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

25 Feb 2013

Cantor Opening Call
  • The FTSE is seen starting the week up around 20 points
 
 
UK Corporate Announcements
  • Bunzl states that the prospects for the group are positive and states it is in talks with a number of potential targets, as it reports a full year pre-tax profit of £323.9m
  • Pearson reports full year sales of £6.11bn largely in line and states that markets generally stayed weak in the developed world and the external environment is expected to stay challenging
  • Bovis Homes announces an operating profit of £56.8m with revenues up 17% to £425m and sees continuing progress in the near future
  • Domino’s Pizza reports a full year pre-tax profit of £49.7m with full year LFL sales up 5% and stays optimistic on the future
  • Genus states that a strong Q2 helped overcome the challenging conditions
  • Hiscox announces a full year pre-tax profit of £217m from £17.3m and states it will distribute all of this year’s profit through a special 38p/share dividend
  • Associated British Foods states that it now sees its H1 results coming in ahead of the expectations
  • Senior announces full year sales gained 14% and an adjusted pre-tax profit of $54m up 69%
  • Persimmon details an underlying pre-tax profit of £225m up 52% with full year home completions up 6% to 9903, and states that it will return 75p/share to investors in June
 
UK Market News
  • The FTSE opens today for the first time since Moody cuts its UK rating, citing continuing weakness in the growth outlook, with Chancellor Osborne stating that he would not change the economic policy in light of the change
  • Citigroup suggests that move could be followed by cuts from other agencies this year and is likely to reinforce official tolerance for a weaker pound to lift exports
  • Moody’s states that it sees ‘considerable financial uncertainty at BP’ ahead of the start of its trial over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill starts
  • RBS is reportedly looking at a move to list part of its US business
  • Intu Properties details that it is in advanced talks to buy Midsummer Place Shopping Centre in Milton Keynes
  • Ofcom announces that it proposed to cut the high speed data link prices
 
UK Analyst Changes
  • Antofagasta Raised To Buy Vs Neutral At Bofaml
  • Big Yellow Cut To Hold Vs Add At Numis
  • British Land Cut To Hold Vs Add At Numis
  • Hansteen Cut To Reduce Vs Hold At Numis
  • Intu Properties Cut To Reduce Vs Hold At Numis
  • Sabmiller Cut To Equalweight Vs Overweight At Barclays
  • Standard Chartered Pt Raised To 1,920P Vs 1,800P At Ubs
  • Vedanta Cut To Sector Perform Vs Outperform At Rbc
 
UK Insider Buying
  • Ashmore Group Plc, (ASHM), 1 insider(s) bought 25000 shares, £3.62
  • Conygar Investment Co, (CIC), 1 insider(s) bought 40000 shares, £1.06
  • Digital Barriers Plc, (DGB), 1 insider(s) bought 63800 shares, £1.88
  • Green Compliance Plc, (GCO), 1 insider(s) bought 500000 shares, £0.02
  • Marks & Spencer Group, (MKS), 1 insider(s) bought 3000 shares, £3.8
  • Premier Foods Plc, (PFD), 5 insider(s) bought 864726 shares, £0.94
  • Txo Plc, (TXO), 1 insider(s) bought 10000000 shares, £0
 
UK Insider Selling
  • Arm Holdings Plc, (ARM),  insider(s) sold 145000 shares, £9.32
  • Bank Of Georgia Holdin, (BGEO), 1 insider(s) sold 7125 shares, £13.62
  • Character Group Plc, (CCT), 2 insider(s) sold 94000 shares, £1.35
  • Lo-Q Plc, (LOQ),  insider(s) sold 330000 shares, £5.03
  • Mondi Plc, (MNDI), 4 insider(s) sold 233998 shares, £8.48
  • Rathbone Brothers Plc, (RAT), 1 insider(s) sold 2924 shares, £13.83
 
FTSE 100 Movers
 
 
Major European Companies Reporting
  • Bunzl PLC, R, 0.701,  Exor SpA, R, 2.875,  Pearson PLC, R, 0.841,  Persimmon PLC, R, 0.533,  PostNL NV, R, 0.601
 
European Market Summary
  • The UK AAA rating change by Moody will increase the focus on the Italian election, with voting ending at 3pm today on concerns an unclear winner could result in additional delays in required structural changes which could as a result affect its rating
  • Bloomberg details how the correlation between the Euro Stoxx 50 and the MSCI All Country Index has dropped to 77% the lowest since 2008, and up from the near record of 90% April last year, as the debate on the euro structure continues to act as a drag on the markets
  • Heinz announces that it is to sells its China packaged food business to Zhengzhou Sanquan Foods, which gained 4% overnight on the news, on February 14th Heinz agreed to sell itself to Berkshire Hathaway for $23bn
  • Italy sells €3bn in bonds at 11:00, Germany sells €3bn in bills at 11:30 and France sells €7bn in bills at 14:50
 
S&P 500 Companies Reporting
  • Autodesk Inc, Q4, 0.493,  Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Q4, 1793.24,  FirstEnergy Corp, Q4, 0.794,  Health Care REIT Inc, Q4, 0.841,  Lowe’s Cos Inc, Q4, 0.231,  ONEOK Inc, Q4, 0.45
 
US Market News
  • The White House states that there seems to be nothing the Republicans are saying to suggest that by Friday’s deadline they will change their position on automatic spending cuts
  • Barron’s suggest that ADT could gain 20% as more customers user smart phones to check in on their home systems, and also flagged up analyst that saw value in, Affymax, Coach, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Global Power, Suncor and Titan International
  • Barnes & Noble details that its chairman is considering a bookstore buyout and spinning off its Nook media division which has announced worse than expected revenue projections
  • Bloomberg details that hedge funds have reduced their net long position in old future by 40% last week, the largest drop since July 2007, as concerns grow that the Fed will slow the stimulus program
  • Quick update on the Oscars: Daniel Day Lewis has won his third Oscar in a leading role, Jennifer Lawrence – Best Actress, Christopher Waltz, Supporting Actor, Anne Hathaway, Supporting Actress, Argo wins best film
 
Overnight Market News
  • The yen has now moved to a 30 month low and Japanese equity markets gain as the bank of Japan narrows down on the list for governor of the central bank and as the stimulus talk continues
  • South Korea has urged North Korea to stop wasting its scarce resources on its nuclear ambitions
 
Economic Data Due
  • 09:30 UK January BBA Loans, 34k exp. 33.6k previous
  • 13:30 US January Chicago Activity Index, 0.02 previous
 
Economic Events
  • Bank of Canada Carney speaks in London, Ontario
 
UK BBA Loans
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