ADVFN Morning Euro Markets Bulletin - April 1st 2011

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London Market Reports
FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40


Shares win back gains

Shares have got off to a decent start, clawing back some of the gains that came in late trading yesterday.

Banks, which had been awaiting yesterday afternoon’s banking stress test results nervously, are leading the way today, with Barclays, Lloyds and RBS posting good gains.

In other news, Marks & Spencer is having a second crack at the French market, 10 years after it withdrew from the country. A first store will be opened on Paris’s Champs Elysees later this year, selling women’s clothing and food. A website will also be launched, serving the whole of France.

BP has signed four new production sharing contracts over 4,800 square kilometres of coal bed methane areas in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The contracts were awarded to BP and its local partners by the Indonesian government. In one of the contracts, BP will have 44% ownership over the contract, while in the other three it will have 45%.

The North American spending spree of British Gas owner Centrica shows no sign of abating, with the company paying C$47m (£30m) in cash to Shell Canada Energy for some natural gas assets located in the Wildcat Hills region of Alberta.

UK companies lagged behind their peers in Northern Europe in the year to 31 March, the private equity group 3i said in a trading update ahead of its full-year results. The firm said it had seen good progress across the whole business. The shares are lower.

“There have, however, been marked regional differences, with strong growth in Northern Europe counterbalanced by weaker performance from UK companies,” chief executive Michael Queen said.


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UK Event Calendar
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Dunelm Group, Electric & General Inv Trust, Kesa Electricals, Mid Wynd International Inv Trust, Pennon Group, PZ Cussons, Stewart & Wight

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Large Manufacturers Index (JPN)
Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)
PMI Manufacturing (FRA) (08:15)
PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55)
PMI Manufacturing (EU) (09:00)
Unemployment Rate (EU) (10:00)
Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)
Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)
Auto Sales (US) (15:00)
Construction Spending (US) (15:00)
ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00)
ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00)

GMS
Capital & Regional, Chariot Oil & Gas Ltd.

AGMS
THB Group, Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri AS GDR (Reg S)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
PMI Manufacturing (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Braime (T.F.& J.H.) Holdings (Non-Voting), Future, Greencore Group


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European Market Reports
European bourses have got off to a firm start ahead of this afternoon’s US jobs update for March.

The German DAX is up 68 at 7,109, the French CAC is up 26 at 4,015 and the Irish Overall Index is 15 points firmer at 2,889.92.

Banks are going well with BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole topping the leaderboard in France and Deutsche Bank the second best performer among German blue chips.

Irish banks are also attracting a lot of interest after banking regulators instructed the nation’s four major lenders yesterday to raise €24bn in fresh capital.

In company news, luxury goods firm Hermes International is reportedly in talks to sell its 45% stake in the Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion brand.

Computer peripherals maker Logitech has trimmed its sales guidance for the full year to $2.35bn - $2.37bn from a previously indicated range of $2.40bn to $2.42bn.

CAC 40 - Risers
BNP Paribas (BNP) € 53.05 +2.79%
Credit Agricole (ACA) € 11.83 +2.16%
AXA (CS) € 15.02 +1.83%
Societe Generale (GLE) € 46.67 +1.78%
EADS (EAD) € 20.89 +1.68%
Natixis SA (KN) € 4.06 +1.68%
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) € 4.10 +1.21%
Alstom (ALO) € 42.17 +1.05%
Sanofi-Aventis (SAN) € 49.92 +0.89%
Saint Gobain (SGO) € 43.58 +0.86%

CAC 40 - Fallers
GDF Suez (GSZ) € 28.44 -1.06%
Suez Environnement Company (SEV) € 14.46 -0.96%
ST Microelectronics (STM) € 8.66 -0.87%
France Telecom (FTE) € 15.76 -0.35%
Cap Gemini (CAP) € 40.88 -0.26%
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 25.47 -0.24%
Total (FP) € 42.88 -0.19%


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US Market Reports
Dow Jones NASDAQ NYSE AMEX


Dow declines at end of the day

There was a sharp decline on Wall Street late in the day with only the Nasdaq bucking the downward trend.

The Dow Jones is down 31 at 12,320, the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite is up 4 at 2,781, while the broader S&P 500 is down two points at 1,326. Volumes were relatively weak.

Even so, the S&P is 5.4% ahead in the first quarter of 2011.

Initial weekly unemployment claims fell by 6.000 last week to the 388.000 level.
The Chicago manufacturing PMI rose to the 70.6 mark, versus the consensus expectation for a reading of 69.6.

On the company front, Microsoft has lodged a complaint with European Union authorities regarding Google’s predominant position in the ‘advert’ space. Also making big waves, Berkshire Hathaway number 2, David Sokol, has tendered his resignation. Sokol bought shares in Lubrizol before pushing his employer to acquire it.

Intel is the third worst performer in the Dow after a broker said that the chip maker faced slower than expected growth because the PC market is likely to be growing more slowly than expected.

Video games retailer GameStop is buying Spawn Labs, a streaming technology company, and Impulse, a digital distribution business.

Card processing services provider Global Payments has cut the lower end of its revenue forecast range.

Kryspy Kreme Doughnuts says third quarter income will fall short of analysts’ estimates.

Mosaic’s fiscal third quarter results have come in ahead of expectations.

Retailer Carmax was hit by poor fourth quarter earnings.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla is higher after Morgan Stanley raised it from equal weight to overweight.

US Steel has been added to Deutsche Bank’s short-term sell list.

West Texas (May) crude futures are now rising by 2.4%, to the $106.77 mark, in NYMEX trading.

10 year treasuries started strongly but then fell back with the yield nearly four basis points higher at 3.47%.

S&P 500 - Risers
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $21.19 +6.68%
XL Group Plc (XL) $24.60 +4.02%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $8.22 +3.79%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $136.79 +3.15%
Rowan Companies Inc. (RDC) $44.18 +3.01%
Deere & Co. (DE) $96.89 +2.58%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $20.28 +2.48%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.49 +2.43%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $159.02 +2.34%
Monsanto Co. (MON) $72.26 +2.08%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $62.71 -8.57%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $32.10 -7.20%
Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) $3.23 -6.92%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $53.94 -4.21%
CBS Corp. (CBS) $25.04 -4.13%
Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL) $20.43 -3.59%
Discover Financial Services (DFS) $24.12 -3.44%
Tesoro Corp. (TSO) $26.83 -3.35%
AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) $15.78 -3.07%
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $7.19 -2.97%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
3M Co. (MMM) $93.50 +1.11%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $84.65 +0.50%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $66.35 +0.47%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $76.09 +0.37%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $38.54 +0.21%
Boeing Co. (BA) $73.93 +0.18%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $59.48 +0.15%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $17.65 +0.06%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
American Express Co. (AXP) $45.20 -1.55%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $37.06 -1.36%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.21 -1.22%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $17.16 -0.98%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $13.33 -0.89%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $33.01 -0.87%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $40.97 -0.80%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $25.41 -0.78%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $46.10 -0.75%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $54.97 -0.72%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Joy Global Inc. (JOYG) $98.65 +3.53%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.49 +2.43%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $159.02 +2.34%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $45.42 +2.23%
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) $73.39 +2.07%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $30.38 +1.93%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $53.09 +1.74%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $46.13 +1.59%
Dentsply International Inc. (XRAY) $36.99 +1.40%
CH Robinson Worldwide Inc (CHRW) $74.13 +1.40%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $39.41 -2.38%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $29.93 -2.02%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $31.04 -1.87%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $7.47 -1.84%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $14.45 -1.78%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.76 -1.51%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $15.75 -1.40%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $333.50 -1.39%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.21 -1.22%
Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $23.42 -1.17%


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Newspaper Round-up
Ireland, Portugal, oil industry

Ireland's once booming banking sector is to be shrunk by €73.6bn (£65bn) into two "pillar" banks by the country's new government as it seeks to find a way out of the three-year financial crisis that has crippled the economy. Under a €24bn restructuring plan announced after the markets had closed, the government is taking majority control of all existing players on the Irish high street, the Guardian reports.

Portugal came under ever more pressure to take a bail-out as it revealed that the hole in its finances is bigger than expected. New figures showed the country's budget deficit stood at the equivalent of 8.6pc of its gross domestic product (GDP) for 2010, missing the government's 7.3% target by more than a percentage point. Lisbon blamed the size of the deficit on a change in the calculation methods at Eurostat, the European statistical agency, which meant the figure had to reflect nationalised bank losses and the state of public transport companies, according to the Telegraph.

George Osborne will meet representatives of the oil and gas industry to find ways to mitigate the damage from a windfall tax he imposed on North Sea operators in last week’s Budget. Oil industry executives won this concession after meeting Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, and Justine Greening, the Treasury minister, to express anger over the tax yesterday, the Times reports.

A project to provide mobile phone access across the London Tube network in time for the Olympic Games has collapsed because of the technical complexity of installing the system. The four mobile networks: O2, Vodafone, Everything Everywhere and 3, have spent several million pounds on preliminary work but have decided there is not enough time to complete the project in time, the Times reports.

Residents who helped in the work along the US's southern coast are now suffering from health problems, while boat owners whose vessels were used in the clean-up went unpaid and their craft damaged, according to a suit filed in New Orleans. The legal claim targets BP and the well's co-owners Andarko Petroleum and Mitsui. Nalco Holding, which made the dispersants used, is also named as a defendant, the Telegraph reports.

Prudential has paid its chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, £4.7m for 2010 even after his botched bid for AIA cost the insurer £377m. Mr Thiam will get a bonus of £1.57m – only £50,000 less than the maximum – on top of his £900,000 salary. He will also receive £2.1m in long-term share payments based on the Pru's shareholder returns for the past three years, the Independent says.

Terra Firma, the private equity firm run by Guy Hands, is putting the Odeon & UCI cinema chain up for sale in a deal likely to be valued at between £700m and £1bn ($1.1bn-$1.6bn). Mr Hands is expected to appoint Bank of America Merrill Lynch to run the auction. The bank has also been asked to examine the option of refinancing the company with new debt of about £600m. Terra Firma declined to comment, says the Financial Times.