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 |  Subject: ADVFN Morning Euro Markets Bulletin March, 16th 2010  Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:47 am | |
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US gives Footsie a lift
Market Movers
FTSE 100 5,626.35 +0.58%
techMARK 1,647.61 +0.41%
FTSE 250 9,917.29 +0.39%
Footsie opened higher on the back of a strong performance from US shares late yesterday and strong gains for Royal Bank of Scotland.
RBS is mulling a buy back of at least £10bn (€11bn) of the bank’s £28bn of debt at a premium to current prices according to the FT. It is one of the best performers this morning.
Oil giant Shell has outlined a strategy which it says will increase production by 11% in three years’ time. Upstream production is expected to reach 3.5m barrels by 2012, an 11% increase from current levels, Shell said. Further ahead, the company is assessing more than 35 new projects which should underpin upstream growth to 2020.
Department store Debenhams said it saw a strong performance in the six months to 27 February as it continues its strategy of lifting margins and expanding market share. Gross transaction value was 1.7% higher than in the same period the previous year, Debenhams said, adding that like-for-like sales were up by 0.3%.
International service company Serco announce the appointment of Alastair Lyons CBE as non-executive chairman. He joins the board of Serco with immediate effect as a non-executive director, and will take up the chairmanship of the company after the Annual General Meeting on 11 May 2010.
Cost cutting helped security group G4S lift underlying earnings by 10% last year, though organic sales slowed and are expected to remain subdued. Organic turnover growth was 3.7% in 2009 down from 9.5% the previous year.
Merchant bank Close Brothers reported a 50% jump in half year profits thanks to a strong performance in its Banking and Securities divisions. Operating profit before tax from continuing operations rose to £62.3m in the six month ended 31 January from £41.5m last time. Broker Numis Securities forecast that the group would announce a pre-tax profit of £54.6m.
The Competition Commission has formally cleared Sports Direct's acquisition of 31 stores from JJB Sports. The Commission decided the acquisition will not lead to a substantial lessening of competition, a ruling that confirms the last month's provisional findings. |
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| | UK Event Calendar for today |
INTERIMS
Air Partner, Asian Citrus, Brooks Macdonald, Close Brothers Group
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BoJ Intrest Rates (JPN) (00:00)
Machine Tool Orders (JPN)
Tertiary Industry Index (JPN)
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
FOMC Interest Rate (US) (18:15)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
Import Price Index (US) (12:30)
RBA Interest Rate Minutes (AUS) (00:00)
ZEW Survey (GER) (10:00)
Consumer Price Index (FRA) (07:45)
Consumer Price Index (EU) (10:00)
FINALS
Ablon, Alpha Bank GDR (Reg S) USD, Amphion Innovations, Axis-Shield, Cello Group, Dealogic, Fairpoint Group, G4S, Hellenic Carriers, KBC Advanced Technologies, Kenmore European Industrial Fund, Wellstream Holdings, Win, Work Group
AGMS
All Leisure Group, BlackRock Commodities Income Inv Trust, THB Group, Wynnstay Group
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Price Index (09:30)
DCLG House Price Index (09:30)
Retail Price Index (09:30) |
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| | European Market Report |
Positive start ahead of economic data
Europe’s leading exchanges are posting good gains in early dealings on Tuesday as investors await a number of economic announcements.
Figures on euro zone inflation and the German ZEW survey of investor confidence are due out later this morning, while the Federal Reserve will announce its decision on interest rates this afternoon.
Across the markets, the Dax in Frankfurt is up 36 points to 5,939 and the Cac in Paris is 33 points higher at 3,924. The Swiss market has gained 48 points to 6,873.
Banks are among the biggest gainers. Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Santander are in demand.
Both Daimler and Renault are on the rise following a report in the FT claiming that Daimler is in talks with France's Renault over the possible acquisition of mutual equity stakes.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has outlined a strategy which it says will increase production by 11% in three years’ time.
Upstream production is expected to reach 3.5m barrels by 2012, an 11% increase from current levels, Shell said. Further ahead, the company is assessing more than 35 new projects which should underpin upstream growth to 2020.
Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, took home €9.55m ($13m) in total compensation last year, making him Germany's top earner so far in 2009. The country's biggest bank said 70% of Ackermann's pay is deferred and will depend on the company’s future earnings.
The total compenation for the eight members of the management board came to €39m in 2009, with Anshu Jain, head of global markets at the German lender, getting €7.79m. Michael Cohrs, co-head of the investment bank, received €3.22m in total pay and bonuses.
Elsewhere, prime minister Gordon Brown will be told by the European Commission to take more action to reduce Britain's soaring debt burden, according to early drafts of Brussels' latest assessment of the UK's finances.
The European Commission reports comes just a week before the pre-election Budget, which will be dominated by the size of the UK's debts and how they are going to be cut.
CAC 40 - Risers
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 31.07 +1.99%
Cap Gemini (CAP) € 36.26 +1.73%
Renault (RNO) € 34.13 +1.67%
ST Microelectronics (STM) € 6.67 +1.48%
Credit Agricole (ACA) € 12.07 +1.34%
Bouygues (EN) € 37.81 +1.27%
Vallourec (VK) € 144.25 +1.26%
Vivendi (VIV) € 19.44 +1.09%
BNP Paribas (BNP) € 56.77 +1.05%
Vinci (DG) € 42.89 +1.04%
CAC 40 - Fallers
L'Oreal (OR) € 77.55 -0.56% |
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| | US Market Report |
Shares rally near close
US stocks bounced back after early falls on worries about the proposed bank bill and the Chinese economy. Dow Jones closed up 17 at 10,642, with Nasdaq down 5 at 2,362. The S&P 500 was unchanged at 1,150.
Senate banking chief Christopher Dodd released a draft bill overhauling the nation's financial regulatory system. The bill calls for a new consumer protection bureau within the Federal Reserve to oversee all lending transactions. A new process would be set up to put struggling firms under government control and break up large companies if they could threaten the stability of the financial system.
It did not go as far President Obama wanted, observers said, but it still faces a tough passage through the Senate.
Policymakers sit down to discuss US interest rates this week, which is likely to influence their direction in the short-term. Shanghai has fallen to its lowest in five weeks and there could be further credit tightening in China.
Google was in focus following reports the search engine is nearer to closing down its website in China. Google shares are falling as investors are advised to switch into rival Baidu.
Calvin Klein-owner Philips-Van Heusen has agreed to buy Tommy Hilfiger for about $3bn.
"I look forward to remaining actively involved in the business," said the company's eponymous founder and principal designer, Tommy Hilfiger. "This is the next phase in the global evolution and expansion of the Tommy Hilfiger brand."
Wal-Mart was in demand after Citigroup upgraded the retail giant to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.
Boston Scientific has stopped selling its implantable cardiac defibrillators because of an error in its filings with the FDA. Shares in rivals St Jude Medical and Medtronic are moving ahead.
An AIG spokesperson said on Monday that the insurer will retain $21m in bonus payments to former employees.
S&P 500 - Risers
St. Jude Medical (STJ) $40.56 +8.16%
Tenet Hlthcre Corp. (THC) $5.73 +6.31%
Medtronic Inc. (MDT) $45.81 +4.26%
Eastman Kodak Co (EK) $6.12 +3.90%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $6.80 -12.60%
Cons Energy Inc. (CNX) $48.85 -10.09%
Kla-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $28.03 -4.83%
N Y Times Class A (NYT) $11.14 -3.38%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $55.42 +2.82%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $37.80 +1.72%
General Electric Co. (GE) $17.28 +1.41%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $17.26 +1.05%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $59.48 -1.46%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $52.73 -0.81%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $66.30 -0.75%
Boeing Co. (BA) $69.40 -0.62% |
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| | Tuesday paper round-up: |
Royal Bank of Scotland, British Airways, BAE Systems
Royal Bank of Scotland is planning a vast balance sheet restructuring in an attempt to boost its capital strength and its standing with bond investors.
The move could involve at least £10bn (€11bn) of the bank’s £28bn of debt being bought back at a bought back at a premium to current prices. This would echo similar moves at other banks, most obviously Lloyds TSB, which in December unveiled a £10bn deal as part of a £23.5bncapital restructuring, the FT reports.
Petrol is due to hit a record of 120p a litre in a matter of days, even though the price of oil is little more than half the levels it was at its peak, the AA motoring group has warned. Senior MPs and motoring groups said that oil companies were "mugging motorists on the forecourt" and urged Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, to delay next month's planned increase in petrol duty as well as investigate why drivers were paying so much, the Telegraph reports.
Investors are rushing to sell shares and property ahead of the Budget on March 24, in the apparently misguided belief that Alistair Darling is about to raise capital gains tax rates. By realising large gains before next Wednesday's Budget, taxpayers are hoping to lock in the current 18% capital gains tax rate and ensure they will not be hit by any rise, the FT reports.
Ernst & Young is facing scrutiny by Britain’s auditing watchdog for its advice to Lehman Brothers on an accounting gimmick that allowed the defunct investment bank to hide $50bn in bad loans from its balance sheet. The Financial Reporting Council said yesterday that it had asked Ernst & Young to explain its advice on the so-called “Repo 105” transactions, which were detailed last week in a damning report into the bank’s collapse, the Times reports.
UBS, one of the banks hit hardest by the financial crisis, was Barclays’ preferred merger target only weeks before it acquired the US assets of a stricken Lehman Brothers, the Financial Times has learnt. Speculation over Barclays’ interest in UBS and Lehman circulated in the early summer of 2008 but was not confirmed.
Britain’s biggest trade union offered on Monday night to suspend a British Airways strike that would hit 30,000 passengers a day from Saturday, saying it would look at calling off the walkout if the airline reinstated a settlement proposal withdrawn last week. Unite’s offer raises the pressure on Willie Walsh, BA’s tough-talking chief executive, who has warned cabin crew that a strike would not ground the carrier and has recruited 6,000 volunteers to ward off the impact of industrial action, the FT reports.
Eurozone governments declared on Monday night that they stood ready to helpGreece tackle its debt crisis by establishing an emergency financial support facility for the first time since the euro’s creation in 1999. But the ministers stopped short of promising specific sums for Greece, and gave few details of their plan except to signal that it was likely to be based on direct, bilateral loans from other eurozone governments, the FT reports.
The world's five biggest AAA-rated states are all at risk of soaring debt costs and will have to implement austerity plans that threaten "social cohnesion", according to a report on sovereign debt by Moody's. The US rating agency said the US, the UK, Germany, France, and Spain are walking a tightrope as they try to bring public finances under control without nipping recovery in the bud. It warned of "substantial execution risk" in withdrawal of stimulus, the Telegraph reports.
Gordon Brown's credibility will suffer another blow on Tuesday as the European Commission chides Britain for doing too little to bring its budget back to health. Early drafts of the EC's assessment of the UK's public finances show that Brussels will urge the Treasury to put together more ambitious debt reduction plans, the Telegraph reports.
Meanwhile, conflict was brewing between Berlin and Paris yesterday over the crisis in the eurozone as the German Finance Minister called for countries that fail to clean up their finances to be thrown out of the single currency, the Times reports.
BAE warned the Government last night that it could be forced to close its tank factory in Newcastle if a £4bn armoured vehicle contract goes to America. The Defence Ministry is hoping to order at least 750 Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) vehicles from General Dynamics in what would be the fourth contract to be awarded to an American company in as many months, the Times reports.
A senior investment banker and his wife have been charged with insider dealing, in a case that sees the Financial Services Authority calling for the extradition of a suspect from abroad for the first time. This comes just days after Hector Sants, the outgoing chief executive of the City watchdog, said market abuse in the UK was still "unacceptably high". Christian Littlewood, a banker at Dresdner Kleinwort and later Shore Capital, and his wife, Angie Littlewood, a Singaporean national also known as Angie Lew and Siew Yoon Lew, were yesterday charged with 13 counts of insider dealing and one count of conspiracy to commit insider dealing, the Independent reports. |
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