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

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Fro, January 18, 2013

Cantor Opening Call
  • The FTSE is seen up around 10 points higher today
 
 
UK Corporate Announcements
  • Spectris reports Q4 LFL sales gained 4% with an adjusted operating profit of around £229m, from £201m and will continue to focus on strategic priorities
  • Bovis Homes announces 2012 home completions of 2,355 up 15% with average prices up 5% to £170,700
 
UK Market News
  • The Telegraph writes that investment bankers have been seeking buyers for Pearson’s FT, with a price tag of up to £1bn, against statements from Pearson that denied it has initiated a sale process
  • David Cameron has postponed his planned speech on the EU due to the Algerian news as locals troops storm jihadists, with terrorists and hostages getting killed in the gunfight, only excerpts of his speech are out so far, such as ‘more of the same’ would not be enough to guarantee the EU’s future to Britons
  • The CEO of Game Group states that he would be interested in possibly buying some of the stores held by HMV, also highlighting the opportunities HMV missed as part of its collapse
  • Bloomberg suggests that Glencore International is seeking an extension to this month’s deadline to complete on the Xstrata deal and this morning they detail that have agreed to a new merger long stop date of March 15
  • The FT suggests that the British banking industry is looking to set a deadline of May 2014 for claims from customers alleging mis-selling of PPI insurance
  • The UK sells £500m in bills at 12:10
 
UK Analyst Upgrades
  • Petra Diamonds Rated New Buy At Nomura; Pt 160P
 
UK Analyst Cuts
  • Ashmore Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Ubs
  • Experian Cut To Equalweight Vs Overweight At Morgan Stanley
  • Ferrovial Cut To Neutral Vs Buy At Ubs
  • Gem Diamonds Rated New Reduce At Nomura; Pt 135P
  • Sainsbury Added To Conviction Sell List At Goldman
 
Buy Petra Diamonds / Sell Gem Diamonds Ratio

FTSE 100 Movers
European Market Summary
  • Irish benchmark 2020 note yields dropped to 4.19% yesterday, the lowest for three years, compared to 13% before it was cut to junk status in July 2011, as the market prices in investment grade even if the ratings agencies lag behind
 
Major US Stock Movers After Hours
  • American Greetings gained 8.5% as Weiss Family increases its offer to $17.50/share
  • Capital One Financial fell 7.5% after hours as it announces a 2013 guidance under the forecasts
  • Intel fell 5% after hours as it announced lower Q3 sales citing a slowdown in PC sales, also its official close was brought in early yesterday after the results were reported early
 
S&P 500 Companies Reporting
  • Consolidated Edison Inc, Q4, 0.733,  First Horizon National Corp, Q4, 0.181,  General Electric Co, Q4, 0.431,  Johnson Controls Inc, Q1, 0.507,  Kinder Morgan Inc/Delaware, Q4, 0.359,  Morgan Stanley, Q4, 0.28,  Parker Hannifin Corp, Q2, 1.138,  Progressive Corp/The, Q4, 0.343,  Rockwell Collins Inc, Q1, 0.894,  Schlumberger Ltd, Q4, 1.082,  State Street Corp, Q4, 1.007,  SunTrust Banks Inc, Q4, 0.607
 
US Market News
  • Investigations into Boeing 787 battery faults seem to be focusing down into a defective batch of batteries
  • Lance Armstrong is covered in much of the general press as the first half of his interview aired yesterday, where he effectively stated that he did not feel that he cheated and that he need to take drugs to be able to complete and in order to level the playing field
  • Republicans are reportedly considering a short term debt ceiling increase
  • Morgan Stanley is naming 144 managing directors, the lowest numbers since 2008
  • Reminder there is a market holiday in the US on Monday 21st January, Martin L King Day
 
Overnight Market News
  • Chinese GDP gained 7.9% in Q4 up from last year, and just ahead of the 7.8% expected
  • Qantas announces it has cancelled one of the 15 orders for a Boeing 787 and added 8 short haul planes to its fleet, the announcement was not due to recent battery fault, but is the first order cancellation since the grounding of the aircraft by the US authorities
 
Economic Data Due
  • 09:30 UK December Retail Sales, 0.2% exp. 0.1% previous
  • 14:55 US January Uni of Michigan Confidence, 75.0 exp. 72.9 previous

UK Retail Sales
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