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Stocks flat ahead of Fed meeting
Market Movers
techMARK 2,128.97 +0.03%
FTSE 100 5,924.95 -0.00%
FTSE 250 12,199.01 +0.07%
The
Footsie opened flat on Wednesday morning after hitting a nine-month
high the day before, with investors showing caution ahead of the
conclusion of the Federal Reserve policy meeting later today.
The blue-chip index closed yesterday's session at 5,925, following five
days of straight gains. The last time London's benchmark closed higher
was on March 19th when it finished at 5,961.
However,
technical analysts at Digital Look highlighted that the index has been
unable to break resistance all year long; this is the fourth time in
2012 that it has attempted to consolidate above 5,900 points, having
failed the last three times, which is "statistically odd", they said.
Optimism over the 'fiscal cliff' has increased over the last few days following meetings between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
"Both still appear far from an agreement on areas such as entitlement
spending and tax reforms, however the fact that we're now getting offers
and counter offers means there is progress being made," said market
analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
"Unless we see a breakdown in these talks, it suggests that a deal by year end is very likely now," he said.
Today's focus will be on the Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) meeting with analysts expecting the Fed to announce a new
long-term bond purchase programme valued at $45bn per month as
"Operation Twist" comes to an end.
Some 48 out of 49 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting new stimulus
on top of the $40bn monthly mortgage-bond buying programme announced in
September, commonly referred to as QE3 (third round of quantitative
easing).
FTSE 100: Miners gain while Tullow extends losses
Mining stocks were in demand this morning as metal prices rose, with Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Randgold and EVRAZ on
the up. Anglo was given a lift by Barclays Capital which upped its
recommendation for the shares to 'equal weight', while BHP rose after
selling its "non-strategic" interests in the East and West Browse Joint
Ventures (JV), offshore Western Australia, for $1.63bn.
Oil explorer Tullow
was a heavy faller after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the
stock from 'neutral' to 'outperform', saying that it will take some time
for investor confidence to return following recent drilling
disappointments which have hit the shares by 18% since the start of the
month.
Standard Life was higher after the insurance
group said it had earned £140m from the recent sales of offices in
Canada as it attempts to cut its exposure to property as an asset class.
Drinks giant Diageo fell after both Nomura and
Barclays Capital reduced their target prices for the stock following
yesterday's news that it has terminated talks with tequila giant Jose
Cuervo.
FTSE 250: SuperGroup
Trendy fashion retailer SuperGroup
dropped despite reporting a 16.2% increase in first-half revenue, in
line with market expectations according to Seymour Pierce.
Communications and embedded processor technology company Imagination Technologies Group rose after it posted a 27% rise in its half-year revenue to £71.4m.
Aerospace engineer Senior gained
after saying that positive trading reported in October has continued,
with adjusted pre-tax profit in line with expectations in both October
and November.
Support services company Carillion edged higher after being selected for a series of highways maintenance contracts in Canada that are collectively worth £525m.
| AIM/Small Cap Report |
FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,861.00p +1.53%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,127.00p +1.08%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 172.50p +1.05%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 246.90p +0.98%
Evraz (EVR) 254.70p +0.95%
Kingfisher (KGF) 274.30p +0.92%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,861.00p +0.87%
Next (NXT) 3,739.00p +0.78%
Standard Life (SL.) 333.80p +0.72%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,510.00p +0.67%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,121.00p -2.52%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,102.00p -1.25%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 263.00p -1.17%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,070.00p -1.03%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 981.00p -0.81%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,440.00p -0.69%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,948.00p -0.68%
Meggitt (MGGT) 386.30p -0.62%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 676.50p -0.59%
IMI (IMI) 1,066.00p -0.56%
FTSE 250 - Risers
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 257.00p +4.90%
Senior (SNR) 209.40p +3.71%
NMC Health (NMC) 181.20p +3.66%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 98.85p +3.40%
Telecity Group (TCY) 850.00p +2.22%
Renishaw (RSW) 1,880.00p +1.95%
Grainger (GRI) 118.00p +1.81%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 54.95p +1.48%
Diploma (DPLM) 519.00p +1.47%
Drax Group (DRX) 565.50p +1.34%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 421.70p -5.95%
Supergroup (SGP) 562.00p -5.78%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 123.30p -2.38%
Marston's (MARS) 122.20p -2.24%
Investec (INVP) 395.70p -1.67%
PayPoint (PAY) 875.00p -1.63%
Bumi (BUMI) 280.10p -1.58%
3i Group (III) 211.40p -1.45%
Anite (AIE) 142.90p -1.45%
Mitie Group (MTO) 268.00p -1.36% |
| UK Event Calendar |
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| FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
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INTERIMS
Begbies Traynor Group, Darty, Imagination Technologies Group, Supergroup, Sutton Harbour Holdings
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
3i Group, 3i Infrastructure, Babcock International Group, British
Smaller Companies VCT, Caffyns, Caledonia Investments, City of London
Investment Group, Cropper (James), Falkland Islands Holdings, First
Property Group, Hyder Consulting, Investec, May Gurney Integrated
Services, Mitie Group, Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust,
Northern 2 VCT, Northgate, red24, Sweett Group, Telford Homes, Ventus 2
VCT, Ventus 2 VCT 'C' Shares, Ventus VCT, Ventus VCT 'C' Shares, Vianet
Group, Worldwide Healthcare Trust
QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
M Winkworth, Unilever
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd., XP Power Ltd. (DI)
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00)
Industrial Production (EU) (10:00)
Treasury Budget Statement (US) (19:00)
GMS
Utilitywise
FINALS
IDOX
IMSS
Carillion
SPECIAL EX-DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Polymetal International
AGMS
Altona Energy, BowLeven, EpiStem Holdings, FRM Credit Alpha Ltd Red
Part Pref Shs, GETECH Group, PureCircle Ltd. (DI), Sareum Holdings,
Sylvania Platinum Ltd (DI), YouGov
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Carillion, Senior, Travis Perkins
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Claimant Count Rate (09:30)
Unemployment Rate (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Hargreaves Services, Sherborne Investors (Guernsey) 'A' Shares
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Baring Emerging Europe, Bellway, K3 Business Technology Group,
Marston's, Netcall, Numis Corporation, Origin Enterprises, Qatar
Investment Fund, Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust, Ultimate
Finance Group, Waterman Group
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| US Market Report |
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Stocks gain on 'fiscal cliff' hopes
Market movers
Dow Jones: 13,248 (+0.59%)
Nasdaq: 3,022 (+1.17%)
S&P 500: 1,428 (+0.67%)
US stock markets finished with decent gains on Tuesday on hopes that law-makers can come to an arrangement over the impending 'fiscal cliff'.
Optimism was sparked at the weekend following President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner's unscheduled face-to-face meeting.
"It appears that negotiations over how to avoid the fiscal cliff at the
end of the year are actually starting to go somewhere," said market
analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
"Details of the discussions
between Obama and Boehner haven’t been released but it now appears to be
a case of deciding which entitlements to cut back on."
Speaking to the House of Representatives today, Boehner said he was "hopeful" that an agreement would be reached. However, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid dampened sentiment later on, saying that it would be hard to reach an accord before Christmas.
Meanwhile, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will
conclude tomorrow with analysts expecting the Fed to announce a new
long-term bond purchase programme valued at $45bn per month as
"Operation Twist" comes to an end.
AIG and Delta flying high
Insurance giant AIG
surged after the government's announcement that it is completing its
exit of the company that it bailed out four years ago. The Treasury is
selling 234m shares at $32.50 each.
Delta Airlines rose 5% after saying it will buy around half of Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic for $360m to add more routes to its network.
Tech titan Apple was on the up after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the shares to 'overweight'. Travel-review group TripAdvisor gained after Liberty Interactive Corp bought $300m of its shares, gaining voting control of the company.
Economic data
The
US trade deficit for the month of October increased by 4.9% to $42.2bn
(consensus: $42.7bn). The previous month's level on the other hand was
revised down to show a negative balance of $40.3bn, versus the
preliminary estimate of $41.5bn.
Although the data revealed
the sharpest slump in exports for four years a little of that appeared
to be attributable to a decrease in sales of aircraft – a very volatile
category. Hurricane Sandy also seemed to have had an impact.
The NFIB small company business confidence index for the month of
November decreased to 87.5 points after 93.1 in the previous month
(Consensus: 92.5). Comparable weekly same-store sales fell by 0.7% last
week according to the latest ICSC survey data.
S&P 500 - Risers
Nike Inc. (NKE) $99.41 +102.71%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $40.91 +6.56%
American International Group Inc. (AIG) $35.26 +5.70%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $65.58 +4.83%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $38.65 +4.46%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $17.75 +4.35%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $165.00 +4.15%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $31.05 +4.12%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $19.23 +4.11%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $60.00 +3.96%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) $64.68 -8.36%
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $37.98 -3.70%
DeVry Inc. (DV) $25.78 -3.19%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $12.11 -2.26%
CME Group Inc. (CME) $52.93 -2.09%
Carmax Inc. (KMX) $35.57 -1.85%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $17.66 -1.78%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $70.89 -1.75%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $19.59 -1.71%
Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) $5.57 -1.59%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.65 +2.84%
3M Co. (MMM) $93.68 +1.97%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $45.19 +1.60%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.32 +1.41%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.68 +1.28%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.15 +1.25%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $43.69 +1.09%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.44 +0.93%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $25.64 +0.91%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $194.20 +0.82%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $70.89 -1.75%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $10.51 -0.57%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $62.89 -0.24%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $19.78 -0.05%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $12.60 +6.06%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $65.58 +4.83%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.10 +4.45%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $31.05 +4.12%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $60.00 +3.96%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $41.84 +3.95%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $54.91 +3.91%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $91.29 +3.14%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $33.08 +3.07%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.67 +3.00%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $37.98 -3.70%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $101.40 -1.21%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $43.50 -1.08%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $54.70 -1.05%
Liberty Interactive Corp (LINTA) $18.95 -0.99%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $98.31 -0.65%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $27.85 -0.61%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $35.54 -0.59%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $623.22 -0.44%
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) $2.73 -0.38%
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| Wednesday newspaper round-up |
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HSBC, WPP, UK rating...
The
chief executive of HSBC and a string of top bankers will lose a slice
of their bonuses and will have future payouts deferred after Britain’s
biggest bank was hit with a record fine to settle damaging
money-laundering charges. Stuart Gulliver, the former investment banker
who runs HSBC, has already lost part of one annual payout in the light
of the allegations. He will now lose an unspecified portion of this
year’s deal. Numerous 'code staff' at the bank who carry out significant
risk activities will also be hit by the measure. [The Times]
Channel 4 is locked in a stand-off with WPP,
the world’s biggest advertising group, which could end up pulling all
of its ads from the broadcaster. WPP’s media-buying arm, Group M, is in
negotiations to renew its two-year deal to spend around £200m with
Channel 4, after its current contract expires at the end of the month.
The advertising group, founded by Sir Martin Sorrell, is battling for
better terms than in previous years. Channel 4 is not giving ground,
leading to an impasse. [The Telegraph]
Britain has no reason to fear a spike in borrowing costs if stripped of its AAA credit rating,
the Government's fiscal watchdog suggested today. "It's not entirely
clear that [a downgrade] would be providing any new information to the
markets that they hadn't already managed to deduce," the chairman of the
Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, told the Treasury
Select Committee today.
At last week's Autumn Statement the
Chancellor, George Osborne, conceded he is likely to miss his
self-imposed target of putting the national debt on a falling trajectory
as a share of GDP by 2015-16. Fitch warned that this "weakens the
credibility of the UK's fiscal framework" prompting speculation that the
agency will downgrade the UK next year. Some eurozone nations have seen
their borrowing costs spike after downgrades. [The Independent]
The head of the government's independent tax and spending watchdog has warned chancellor George Osborne that it would be a mistake to rely on forecasts showing public borrowing
coming down this year. Robert Chote, the director of the Office for
Budget Responsibility, said he would not stake his reputation on the
predictions his organisation made for last week's autumn statement. The
chancellor wrongfooted his Labour shadow, Ed Balls, in last week's
Commons exchanges by announcing OBR figures showing that the UK's budget
deficit would fall from £121.4bn to £119.9bn this year once a number of
special factors were taken into account. These include receipts from
the Bank of England's quantitative easing programme and future income
from the sale of the 4G mobile phone spectrum. [The Guardian]
Britain is leaving itself with “no voice in Europe”
by drifting to the margins of the EU, according to one of the
Continent’s top politicians. Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Finance
Minister, made the unguarded remarks at a private dinner in front of the
British Ambassador and several other guests, one of whom told The
Timesthat he was struck by the ferocity of the outburst. But despite
rising German frustration at calls from London for more concessions and a
looser relationship with the EU, it is understood that Angela Merkel,
the German Chancellor, has told David Cameron that she will do
everything she can to keep Britain in the 27-nation organisation. [The Times]
HSBC
will spend $700m on a global “know your customer” programme, as part of
a 26-point plan agreed with US regulators to settle money laundering
and sanctions breaches. The UK bank, which signed up to the A-Z
programme of management changes covering both its US and global
operations, reiterated apologies for its failure to prevent Mexican
money launderers and countries subject to sanctions, including Iran,
from using its network. [Financial Times]
UK boardrooms are becoming more diverse but the lack of female executives
remains a major concern for investors, one of the country's leading
shareholder groups has claimed. The Association of British Insurers
(ABI) today called for businesses to step up their attempts to attract
more women into boardrooms. In a survey released ahead of its investment
conference in London today, the ABI said only 6.6 per cent of FTSE 100
executives and 4.9 per cent of FTSE 250 executives were currently female
despite Government attempts to address the imbalance. [The Independent]
Scotland's beleaguered high street retailers
have had their hopes of a pre-Christmas boost dashed as new figures
showed a dramatic slump in shop sales. The latest report from the
Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), published today, indicates that
hard-pressed Scottish consumers have delayed their Christmas shopping,
contributing to disappointing sales that have fallen behind those
elsewhere in the UK. The gloomy picture was revealed in the survey by
SRC and KPMG, which compared last month’s sales with those recorded in
November 2011. [The Scotsman]
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