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

Cantor Opening Call

UK Corporate Announcements

National Grid confirms its full year outlook as it sees a continued solid performance
British Land details UK occupancy of 97.7% and that 62% of office developments have been pre-let, under offer
PZ Cussons announces H1 revenues gained 0.2% to £414m and an adjusted EPS of 7.03p and that overall trading was in line
Carpetright maintains its full year guidance as it announces Q3 sales which just beats the expectations
Anglo American announces that it takes a $4bn charge from its Minas-Rio project

UK Market News

Press suggests that RBS is attempting to ‘claw back’ the shares award to Hourican, and reportedly the bank is close to a rate-rigging settlement, thought to be around £400m to US regulators and £100m to the FSA
MPC Member David Miles states that he expects the growth in the UK economy to pick up but to remain under its normal cruising speed
Cityam suggests that 3I is in talks to sell its 23% stake in Hyperion

UK Analyst Upgrades

UK Analyst Cuts

FTSE 100 Movers

Major European Companies Reporting

Investor AB, R, 10.455, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, R, 1.156, QIAGEN NV, Q4, 0.305, Sandvik AB, R, 7.643, Software AG, R, 2.119

European Market Summary

Fiat is reportedly planning to launch an Alfa Romeo SUV in 2015
The ECB is seen rejecting an Irish plan to fund the rescue of Anglo Irish Bank for at least 15 years
Italy sells €8.5bn in bills at €11:00
Moody’s announces that it keep its negative outlook on the Irish banking system

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

Yahoo gained 1.5% in late trading as it came in ahead of the forecasts on search demand
VM Ware was the major faller off over 14% as it announces results under the forecasts and sees the macroeconomic headwinds continuing

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

ACE Ltd, Q4, 1.284, Amazon.com Inc, Q4, 0.263, Boston Properties Inc, Q4, 1.238, Boston Scientific Corp, Q4, 0.11, Broadcom Corp, Q4, 0.735, Corning Inc, Q4, 0.324, Danaher Corp, Q4, 0.856, DR Horton Inc, Q1, 0.141, Eli Lilly & Co, Q4, 0.788, EMC Corp/MA, Q4, 0.523, Ford Motor Co, Q4, 0.256, Harley-Davidson Inc, Q4, 0.314, Harris Corp, Q2, 1.194, Illinois Tool Works Inc, Q4, 0.899, International Paper Co, Q4, 0.648, NextEra Energy Inc, Q4, 0.96, Nucor Corp, Q4, 0.302, Peabody Energy Corp, Q4, 0.264, Pentair Ltd, Q4, 0.442, Pfizer Inc, Q4, 0.442, Robert Half International Inc, Q4, 0.408, T Rowe Price Group Inc, Q4, 0.889, Tyco International Ltd, Q1, 0.394, United States Steel Corp, Q4, -0.768, Valero Energy Corp, Q4, 1.19

US Market News

Moody’s has cut its rating on six of the larger banks in Canada, over concerns on rising consumer debt and high house prices
A Bloomberg survey has estimates that Bernanke’s latest round of bond buying will top $1.14tn before Q1 2014, at a rate of $40bn/month on mortgage bonds and $45bn/month of Treasuries
Local press suggests that Legg Mason could pick a CEO tomorrow

Overnight Market News

India’s central bank has cut its benchmark repo rate to 7.75% from 8% and cuts the reserve ratio to 4% from 4.25%
Beijing has urged its residents to stay indoors in order to avoid exposure to serious levels of air pollution
Toyota has regained the top spot in the industry, selling 9.75m vehicles in 2012
The Shanghai Stock Index is now up 20% from the December lows, into bull market territory under some market classifications

Economic Data Due

Economic Events

US Consumer Confidence