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

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Cantor Opening Call After the strong start to the year yesterday the FTSE is seen starting the day today up around 10 points higher

UK Corporate Announcements Next announces that its sale has started well and that retails sales November to Christmas gained 0.8% John Menzies states that it sees its full year result in line with the expectations

UK Market News The slow market news flow continues with many in the market still not returning to normal working hours until next week The Nationwide states that UK house prices have fallen 1% year on year in December, and down 0.1% in the month Shell states that weather conditions in Alaska are expected to improve today and that salvage teams are expected to better assess the damage to the stranded rig The FT details how the FSA handed down £312m in fines last year, a fresh record, and well up from £89m in 2010 The UK sells £3.75bn in 2017 Bonds at 10:30

UK Analyst Upgrades Ipsen Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan

FTSE 100 Movers

European Market Summary Spanish 10 year yields have dropped to 5.169% the lowest level since March last year CVC Capital Partners agrees to buy Milan based rating agency Cerved Group valued at around €1.13bn France sells Bonds at 14:50 this afternoon

Major US Stock Movers After Hours Mellanox came off 18% as it announces it now sees Q4 revenues coming in under the forecasts Landec gained 5% as it announces Q2 profit more than doubles and lifts its 2013 full year forecasts

S&P 500 Companies Reporting Family Dollar Stores Inc, Q1, 0.746

US Market News The US State Department states that Hilary Clinton has been discharged from hospital and that they expect her to make a full recovery S&P states that its ratings outlook on the US is not affected by the Fiscal Cliff deal The Vix has dropped over 35% in the past two days, following the US budget talks, the largest fall for over 20 years, with the focus already moving to the next phase of budget negotiation seen in the weeks ahead The NY Times suggests that authorities are close to a $10bn settlement with 14 banks over foreclosure abuses Avis Budget Group, the US based car rental chain has agreed to buy the car sharing network Zipcar for around $500m Fears are growing that Hugo Chavez will not be able to attend the inauguration of his fourth term, which could trigger wider constitutional concerns

Overnight Market News A Bloomberg survey has China’s GDP seen gaining 8.1% in 2013 from the 7.7% in 2012 Australian state emergency services have flagged up risks of wildfires as 80% of the continent is hit with temperatures of above 40 degrees Celsius The Japanese equity markets are closed today

FX Update The yen and dollar have both gained as the focus now shifts on whether the US policy makers will be able to reach an agreement when the ‘extraordinary’ measures are set to be exhausted late February The pound has moved up to a 16 month high, keeping up its near term high correlation with the performance of the FTSE

Economic Data Due 07:00 UK December Nationwide House Prices, 0.0% exp. 09:00 Eurozone November M3, 3.5% exp. 13:30 US Initial Jobless Claims, 360k exp.

Economic Events Fed FOMC Meeting Minutes

UK PMI