overnight round up and the day ahead

UK Corporate Announcements

London Stock Exchange announces Q1 total revenues of £179m up 10% and states that market conditions have remained weak and that it expects the summer period to be quiet

Speedy Hire states that Q1 has been in line with expectations and that the full year had started satisfactorily

Land Securities states that it sees progress on leasing space in London and that it is focusing on securing income from developments

Fuller Smith & Turner announces Q1 total sales at managed pubs gained 8% with net debt at end Q1 of £134.5m from £138.2m

Booker Group states that it is on track to meet its full year targets

RSA Insurance announces that due to the adverse weather conditions in the UK it sees an additional £40m of losses in June, and £10m in July

Fresnillo details that it remains on track to meet its 2012 production targets

Severn Trent states that it will deliver low single digit revenue growth and that it is trading in line

UK Market News

Chancellor Osborne is due to detail plans today to encourage up to £50bn in infrastructure spending through a loan guarantee program

Ofcom today publishes its UK Communications Market Report 2012

The Times suggests that private equity buyers have approached Homeserve

HSBC has managed to stay out of much of the general  press headlines today, despite the heavy criticisms from US senators yesterday, as the focus seems to stay on G4S, where its embattled CEO continues to be fight off calls for him to step down

Bernanke stated yesterday that Libor was a ‘flawed benchmark’

Marks & Spencer is due to open its first bank branch tomorrow, while the FT suggests that its new banking business is expected to charge a fee of around £15-20/month for all customer checking accounts

UK Dividends

FTSE 100 Ex dividends (net): Imperial Tobacco, IMT, (31.70)

FTSE 250 Ex dividends (net): Telecom Plus PLC, TEP, (17), Halma PLC, HLMA, (5.95), Fidelity China Special Situations PLC, FCSS, (0.75), F&C Comm. Prop Trust Ltd, FCPT, (0.5)

FTSE Small Share Ex dividends (net): Aberdeen Asian Income Fund Ltd, AAIF, (1.55), Speedy Hire PLC, SDY, (2012/07/18)

UK Analyst Cuts

IMI Rated New Reduce At Nomura, Pt 750P

Royal Dutch Shell Cut to ‘Sector Perform’ at RBC Capital

Weir Group Rated New Reduce At Nomura, Pt 1,350P

UK Insider Buys

Wetherspoon (J.D.) Plc, (JDW), 1 insider(s) bought 3,500 shares, £4.42

UK Insider Sells

Ashtead Group Plc, (AHT), 2 insider(s) sold 769,791 shares, £2.61

Wetherspoon (J.D.) Plc, (JDW), 1 insider(s) sold 4,980 shares, £4.41

Major European Companies Reporting

ASML Holding NV, S1, 0,  Nordea Bank AB, Q2, 0.171,  SKF AB, Q2, 2.93,  Swedbank AB, Q2, 2.884,  Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Q2, 0.754,  TeliaSonera AB, Q2, 1.392,  Wartsila OYJ Abp, Q2, 0.415, Yara International ASA, Q2, 9.337

European Market Summary

Mario Draghi states that the issue of senior bondholders carrying some of the cost of the European banks was ‘evolving’

The global market hypnosis on the eurozone issues seems to have been broken, for now, with attention instead shifting to the US corporate reporting season and the various banking scandals, giving euro regulators and politicians vital breathing room to work on the ongoing major structural issues

Aer Lingus states today that the offer from Ryanair is not in the interest of its shareholders, fundamentally undervalues the company, and expects the UK Competition Commission to ask Ryanair to reduce its existing stake

Hollande has responded to criticisms that the French economy needed to become more competitive as he scraps tax breaks on overtime

Credit Suisse announces immediate capital actions to raise SF8.7bn

Germany is to sell up to €5bn in 2 year notes today

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

Abbott Laboratories, Q2, 1.214,  American Express Co, Q2, 1.09,  Bank of America Corp, Q2, 0.148, Bank of New York Mellon Corp/The, Q2, 0.509,  BlackRock Inc, Q2, 3.049,  Dover Corp, Q2, 1.127,  eBay Inc, Q2, 0.553,  F5 Networks Inc, Q3, 1.139,  Honeywell International Inc, Q2, 1.114,  International Business Machines Corp, Q2, 3.431,  Kinder Morgan Inc/Delaware, Q2, 0.258,  Noble Corp, Q2, 0.582, Northern Trust Corp, Q2, 0.749,  PNC Financial Services Group Inc, Q2, 1.217,  QUALCOMM Inc, Q3, 0.86,  SLM Corp, Q2, 0.536,  St Jude Medical Inc, Q2, 0.87,  Stanley Black & Decker Inc, Q2, 1.522, Stryker Corp, Q2, 0.986,  US Bancorp, Q2, 0.698,  WW Grainger Inc, Q2, 2.618,  Wynn Resorts Ltd, Q2, 1.536,  Xilinx Inc, Q1, 0.451,  Yum! Brands Inc, Q2, 0.703

S&P 500 Ex Dividends (Gross):- Caterpillar Inc, CAT, (0.52), Procter & Gamble Co/The, PG, (0.562),PerkinElmer Inc, PKI, (0.07)

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

In a busy after-hours session EMC was the major mover, gaining over 7% in late trading as it announced solid Q2 revenues of $5.51bn

Yahoo announces after hours Q2 adjusted EPS at the upper end of the forecasts, but stayed largely unchanged on the news

Intel announced Q2 numbers ahead of the forecasts but then pulls back on its full year forecasts, citing weakness in PC demand in both Europe and the US

US Market News

The US business press details Bernanke’s testimony yesterday where he discussed the Fed’s various options to stimulate growth

The pregnancy of Marissa Mayer, who was appointed as the CEO of Yahoo yesterday, seems to have gained as much press coverage as the appointment itself

Facebook stays a major focus ahead of its results next week, the stock has fallen 8% this week on concerns that the numbers will miss, after users numbers have been seen falling in recent weeks

Samsonite announces it is paying $110m for High Sierra Sport to add casual, outdoor and sports bags to its line up

Overnight Market News

Asian markets have stayed slightly positive as the markets digest Bernanke’s statements and as the US corporate reporting season continues to cycle through

Chinese new home prices fell in 21 out of 70 cities over the past month

Hokuriko Electric has fallen over 20%, and Kansai Electric over 7% after regulators have asked them to conduct geological studies of fault lines at their nuclear plants

China Merchant Securities is reportedly looking to raise as much as $1bn through a listing in Hong Kong

ZTE which is the second largest telecoms equipment maker in China has responded to market talk and states that it is not planning an imminent round of job cuts

Kim Jong Un has made himself the Military Marshall of North Korea, just a few days after he removed the army chief from his post, with some analysts stating that this could be a positive development for North Korea, reducing the risk of a possible military coup

Major Global IPOs Due Today

Durata Tech, (DRTX), 6.25m shares, $11-13

FX Summary

The dollar has moved to its lowest level in a week ahead of the Beige Book this evening as expectations remain that the Fed will undertake additional easing of some form

The pound also came off yesterday as inflation data fell by more than expected  giving more room for the Bank of England to operate

The same story has pushed the Aussie dollar to two week highs as traders price in some form of QEIII

Commodity Summary

Gold came off a little after Bernanke’s testimony yesterday failed to match some of the recent expectations that he may detail specific easing measures, rather than the statement he gave that the Fed is still studying options for further easing

China states that it has no current plans to sell 300k metric tons of cotton reserves and issue additional import quotas

Economic Data Due

09:30 UK June ILO Unemployment, 8.2% exp. 8.2% previous

13:30 US June Housing Starts, 745k exp. 708k previous

13:30 US June Building Permits, 765k exp. 780k previous

19:00 US Fed’s Beige Book

Economic Events

09:30 UK Bank of England Minutes

EU Report on Public Finances in Euro Zone

Bernanke Semi-Annual report to the House