY), 1 insider(s) sold 1,550,000 shares, £1.4

Pz Cussons Plc, (PZC),  insider(s) sold 100,844 shares, £3.08

Travis Perkins Plc, (TPK),  insider(s) sold 51,776 shares, £10.92

Major European Companies Reporting

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, S1, 0,  SBM Offshore NV, S1, 1.075,  Novozymes A/S, Q2, 1.521,  Zurich Insurance Group AG, S1, 14.4,  Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster NV, S1, 1.07,  Aalberts Industries NV, S1, 0.685,  Telekom Austria AG, Q2, 0.1,  William Demant Holding A/S, S1, 11.815,  NCC AB, Q2, 4.848,  Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC, S1, 0.2

European Market Summary

Deloitte details a new survey which expects Italy to sell off more bad loans, with 70% of the Italian bank executives polled expecting an increase bad loans this year

The CEO of Etihad states that he is interested in Ryanair’s stake in Aer Lingus

Santander is reportedly seeking as much as $4bn in the IPO of its Santander Mexico unit

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Dollar Tree Inc, Q2, 0.47,  GameStop Corp, Q2, 0.162,  Gap Inc/The, Q2, 0.478,  Perrigo Co, Q4, 1.265,  Ross Stores Inc, Q2, 0.806

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):-  FLIR Systems Inc, FLIR, (.07),  Honeywell International Inc, HON, (.3725),  Moody’s Corp, MCO, (.16),  Ryder System Inc, R, (.31),  Snap-on Inc, SNA, (.34),  United Parcel Service Inc, UPS, (.57)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Cisco gained 4.8% and as it announced quarterly profit ahead of the forecasts, as it gains networking customers  after a series of price reductions, on the back of the positive news the likes of Juniper and Riverbed also gained around 2%

NetApp also gained 5% in late trading as it announces a Q1 EPS ahead of the forecasts and confirms its outlook

Agilent Tech however fell 6  as it announces a lower forecasts for Q4 EPS and also trims its full year outlook as it sees customers delaying orders

US Market News

New York attorney general has sent subpoenas to RBS, HSBC, Barclays and others as the investigations into Libor rate manipulations continue

Morgan Stanley is in the news as it details that it has been fined $450,000 after a former junior trader in 2009 was allowed to breach his set trading limits, which resulted in a trading loss of $14.9m

Sources suggests that Dish Network is looking to introduce a US wide satellite broadband service using the Echostar 17 Satellite

The FT suggests that Brazil is planning a $65bn infrastructure stimulus package, while reports suggest that S&P may lift the debt rating of Columbia as economic growth has resulted in lower debt levels

AMR Corp’s American Airlines unit has had an attempt to negate its existing pilots contracts thrown out by the bankruptcy judge

Overnight Market News

The South China Post writes on how Hong Kong has called on Japan to release activists that landed on the disputed Diaoyu islands as the political wrangling continues, with fears that it could escalate into a more serious issue

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao stated that easing inflation would give more room to adjust monetary policy

Citic Pacific the Chinese based state owned steelmaker and property group announces H1 profit fell by 9% as the sector slows and expects the rest of 2012 to remain tough

FX Summary

The dollar moved up to a fresh monthly high against the yen yesterday but eased after housing data reduced the expectations for monetary stimulus

The Malaysian ringgit gained overnight after GDP gained 5.45 from last year, ahead of the expectations of around 4.9% seen

Commodity Summary

Police and local growers suggest that the 40% fall in cocoa bean prices so far this year is creating circumstances where more farmers focus on processing the leaves, as cocoa leaf price have stayed relatively steady over the period

Bloomberg details that the growth of ‘cash for gold’ stores in Southern Europe has slowed, and even reversed in some places, as local households run out of gold jewellery to sell, as it details how some couples have even sold their wedding rings to pay for food and rent

Oil is up at three month highs as US stockpiles have fallen to the lowest in four months, in New York trading back at $94.33

Economic Data Due

09:30 UK July Retail Sales, -0.2% exp. 0.3% previous

10:00 Eurozone July CPI m/m, -0.6% exp. -0.1%

13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims, 365k exp. 361k previous

15:00 US August Philadelphia Fed, -4.0 exp. -12.9 previous