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

6 Dec 2012
Cantor Opening Call
  • The FTSE is called to open up around 10-15 points higher this morning
 
 
 
UK Corporate Announcements
  • Standard Chartered states that it is in talks that may result in a $330m settlement on the Iran case as it details that it has excellent liquidity and has strong advance-to-deposits ratio
  • DS Smith announces an adjusted pre-tax profit of £106.1m from £65.3m on revenues of £1.67bn from £1bn, just ahead of the expectations
  • PZ Cussons details that it expects to return to profitable growth in the current year and that the trading conditions have remained challenging
  • MicroFocus sees full year sales falling 2-4% with H1 revenues of $207m largely in line
  • Premier Farnell announces Q3 revenues of £233.5m from £241.8m and states that it may make additional costs cuts in Q4
  • Mulberry states that it sees its full year in line as H1 pre-tax profit fell to £10m from £15.6m
  • EasyJet reports a 12 month load factor to November of 88.7% from 87.5% with 59m passengers from 55m
 
UK Market News
  • The Bank of England and ECB will be eyed lunchtime today, although rates are expected to be maintained and the MPC is expected to leave the asset purchase program unchanged
  • The FT suggests that Deutsche Bank may pay $1.8bn to settle money laundering allegations
  • Rentokil has moved up to its highest level for over a year, buoyed by M&A talk
  • Barclays announces that it is to raise its stake in Absa Group to 62.3% as it agrees to combine its African operations with Absa
 
FTSE 100 Movers
 
 
UK Analyst Upgrades
  • Dixons Retail Raised To Overweight From Equalweight At Barclays
  • Mitie Group Raised To Neutral From Underweight At Hsbc
  • Tesco Pt Raised 3% To 310P At Exane; Kept At Underperform
  • Whitbread Raised To Outperform Vs Neutral At Credit Suisse
  • Whitbread Rated New Market Perform at Raymond James
 
UK Analyst Cuts
  • Intercontinental Hotels Cut From Outperform At Credit Suisse
  • Intercontinental Hotels Cut To Neutral At Credit Suisse
  • Hargreaves Lansdown Cut To Equalweight At Morgan Stanley
  • Lancashire Cut To Neutral From Buy At Nomura
 
UK Insider Buying
  • Dialight Plc, (DIA), 1 insider(s) bought 2085 shares, £10.62
  • Sdl Plc, (SDL), 1 insider(s) bought 8830 shares, £4.7
  • Sig Plc, (SHI), 1 insider(s) bought 8600 shares, £1.15
  • United Utilities Group, (UU/), 1 insider(s) bought 3000 shares, £6.87
 
UK Insider Selling
  • Beazley Plc, (BEZ),  insider(s) sold 136211 shares, £1.8
  • Hyder Consulting Plc, (HYC), 1 insider(s) sold 51625 shares, £4.15
  • Shire Plc, (SHP),  insider(s) sold 28150 shares, £18.28
  • Tui Travel Plc, (TT/), 3 insider(s) sold 1218729 shares, £2.77
  • Wetherspoon (J.D.) Plc, (JDW), 1 insider(s) sold 1093 shares, £5.44
 
Global Footprint
 
 
Major European Companies Reporting
  • DS Smith PLC, S1, 0
 
European Market Summary
  • Daimler is selling half of its remaining stake in EADS, the defence group it helped form, to allow it to focus on its core auto business
  • Three former employers at Deutsche Bank have testified to US regulators that the bank covered up paper losses of $12bn during the financial crisis, disputed by the bank which stated that the valuations were proper
  • The CFO of Eni and the CEO of Saipem have resigned as part of an ongoing Italian investigation into contracts secured in Algeria
  • PPR has sold its OneStopPlue large sized clothing business to Charlesbank Capital for $525m
  • S&P has downgraded Greece to SD (Selective Default) from CCC, stating that the current actions under its definitions is a distressed debt restructuring
  • France is due to sell 4.25% bonds at 11:00
 
Major US Stock Movers After Hours
  • Garmin gained 3% after hours after S&P announces it will replace RR Donnelley in the S&P 500
  • Finisar gained 6.3% after hours as it announces Q2 numbers ahead of the estimates
  • Vera Bradley the fashion accessories group lifted its full year targets, but fell 8% as it also detailed lower than expected Q3 numbers
 
S&P 500 Companies Reporting
  • CareFusion Corp, Q1, 0.429, H&R Block Inc, Q2, -0.405
 
US Market News
  • The US has moved within $85.5bn of the $16.394tn debt ceiling
  • Bloomberg highlights how puts on JC Penney have moved out to an all time highs as concerns mount on its turnaround strategy
 
Overnight Market News
  • Japan’s 10 bond futures have gained to a record high this morning ahead of GDP data, as speculation increases that the central bank will further increase debt repurchases
  • Honda details that it is on track to become a net exporter of vehicles from the US as it continues to expand its production outside of Japan
FX Summary
  • The import-weighted Norwegian krone index gained to 85 this week, its highest level since 1999 as safe haven buying moves North, after the recent moves by Credit Suisse to charge negative interest rates on Swiss franc balances
  • The Royal Bank of New Zealand as expected leaves interest rates unchanged at 2.5%
 
Economic Data Due
  • 09:30 UK October Trade Balance, -£3100 exp. -£2699 previous
  • 10:00 Eurozone Q3 GDP, -0.1% exp. -0.1% previous
  • 12:00 UK Bank of England Rate Announcement, 0.5% exp. 0.5% previous
  • 12:45 ECB Rate Announcement, 0.75% exp. 0.75%
  • 13:30 US Weekly Jobless Claims, 380k exp. 393k previous
 
Economic Events
  • EU’s Rehn Speaks at Brussels Think Tank
 
UK Bank of England Official Bank Rate
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