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MARKET NEWS ROUND UP, UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES COURTESY OF CANTOR INDEX

  • The FTSE is called to open down 10 this morning
 
 
 
UK Corporate Announcements
  • Halfords announces an H1 gross profit of £246.3m with H1 group revenues up 0.4% to £455.6m and maintains its outlook
  • Intermediate Capital announces assets under management of €12.1bn up 6% from the end of the year
  • Qinetiq details H1 revenues of £685m under the expectations of £720m seen, but confirms its full year targets
  • Hyder Consulting reports H1 sales gained 8% to £150m and an adjusted EPS of 23.81p
  • Compass Group reports full year revenues of £16.9bn largely in line with the forecasts and announces a £400m share buyback
  • Johnson Matthey details H1 sales of £4.89bn down 17% and that the market environment remains difficult and that the European vehicles market remains subdued
  • French Connection states that UK/European retail performance has improved but that the market remains inconsistent
  • UK Mail states that the competitive environment is set to remain tough and that trading has been largely in line
 
UK Market News
  • Xstrata stays in the news after shareholders approved the merger yesterday and with around 70 managers seen possibly leaving the company after the £144m in bonus payments were blocked
  • Martin Weale, Bank of England policy maker, states that the rate of UK inflation remains a concern and more stimulus could add more pressure
  • Capital & Counties gained approval yesterday from Kensington & Chelsea borough council to develop a 19 acre site currently occupied by the Earls Court Exhibition Centre for a hotel, offices and 900 homes
  • Chancellor Osborne is due to testify to the UK Parliament Banking Panel at 09:30
  • The UK Culture Secretary today confirms that the government is to renew the licenses for ‘Channel 3 and Channel 5’ for another 10 years
  • FTSE 100 Ex dividends (net): Carnival PLC, CCL, ($0.25),  J Sainsbury PLC, SBRY, (4.80),  Next PLC, NXT, (31),  Vedanta Resources PLC, VED, ($0.21),  Vodafone Group PLC, VOD, (3.27)
  • Estimated FTSE 100 Ex Dividend Impact 7 points
  • FTSE 250 Ex dividends (net): Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, ERM, (14.75),  Great Portland Estates PLC, GPOR, (3.30),  HICL Infrastructure Co Ltd, HICL, (3.425),  Invensys PLC, ISYS, (1.75),  London & Stamford Property PLC, LSP, (3.50),  Morgan Crucible Co PLC, MGCR, (3.60),  Synergy Health PLC, SYR, (7.90),  TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC, TALK, (3.45)
  • FTSE Small Share Ex dividends (net): Hill & Smith Holdings PLC, HILS, (5.80),  Keystone Investment Trust PLC, KIT, (30.50),  Metric Property Investments PLC, METP, (1.8g),  Ruffer Investment Company Ltd, Schroder Oriental Income Fund Ltd, SOI, (4.1g),  Securities Trust of Scotland PLC, STS, (1.15)
 
FTSE 100 Movers
 
 
UK Analyst Upgrades
  • British Land Raised To Overweight At Morgan Stanley
  • Direct Line Insurance Rated New Outperform at RBC Capital
  • Direct Line Rated New Neutral At Goldman, Pt 234P
  • Endeavour, Amara Rated New Buy At Goldman
  • Land Securities Raised To Overweight At Morgan Stanley
  • Lloyds Raised To Equalweight Vs Underweight At Morgan Stanley
 
UK Analyst Cuts
  • Avocet Mining Cut To Sell Vs Neutral At Goldman
  • Hammerson Cut To Equalweight Vs Overweight At Morgan Stanley
  • Paragon Group of Cos Cut to Sector Perform at RBC Capital
 
UK Insider Buying
  • Jarvis Securities Plc, (JIM), 1 insider(s) bought 1197 shares, £1.68
  • Penna Consulting Plc, (PNA), 1 insider(s) bought 20000 shares, £0.88
 
UK Insider Selling
  • Bp Plc, (BP/), 1 insider(s) sold 60452 shares, £4.31
  • Getech Group Plc, (GTC),  insider(s) sold 550000 shares, £0.42
  • Mucklow ( A & J ) Group, (MKLW),  insider(s) sold 47382 shares, £3.56
 
Global Footprint
 
 
Major European Companies Reporting
  • Compass Group PLC, R, 0.426,  Johnson Matthey PLC, S1, 0.738,  QinetiQ Group PLC, S1, 0,  Zodiac Aerospace, R, 5.8
 
European Market Summary
  • Naturally UBS is back in the headlines after Adoboli was given a 7 year sentence yesterday, and should serve around 2-3 years in prison, so far the thrust of the market anger on the story is on Adoboli and not the culture and environment at UBS that allowed the events to occur
  • While Deutsche Bank’s Jain states that he still sees ‘significant’ banking consolidation ahead
  • BASF announces today an offer at Nok12.5/share for Pronova
  • European Finance Ministers have failed to agree on a new debt reduction package for Greece, as it saw resistance from the IMF, its debt burden is expected to reach 190% of GDP in 2014
  • Credit Suisse detailed yesterday it plans to split off its investment bank from its Swiss banking operations, citing the ‘new regulatory reality’
  • At 11:30 Germany sells €4bn in 10 year notes and Portugal sells bills at
 
Major US Stock Movers After Hours
  • Salesforce.com announces quarterly revenues of $788m ahead of the forecasts and sees full year revenues topping $3bn
  • Novetel Wireless came off 5% as S&P details that it is to be replaced by Banner in the S&P 600 after November 27
 
S&P 500 Companies Reporting
  • CareFusion Corp, Q1, 0.428,  Deere & Co, Q4, 1.88
 
US Market News
  • Hewlett Packard yesterday took a record $8.8bn impairment charge related to its purchase of Autonomy last year, and cites that as much as $5bn of this was due to the accounting practises of Autonomy, although analysts already suggest that the accounting does not appear fraudulent and that HP simply paid significantly more than it should of done in last year’s acquisition
  • The UK technology sector will be affected by the story , as Mike Lynch, often dubbed the UK’s Bill Gates, founder of Autonomy, has helped numerous technology start ups in the UK
  • Steve Cohen, once a manager at SAC Capital is the latest name to be involved in a high profile insider trading case, involving illegal tips on clinical trial results
  • The WSJ suggests that News Corp has expressed an interest in merging its book business with that of CBS
  • Dish Networks states that US proposals to limit power to its planned mobile phone service would crimp the level of service it could provide
  • Bernanke keeps the pressure on the lawmakers as he states that the Fiscal Cliff would pose a substantial threat
 
Overnight Market News
  • The Shanghai Composite dropped under the 2,000 yesterday, under the September lows, but managed to hold onto the psychologically significant level at the close
  • Muddy Water’s continues its attack on Olam International and states that ‘Olam’s disproportionate reaction is extraordinary’
  • People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) is preparing a $3.6bn IPO in Hong Kong, which would be the largest IPO since the $20bn AIA Group listing in 2010
 
Major Global IPOs Due Today
  • Calin Technology Co Ltd, (4976), 8.6m, TWD 43
  • GMB Korea Corp, (013870), 5.71886m, KRW 6000
  • Thintech Materials Technology Co Ltd, (3663), 4.971m, TWD 21
  • YY Inc, (YY), 7.8m, USD 10.5 – 12.5
 
FX Summary
  • The euro has come off against the dollar after the Finance Ministers failed to agree on the deal for Greece and they are expected to continue discussions next week
  • The pound gained a little yesterday after the credit rating downgrade on France and it also sold five year gilts at a fresh record low as safe haven buying continues
 
Economic Data Due
  • 09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes
  • 09:30 UK October PSNCR, -£0.6bn previous
  • 13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims, 395k exp. 439k previous
  • 14:55 US November Uni. of Michigan Confidence, 84.9 exp. 84.9 previous
  • 15:00 US October Leading Indicators, 0.1% exp. 0.6% previous
 
Economic Events
  • Bank of England Financial Policy Committee Meeting
 
US October Leading Indicators
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