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

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UK Corporate Announcements

Headlam announces an H1 pre-tax profit of £10.8m from £10.4m on revenues of £279.4m from £296m and states that it is gaining market share

Restaurant Group announces an H1 adjusted revenues of £252m and a pre-tax profit of £26.1m and states it stayed strong despite the difficult market

Computacenter reports that it remains on track to meet its full year expectations as cites growth outside of the UK

Marshalls announces H1 revenues of £165.5m down from £177.2m and a pre-tax profit of £9.5m from £13.7m

Lavendon announces H1 revenues gained 8% to £114m and states that current trading is in line

Bwin.Party announces H1 net revenues of €395m from €387m and states that it remains confident on the full year

Charles Taylor announces that its full year results remain dependent on insured events as it announces an H1 adjusted pre-tax profit of £4.4m from £4.5m


UK Market News

The BCC states that the Bank of England is likely to expand its bond buying program again, in what it called a ‘misguided’ move

Redrow announces that it is forming a committee to review an approach at £152/share and urges shareholders to take no action at this stage

The FT details how Qatar’s RasGas has become the latest Middle Eastern energy company to be hit by a severe computer virus attack in the past few weeks

UK press highlights how the UK government has finally agreed to abolish squatters rights, the new offence which comes into force tomorrow means persistent squatters can face a maximum prison sentence of 6 months, a £5,000 fine, or both

RBC and Lloyds have come under pressure to let their basic account holders have access to the cash machines of other providers

The UK judge is expected to announce today his decision on the legal battles between Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky

The UK sells £3bn in bills at 11:10


UK Analyst Upgrades

Admiral Pt Raised 4% To 866P At Exane; Kept At Underperform

GDF Replaced With Sse In Most Preferred Utilities At Ubs


UK Analyst Cuts

WPP Pt Cut 4% To 1,020P At Exane; Kept At Outperform


UK Insider Buying

Astrazeneca Plc, (AZN), 1 insider(s) bought 3,000 shares, £29.5

F&C Asset Management Pl, (FCAM), 1 insider(s) bought 15,000 shares, £0.9

Halfords Group Plc, (HFD), 1 insider(s) bought 21,052 shares, £2.37

TT Electronics Plc, (TTG), 1 insider(s) bought 50,000 shares, £1.48


UK Insider Selling

Bunzl Plc, (BNZL), 1 insider(s) sold 19,167 shares, £11.05

Pennon Group Plc, (PNN),  insider(s) sold 630 shares, £7.41

Vitec Group Plc/The, (VTC),  insider(s) sold 1,740 shares, £6.69


Major European Companies Reporting

Aeroports de Paris, S1, 1.617,  Bankia SA, S1, 0,  Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment PLC, S1, 0.084,  Cie Generale d’Optique Essilor International SA, S1, 1.45,  Etablissements Maurel et Prom, S1, 0,  Eurocommercial Properties NV, R, 1.013,  Hermes International, S1, 3.12,  Iliad SA, S1, -15.96


European Market Summary

The FT writes that the EC is looking to give the ECB oversight of all banks in the euro zone

Germany’s Finance Minister states that cash bonuses for bankers should be capped and require shareholder approval for longer term incentive plans

Moody’s stated late yesterday that it may still cuts its rating on Spain, and that its review will continue through September

Spain is reportedly looking at recapitalising Bankia without aid from the EU

Lufthansa cabin crews are striking today to protest against pay levels

Lagardere is reportedly looking to restart the IPO process of its Canal Plus unit


S&P 500 Companies Reporting

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):-  Avery Dennison Corp, AVY, (.27),  Computer Sciences Corp, CSC, (.20),  Halliburton Co, HAL, (.09),  Kohl’s Corp, KSS, (.32)


Major US Stock Movers After Hours

SAIC gained over 9% in late trading as it announces it was to split into two companies

Splunk gained over 12% as it announces a narrower than expected Q2 loss and increases its full year revenue forecasts

Omnivision also gained over 10% as it states its sees Q1 revenues ahead of the expectations

Zynga came off a touch in late trading on reports that two more Vice president are leaving

Gordman came off 12% as cuts its full year sales forecasts after reporting Q3 numbers under the forecasts


US Market News

US markets move into an extended weekend with markets closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, and with trading seen light ahead of Bernanke’s statements at Jackson Hole due this afternoon

Goldman is seen rethinking plans to offer bonds on a range of music writes, including the songs of Bob Dylan after some limited investor appetite
Twitter is seen launching targeted advertising to its users, based on what the messaging site has learnt about its users

The WSJ suggests that JP Morgan is reviewing the levels of risks with various brokerages that use it to settle trades, so as to better compare the risk levels with the revenues brought in

PepsiCo is reportedly testing a possible new formula for its Diet Pepsi drink

Bloomberg has an interesting article today on how the US financial sector has become accustomed to paying large ‘settlement’ fees, while accepting no guilt,  and that the common practice on Wall Street may have been copied by the likes of Lance Armstrong recent no-contest to drugs charges, and could yet become a model for other sectors


Overnight Market News

Asian markets have had a fairly subdued session ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting due ahead today

The Telegraph writes on how China was warned about “austerity overkill” as Europe’s ‘crumbling demand’ was increasingly affecting Asian exports, but does indicate that it will keep buying eurozone bonds, but as yet has refrained from stating that it would provide meaningful aid

The Standard in China writes on how 214 primary schools have now stated that they will not teach the recently introduced national education on fears it would brainwash the pupils

Beijing Enterprises confirms that it is in talks to buy China Kingway Brewery

A court in Tokyo has ruled that Samsung did not infringe upon Apple patents, while Reuters suggests that both Larry Page at Google and Tim Cook at Apple have been talking behind the scenes on a ‘range of intellectual property matters’

Lenovi responds to market talk and states that it was not yet interested in the US smartphone market

Sources suggest that Nomura is looking to cut costs by as much as $1bn and is set to do so mostly overseas


Major Global IPOs Due Today

Eland Oil & Gas PLC, (0547186D), GBP 1


FX Summary

Safe haven buying in the yen continues after Spain delays asking for formal aid, keeping concerns high of further eurozone shocks

A lobby group for the City of London Corp states that 38% of global FX trades in April were accounted for in the UK, up 1% from a survey six months ago, with twice as many US dollars are traded in the UK than in the US, and also twice as many euros traded in the UK than the eurozone combined


Commodity Summary

The Iranian oil minister has stated that $130 was a reasonable price for oil


Economic Data Due

00:01 UK August GfK Consumer Confidence, -28 exp. -29 previous

00:30 Japan July Jobless Rate, 4.3% exp. 4.3% previous

10:00 Eurozone August CPI Estimate, 2.4% exp. 2.4% previous

10:00 Eurozone Unemployment Rate, 11.3% exp. 11.2% previous

15:00 US July Factory Orders, 2.0% exp. -0.5% previous


Economic Events

WTO Dispute Settlement Body Meets

Bernanke speaks at Jackson Hole

Lagarde speaks at Jackson Hole

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