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

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UK Corporate Announcements

Halfords announces group Q2 retail gained 4.3% and that it has a good pipeline of new centres

Victrex states that the positive trend growth in H1 has continued in H2

Carillion states that it is well placed to achieve its medium term targets

Ted Baker reports H1 revenues of £118.6m up 15.4% and states that it was performing well in the uncertain trading environment

UK Market News

The Bank of England rate announcement at 12:00 will be the major focus of attention for UK markets today, followed by the 12:45 ECB rate announcement

Sources suggest that Unilever may be looking to sell off its Skippy peanut butter brand, and could be worth as much as $400m

FirstGroup is reportedly looking at possible legal action over the costs involved in the government U-turn on the West Coast rail franchise

BG confirms that it is to sell its majority stake in Gujarat Gas for around $470m

UK Analyst Upgrades

De La Rue Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

Firstgroup Raised To Neutral From Sell At Ubs

Tate & Lyle Raised To Outperform Vs Neutral At Credit Suisse

UK Analyst Cuts

N Brown Cut To Underperform From Neutral At Exane

Pennon Group Pt Cut 7% To 700P At Exane; Kept At Underperform

Sportingbet Cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank

Tesco Pt Cut 8% To 300P At Exane; Kept At Underperform

UK Insider Selling

Bhp Billiton Plc, (BLT), 3 insider(s) sold 136,985 shares, £19.63

Diageo Plc, (DGE),  insider(s) sold 1,633 shares, £17.59

Major European Companies Reporting

Gerresheimer AG, Q3, 0.703

European Market Summary

The ECB is seen leaving rates unchanged, and the governor of the Bank of Spain is due to speak in parliament today

Turkey has responded with artillery fire after Syrian shelling has killed 5 people

As part of its spending cuts Telefonica is seen selling off its corporate Gulfstream jets and it has confirmed that it does plan an IPO of its German unit

Lagarde has stated that she does not think that the euro area will ‘implode’ in response to a question from a journalist

Spain is due to sell up to €4bn in bonds at 09:30

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):- Campbell Soup Co, CPB, (.29),  Eaton Corp, ETN, (.38)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Nuvasive fell over 23% after hours as it announces a lower Q3 profit than the expectations

Avery Dennison fell 4% as it detailed it has now terminated talks to sell some of its operations with 3M after antitrust concerns

Applied Materials announces it is cutting up to 9% of its staff worldwide

US Market News

The early polls suggest Romney was the gainer from yesterday televised political debates

Nasdaq confirms that it has been forced to cancel a number of trades after a ‘trading glitch’ caused the share price in Kraft Foods to gain 30% yesterday at one stage yesterday

Berry Plastics is seen pricing its IPO at the lower end of the marketed range

HP is in the news for the wrong reasons as its share price falls to a fresh nine year lows as Meg Whitman gave a disappointing view on its medium term outlook

Elliot Capital the hedge fund has seized an Argentinean listed vessel in Ghana as part of its efforts to sue Argentina for the recovery of losses from its default in 2001

Some gasoline stations in Los Angeles have started to close pumps due to supply shortages which have pushed wholesale fuel prices to record highs

Overnight Market News

The FT writes that Singapore is seen putting increasing pressure on Standard Chartered to place more independent directors to its board

Australian retail sales fell by more than expected in August after weaker demand in household goods more than offset gains made in department stores

Major Global IPOs Due Today

Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc, (PLAY), 7.6923m, USD 12 – 14

Dundee Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust, (0590454D), 15.5m, CAD 10

Fleetmatics Group Ltd, (FLTX), 7.8125m, USD 15 – 17

FX Summary

The collapse in the rial has created fresh rioting in Tehran it has now fallen around 66% against the dollar in the past year

The yen has softened a touch as the safe haven status appears less attractive as traders continue to price in a co-ordinated move by central banks to stimulate the economy

Commodity Summary

National Australia Bank states that gold prices are likely to remain high in the near term as the climate of uncertainty will keep demand high

Bloomberg suggests that the four year falls in coal prices may be close to an end as coal producers have been seen cutting output, ahead of the key buying period in the Northern hemisphere

Crude in New York has traded down to $90/barrel today

Economic Data Due

12:00 UK Bank of England Rate Announcement, 0.5% Unchanged exp.

12:45 ECB Rate Announcement, 0.75% Unchanged exp.

13:30 US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, 365k exp. 359k exp.

15:00 US August Factory Orders, -0.2.5% exp. 2.8% previous

19:00 US Fed Meeting Minutes

Economic Events

Merkel Speaks in Berlin

IMF Holds News Briefing