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

UK Corporate Announcements

Ferrexpo details that Q3 pellet production from own ore gained 2.8% and total output gained 0.9%

Netplay states that it has had a strong Q3 performance and stays confident on its outlook

Thorntons states that trading has been in line with the forecasts

UK Market News

The chief of BAE flew into Toulouse yesterday after reports that they BAE and EADS are going to ask for more time to work out the details of the planned deal, the current deadline is for 17:00 today

The Telegraph writes on how experts have warned that the value of British pension pots are in ‘free fall’ as annuity rates fall by record amounts

The FT details how Mervyn King has stated that while there is no technical limit to QE, the Bank of England ultimately will have to face up to monetary policy limits as a tool to stimulate the economy

Putin has reportedly backed a plan by BP to sell its 50% stake in TNK BP to Rosneft

RBS continues to sell off assets with reports that it has sold two buildings in Frankfurt and Berlin to AXA in reportedly the largest commercial real estate deals in Germany this year

A number of papers today write on market talk of possible M&A activity involving Man Group

Asos confirms that Kate Bostock is joining the company and that its current product director has resigned

FTSE 100 Ex dividends (net): Kingfisher PLC, KGF, (3.09),  Smith & Nephew PLC, SN/, ($0.099),  TESCO PLC, TSCO, (4.63),  Wolseley PLC, WOS, (40g),  WPP PLC, WPP, (8.80)

Estimated FTSE 100 Dividend Impact: 4.1 points

FTSE 250 Ex dividends (net): Balfour Beatty PLC, BBY, (5.60),  Cobham PLC, COB, (2.40),  Daejan Holdings PLC, DJAN, (51),  Hays PLC, HAS, (1.67), Murray International Trust PLC, MYIB, (2012/10/12),  Rightmove PLC, RMV, (9),  SIG PLC, SHI, (1),  Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC, SPX, (16),  Travis Perkins PLC, TPK, (8),  Unite Group PLC, UTG, (1),  Yule Catto & Co PLC, YULC, (2.20)

FTSE Small Share Ex dividends (net): Keller Group PLC, KLR, (7.60),  Lowland Investment Company PLC, LWI, (7.50),  Pacific Horizon Investment Trust PLC, PHI, (1.50)

UK Analyst Upgrades

Lancashire Raised To Buy Vs Neutral At Bofaml

UK Analyst Cuts

Capita Cut To Sector Perform Vs Outperform At Rbc

Smith & Nephew Rated New Sell At Socgen, Pt 604P

UK Insider Buying

Asian Plantations Ltd, (PALM), 1 insider(s) bought 5,000 shares, £2.35

Incadea Plc, (INCA), 1 insider(s) bought 20,000 shares, £0.97

Ipplus Plc, (IPP), 1 insider(s) bought 40,000 shares, £0.16

Purecircle Ltd, (PURE), 1 insider(s) bought 10,000 shares, £2.15

UK Insider Selling

Johnston Press Plc, (JPR), 1 insider(s) sold 52,338 shares, £0.08

European Market Summary

Part of the IMF’s statements yesterday was the estimate that European banks may need to sell as much as $4.5tn in assets through 2013 if the policy makers were to fall short of the assurances of stemming the financial crisis, the estimate is up 18% from its estimate given in April

L’Oreal has responded to talk and denies that it is looking to sell its Body Shop arm

Ireland’s Noonan has rejected the EU Financial Tax Plan due to fears over job losses

Moody’s announces that it has downgraded Fiat to Ba3 from Ba2 and keeps the negative outlook

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Costco Wholesale Corp, Q4, 1.306,  Host Hotels & Resorts Inc, Q3, 0.205,  Progressive Corp/The, Q3, 0.261

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):- Accenture PLC, ACN, (.81),  Masco Corp, MAS, (.075),  Oracle Corp, ORCL, (.06),  Pall Corp, PLL, (.25),  Roper Industries Inc, ROP, (.1375),  Yum! Brands Inc, YUM, (.335)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Yum Brands announces Q3 adjusted EPS gained 23% and ahead of the expectations, and gained 4% after hours on the news

Commonwealth REIT was amongst the major fallers, off over 9% as it announces it was cutting its dividend by 50%

Ferro came off 8% as it cuts its full year forecasts and that it is exploring options for its solar unit

US Market News

Alcoa yesterday evening cuts its aluminium demand outlook, citing slower Chinese demand, and stated that the LME aluminium price has decoupled from market fundamentals

Ahead of potential IPO talk Twitter is in the news as its ‘mastermind’ Jack Dorsey has reportedly stepped back from day to day operations to focus on his payments firm Square

Bloomberg continues to dissect the Facebook IPO and writes on how the SEC effectively ordered Facebook to drop certain claims made about the effectiveness of ads linked to customers friend’s without backing the claims up with Nielsen research, and that only after this pressure did Facebook remove the claims ahead of its IPO

September sales growth for EBay and Amazon slowed with some suggesting that increased targeted advertising on Google is filtering out much of the additional buying that can occur through more general online shopping

Overnight Market News

Asian markets have had a broadly softer session as markets hope that the slightly disappointing tone set be Alcoa will not set the tone for the upcoming US corporate reporting season

Sino-Forest announces that its President Kai Kit Poon is no longer employed at the firm made infamous by the Muddy Waters reports into its questionable/fraudulent accounting methods, which has been missed by international authorities and auditors

Sources suggest that Aluminium Corp of China may cut the size of a planned Peruvian mining unit IPO by half, down to $400m

The tension between China and Japan stays high and China’s central bank governor is not expected to go to the IMF and World Bank meetings scheduled in Japan this week

Major Global IPOs Due Today

Garrison Capital Inc, (GARS), 5m, USD 15 – 17

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc, (ICPT), 4.3m, USD 13 – 15

KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals Inc, (KYTH), 4m, USD 14 – 16

Realogy Holdings Corp, (RLGY), 40m, USD 23 – 27 

Shutterstock Inc, (SSTK), 4.5m, USD 13 – 15

FX Summary

A Bloomberg survey has analysts forecasting that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will probably slow the pace of appreciation when they meet next week

The Iranian rial is officially trading at 25,480 on the licensed currency houses, but is seeing little flow as most transactions are still occurring off the official markets at around 35,000 rials to the dollar

Commodity Summary

Metals in general will be in focus after Alcoa stated yesterday that the price of Aluminium has decoupled from supply and demand as it was being affected by concerns over the European debt crisis and the slowdown in China and warns that this pricing situation can ‘reverse very, very quickly’ Aluminium currently trades around $2,200/ton from $3,300 around the financial crisis in 2008

Economic Data Due

15:00 US August Wholesale Inventories, 0.4% exp. 0.7% previous

19:00 US Fed’s Beige Book