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

UK Corporate Announcements

Berendsen announces an H1 adjusted pre-tax profit of £51.5m from £48.4m on revenues of £488.2m from £495.9m

Henry Boot states that it is trading in line with the forecasts

Faro Petroleum announces that it has abandoned and plugged its Cooper Well

UK Market News

FirstGroup will stay in focus as the Chairman of the Transport Committee stated yesterday that the award of the West Coast rail contract should be delayed until MPs have been able to check the details

Sources suggest that HSBC is in talks to settle allegations that it laundered funds in Iran and Sudan, and also is in the news as S&P cuts its rating outlook citing the control failures

While The Telegraph writes that RBS is seen receiving a larger fine on Libor fixing than Barclays

The Telegraph also writes that the Murdoch dynasty is set to continue, just as James moves out of the spotlight his sister Elizabeth becomes increasingly visible and is expected to move into the role vacated by her brother

The Independent writes on how South Africa has threatened a ‘wine war’ after UK retailers have made moves to buy wine in bulk, rather than by bottle

Aviva stated late yesterday that it could up to 800 jobs as it looks to trim its operations citing the tough market environment

Anglo American has now settled its dispute with Codelco over its stake in the Los Broncos mine in Chile, the fifth largest copper mine in the world, by cutting its stake in the Sur unit to 50.1% from 75%

The UK is to sell £2.5bn in bills today at 11:10

UK Analyst Upgrades

Diageo Kept at Buy at Nomura, Acquisitions Should Be Positive

Diageo Pt Raised To 1,900P Vs 1,740P At Socgen, Stays Buy

Inmarsat Preferred Pick in MSS Industry at JPMorgan

UK Analyst Cuts

Anglo American Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies

Ashmore Group Cut To Sell From Neutral At Citi

Enrc Pt Cut To 325P Vs 430P At Ing, Stays Sell

Kazakhmys Pt Cut To 600P Vs 630P At Ing, Stays Sell

UK Insider Buying

4Imprint Group Plc, (FOUR), 1 insider(s) bought 5,000 shares, £3.01

Standard Life Plc, (SL/), 1 insider(s) bought 3,730 shares, £2.68

TT Electronics Plc, (TTG), 3 insider(s) bought 61,227 shares, £1.4

Xchanging Plc, (XCH), 1 insider(s) bought 38,800 shares, £1.05

Major European Companies Reporting

Ackermans & van Haaren NV, S1, 0,  Koninklijke Vopak NV, S1, 1.19

European Market Summary

Tensions between Greek and German politicians stay high as Greek politicians state that the constant sniping from German lawmakers was making their job more difficult

Merkel is due to meet with Greece’s Samaras in Berlin today

Former ECB member Smaghi has stated that he is disappointed at Twitter’s failure to remove an impersonator from the website

And the Irish Times writes on how Germany has expressed doubts on the Irish Debt Relief plan

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

None Scheduled

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (gross):-  Cablevision Systems Corp, CVC, (.15), CA Inc, CA, (.25),  TECO Energy Inc, TE, (.22),  Seagate Technology PLC, STX, (.32),  CF Industries Holdings Inc, CF, (.40),  Wisconsin Energy Corp, WEC, (.30)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Pozen gained around 10% after hours as it announces that the FDA has approved the use of a new drug and states it was already looking for new partners on the treatment

Watson also gained around 3% after hours as it secured FDA approval for its generic Lidoderm

Autodesk was the major faller off over 23% as it announces restructuring and staff cuts

General Growth Properties gained 9% through the day yesterday on talk of possible interest from a major shareholder, however this was denied after hours and the stock gave back 1%

Salesforce.com came off 5% as it announces a disappointing Q2 performance and also guided lower for Q3

US Market News

Mitt Romney has stated that he would not appoint Ben Bernanke for a third term as Fed Chairman and instead highlighted Glenn Hubbard and Greg Mankiw

While the FT writes on how the Republican party has increasingly talked about the possible return to some form of gold standard, and how the topic has become ‘a legitimate part of Republican debate’

In general news Lance Armstrong stated yesterday that he will not continue his fight against doping allegations, with the USADA announcing they will now strip him of his seven Tour de France titles and ban him from competitive cycling for life

A former Navy Seal is being investigated as he has helped write a book on the raid that killed bin Laden without clearance from the Defense Dept

US press suggests that SUPERVALU’s advisors have started approaching parties on making an offer for the entire group after some had made offers for parts of the grocery business, amongst those reportedly interested is Dutch based Ahold, the stock gained 3% in late trading on the news

Eastman Kodak is putting two of its units up for sale as it continues with its efforts to return from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, including its consumer film unit

Overnight Market News

A court in Seoul has ruled that Apple infringed upon two of Samsung’s patents and has been fined $34,000, but the court also finds that Samsung also infringed upon some of Apple’s patents, as the global tit-for-tat court cases continue

The South China Post details how Beijing has confirmed that it is developing a new intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with multiple nuclear warheads

Australian based Whitehaven Coal states that Nathan Tinkler has now cancelled his planned takeover proposal, the stock fell as much as 19% on the news intraday

The RBI states that India may miss its budget targets citing higher spending on fuel subsides and a weak economic growth outlook

Major Global IPOs Due Today

UKF Holdings Ltd, (8168), 240m, HKD 0.22 – 0.26

FX Summary

The Brazilian real has fallen to one week lows after increased talk that the central bank will intervene

ING writes on how Egypt should devalue the Egyptian pound as the fourth quarterly decline in a row still does not look enough to attract significant foreign investment

Commodity Summary

Bloomberg details that 29 of 35 analysts surveyed were expecting gold prices to gain next week, making the highest bullish percentage since November last year, as investors continue to look to use the metal as a hedge for an expected round of QE ahead

Economic Data Due

09:30 UK Q2 GDP, -0.5% exp. -0.7% previous

13:30 US July Durable Goods, 2.0% exp. 1.6% previous

Economic Events

Bank of Japan Governor Speaks

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