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

21 Feb 2013

Cantor Opening Call

  • The FTSE is seen opening down around 50 points this morning on the Asian moves

 

UK Corporate Announcements

  • BAE Systems announces a full year underlying EBITA of £1.9bn largely in line with the expectations and sees risks of further reductions in US defence budgets
  • Mondi details that its operating profit ex items has fallen 23% and the stock is down 5% in Johannesburg trading
  • Premier Foods announces a full year operating profit of £96.3m with net debt down to £950m
  • Go Ahead Group states that an H1 operating profit of £51.2m from £51.7m was in line and maintains its full year outlook
  • Micro Focus states that trading is in line
  • Ashmore Group reports an H1 pre-tax profit of £120m from £129m on revenues of £163m from £181m ahead of the forecasts
  • Ladbrokes states that economic conditions remain challenging as it reports a full year operating profit of £206m on revenues of £1.08bn just ahead of the forecasts, and details it plans further trading developments throughout the year
  • Kingfisher reports that Q4 sales fell 1% on constant currency basis to £2.39bn, with UK LFL sales down 5.8% worse than the forecasts of around 4.8% seen, stating Q4 was impacted by poor weather and weak consumer confidence
 

UK Market News

  • The UK pound fell yesterday after the Bank of England meeting minutes as it suggested that King was looking for additional QE
  • The FT writes on how major shareholders at RSA Insurance have criticised the group’s decision to cut its dividend by a third
  • Shareholders in Bumi meet today to vote on whether to back the current board or the proposal from Rothschild
  • The chief of Travis Perkins has called on the chancellor to introduce radical measures to kickstart the economy
  • The Times suggests that Countrywide is preparing for a return to the market, after delisting and going private 6 years ago
  • Ofgem today details that its proposed new standards of conduct come into force this summer, where it asks the energy firms to make simpler, clearer and fairer bills
  • The UK sells £2.25bn in bonds at 11:30
 

UK Analyst Changes

  • Barclays Pt Raised To 400P Vs 290P At Bernstein
  • Barclays Raised To Outperform Vs Marketperform At Bernstein
  • Bhp Billiton Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Citi
  • Rsa Raised To Neutral Vs Reduce At Nomura
  • Weir Group Raised To Overweight Vs Neutral At Jpmorgan
 

UK Insider Buying

  • Debenhams Plc, (DEB), 1 insider(s) bought 50000 shares, £0.97
  • International Greetings, (IGR), 1 insider(s) bought 20000 shares, £0.48
 

UK Insider Selling

  • Arm Holdings Plc, (ARM),  insider(s) sold 62538 shares, £9.4
  • Carr’S Milling Industri, (CRM), 1 insider(s) sold 2250 shares, £10.79
  • Fidessa Group Plc, (FDSA), 1 insider(s) sold 1050 shares, £19.47
  • Fortune Oil Plc, (FTO), 1 insider(s) sold 478338 shares, £0.1
  • Rathbone Brothers Plc, (RAT),  insider(s) sold 14803 shares, £14.03
  • Reckitt Benckiser Grou, (RB/), 1 insider(s) sold 430 shares, £46.1
  • Rio Tinto Plc, (RIO), 1 insider(s) sold 18668 shares, £36.8
  • Synergy Health Plc, (SYR), 1 insider(s) sold 19493 shares, £10.2
 

FTSE 100 Movers

Major European Companies Reporting

  • Allianz SE, R, 11.271,  Ashmore Group PLC, S1, 0.126,  AtoS, R, 3.833,  AXA SA, R, 1.863,  BAE Systems PLC, R, 0.341,  Casino Guichard Perrachon SA, R, 4.936,  Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentacion SA, R, 0.26,  Filtrona PLC, R, 0.309,  Fonciere Des Regions, R, 5.238,  GN Store Nord A/S, R, 2.864,  Informa PLC, R, 0.395,  Ladbrokes PLC, R, 0.174,  Lundbergforetagen AB, R, 19.75,  Mondi PLC, R, 0.656,  Natixis, R, 0.291,  OMV AG, R, 4.439,  Rhoen Klinikum AG, R, 0.708,  Safran SA, R, 1.957,  Schneider Electric SA, R, 3.82,  Swiss Re AG, R, 9.802,  Technip SA, R, 4.564,  Tenaris SA, R, 1.483
 

European Market Summary

  • The chief of EADS has stated that he has not yet entirely given up on a merger with BAE Systems
  • The chairman of the French Building Federation has urged Hollande to prod the major French insurers to invest more of the €1.38tn of domestic life insurance policies into new housing
  • Spain sells bonds at 10:30
  • And France sells notes and bonds at 10:50
 

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

  • PegaSystems gained 19% in late trading as it announces record Q4 numbers and gives a positive outlook for 2013
  • VeriFone was the major mover, off over 30% as it announces details poor Q1 numbers and also cuts its outlook for Q2 citing weakness in Europe and lower than expected sales in Brazil
 

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

  • American International Group Inc, Q4, -0.084,  Cabot Oil & Gas Corp, Q4, 0.217,  Chesapeake Energy Corp, Q4, 0.14,  CMS Energy Corp, Q4, 0.236,  Denbury Resources Inc, Q4, 0.285,  Ensco PLC, Q4, 1.27,  Flowserve Corp, Q4, 2.843,  Frontier Communications Corp, Q4, 0.063,  Hewlett-Packard Co, Q1, 0.705,  Hormel Foods Corp, Q1, 0.484,  Host Hotels & Resorts Inc, Q4, 0.375,  Intuit Inc, Q2, 0.321,  Newmont Mining Corp, Q4, 0.974,  Nordstrom Inc, Q4, 1.347,  Patterson Cos Inc, Q3, 0.519,  PG&E Corp, Q4, 0.589,  Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, Q4, 0.387,  Public Storage, Q4, 1.778,  Safeway Inc, Q4, 0.749,  SCANA Corp, Q4, 0.779,  Southwestern Energy Co, Q4, 0.435,  Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Q4, 1.571
 

US Market News

  • OfficeMax and Office Depot issue a release detailing merger terms
  • The VIX gained quite sharply yesterday after the US Fed meeting minutes which has some policy makers stating that the central bank should show more flexibility
  • The New York Times details that is looking to sell its Boston Globe and other New England based properties in order to focus on its main flagship title
  • The head of US based tyre firm Titan has done his bit for US French relations as he states that it would be stupid to invest in France as workers only put in three hours a day
 

Overnight Market News

  • China has asked for additional property curbs, causing the CSI 300 to come off 3.7% overnight
  • Sony details that its Playstation 4 will have increase movie and music functionality and also increased social media connections, as it looks to regain the dominance in the market after the success in recent years of Microsoft’s Xbox
  • The FT details that Foxconn has frozen recruitment across the majority of its factories in China as production of Apple’s iPhone slows
 

Economic Data Due

  • 09:00 Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, 47.9 previous
  • 13:30 US Januray CPI, 0.1% exp. 0.0% previous
  • 13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims
  • 15:00 US January Existing Home Sales, 4.91m exp. 4.94m previous
  • 15:00 US January Leading Indicators, 0.2% exp. 0.5% previous
 

Economic Events

  • NATO Defence Ministers Meet in Brussels
  • Fed’s Bullard Speaks in New York
 

US Leading Indicators

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