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

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Thurs, January 17, 2013

Cantor Opening Call
  • The FTSE is seen down 10 points lower today
 
UK Corporate Announcements
  • Home Retail details Argos LFL sales gained 2.7%, well ahead of the flat forecasts, and Homebase LFL sales dipped 3.9% just worse than the expectations
  • Computacenter states that it is starting 2013 in good shape, with full year revenues up 6% on a constant currency basis
  • Premier Foods states that full year results are seen coming in line with the forecasts
  • Dixons Retail announces a full year pre-tax profit of £75-85m, in line, and states that it had a strong Christmas
  • Booker Group states that it is doing well despite the challenging market conditions
  • Associated British Foods states that trading has been in line, with an outstanding sales performance from its
  • Primark unit with sales ahead of the forecasts for the unit, but offset by lower sales elsewhere
  • ASOS announces December retail sales gained 41% year on year, with 5.6m active customers and stays positive on its outlook for 2012
  • Panmure Gordon details that continuing business in H2 stayed profitable in each month of H2 and that it continues to carefully control costs
  • Aberdeen Asset Management states that the stock markets have taken on a more positive tone, and has AUM of £193.4bn on net inflows of £1.1bn
  • Mothercare announces Q3 total group sales fell 7.4% and that its 3 year transformational & growth plan remains on track
 
UK Market News
  • David Cameron is due to give his outlook on the UK and the EU in a speech tomorrow, where he is seen stressing the importance of brining over decision making on finances
  • Rio Tinto has just announced that its CEO is to step down
  • UK general press seems to be getting bored on the Jimmy Saville story and now are gaggling round the horse burger story, so Tesco and other retailers will stay in focus in the coming days, with likes of Sainsbury stating it was taking the precautionary measure of withdrawing its burgers sourced from Dalepak
  • Bumi is seen holding a board meeting today to discuss the investigations into possible financial irregularities
    The UK sells £1bn in 2029 bonds at 10:30
 
UK Analyst Upgrades
  • Centrica Kept at Buy at Citi, Preferred UK Utility
  • Drax Group Raised to Outperform at RBC Capital
  • Experian Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies
  • Imi Raised To Outperform From Underperform At Credit Suisse
  • Sabmiller Raised To Outperform Vs Neutral At Macquarie
  • Senior Raised To Outperform From Neutral At Credit Suisse
  • Tui Travel Raised To Equalweight Vs Underweight:Morgan Stanley
 
UK Analyst Cuts
  • Anglo American Cut To Underperform From Neutral At Exane
  • Tui Travel Cut To Underperform From Neutral At Exane
  • Xstrata Cut To Neutral From Outperform At Exane
FTSE 100 Movers
 
 
Major European Companies Reporting
  • ASML Holdings, F, 2.576
 
European Market Summary
  • The FSA in Oslo is reportedly looking into ‘volatile trading’ in its interbank offered rate
  • Deutsche Bank is in the news on reports that it profited from derivatives masking losses at Monte Paschi during the height of the financial crisis
  • Portugal’s PM states that the country would progressively return to regular market financing this year
  • Handelsblatt suggests that the new Basel Capital rules are to be further delayed
  • The recovery in the euro in recent months has been so strong, that some such as Juncker are even stating publicly that that its strength now threatens the economic recovery
  • Dozens of workers at a plant in Algeria operated by Statoil and BP have been captured
  • Ireland sells €5000m in bills at 09:00, Spain sells bonds at 10:30, and France at 10:50
 
Major US Stock Movers After Hours
  • Shoemaker K-Swiss gained 51% after hours as E.Land announces it was buying the loss making company for $170m
  • CBS gained a robust 8% as it detailed that it is to convert its outdoor ad division into a REIT
  • EBay gained 1% in late trading as it announced Q4 sales gained 18% to $4bn and despite trimming its revenue outlook for Q1 it states it remains on track to beat its 2011-2013 3 year plan
 
S&P 500 Companies Reporting
  • Amphenol Corp, Q4, 0.903,  Bank of America Corp, Q4, 0.124,  BB&T Corp, Q4, 0.708,  BlackRock Inc, Q4, 3.693,  Capital One Financial Corp, Q4, 1.613,  Citigroup Inc, Q4, 0.965,  Fastenal Co, Q4, 0.333,  Fifth Third Bancorp, Q4, 0.417,  Huntington Bancshares Inc/OH, Q4, 0.165,  Intel Corp, Q4, 0.456,  People’s United Financial Inc, Q4, 0.19,  PNC Financial Services Group Inc, Q4, 1.487,  UnitedHealth Group Inc, Q4, 1.197,  Xilinx Inc, Q3, 0.369
 
US Market News
  • The US FAA has ordered a temporary cease in operations of Boeing’s 787s while the recent fire/smoke faults of its new batteries are understood, the first such grounding for 34 years
  • The VIX has slipped down even further, now down to 13.42, with contrarians waiting for the resultant spike higher on the expectations that the current lull in volatility is overdone
  • Facebook is reportedly set to launch a service where users could make free calls to iPhone users
  • JP Morgan and Goldman detail how latest results have come in sharply ahead of thee forecasts, buoyed by the recent improvements in markets
 
Overnight Market News
  • TSMC the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips announces Q4 profit gained 32% as global sales of tablets and smartphones continues, and at the top of guidance
  • Air India is the latest carrier to announce that it is grounding its fleet of 787s
 
Economic Data Due
  • 13:30 US December Housing Starts, 890k exp. 861k previous
  • 13:30 US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, 368k exp. 371k previous
  • 15:00 US January Philadelphia Fed, 5.6 exp. 8.1 previous
 
Economic Events
  • Fed’s Lockhart speaks
 
US Initial Jobless
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