London open: Markets flat ahead of Eurozone data
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,178.86 +0.32%
- FTSE 100 6,064.81 0.00%
- FTSE 250 12,670.71 -0.40%
UK stocks opened flat on Tuesday morning ahead of some key economic indicators from the Eurozone.
On today's agenda, there will be unemployment figures in Italy, German
factory orders as well as consumer confidence, jobless and retail sales
data for the Eurozone as a whole.
Market analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari said to expect increased levels of volatility this week ahead of the start of fourth-quarter reporting earnings season.
"The last couple of earnings seasons have been overshadowed by events
in the Eurozone and the US. What we've seen over the last six months is a
stock market rally that has largely ignored company performances and
instead been driven by unlimited central bank stimulus and an increase
in risk appetite and one disaster after another is averted.
"We're now going into an earnings season with sky high stock prices, a
recent history of lower revenues with profits driven by cost cutting and
low expectations. With nothing else to distract us, this could be the
perfect recipe for heightened volatility in the markets and a potential
correction in equity prices that has been long overdue," Erlam said.
Investors will be keeping close eyes on decisions from central banks this week. Neither the Bank of England (BoE) nor the European Central Bank (ECB) are expected to make a move this week.
Vodafone gains; insurance stocks drop
Telecoms titan Vodafone was a high riser after Verizon Communication's CEO said that a purchase of Vodafone's stake in their joint venture Verizon Wireless is feasible, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Insurance peers Standard Life, Legal & General and RSA Insurance were heavy fallers in the opening hour after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its ratings for all three groups.
Production has started on time and on budget at BG Group's Sapinho field offshore Brazil, the natural gas and oil explorer announced this morning, causing shares to rise.
Power systems giant Rolls-Royce
edged higher after saying it has acquired American business PKMJ
Technical Services in an attempt to accelerate growth in the important
nuclear services market. The company also said that it has won a 26m
order for four Rolls-Royce UT 771 CDL offshore supply vessels to be
built at a Chinese shipyard for a Hong Kong owner.
Consumer packaging giant Rexam
was slightly higher after revealing details of its cash return
following Personal Care unit disposal, with shareholders in for a
higher-than-expected 395m windfall. The firm had initially pencilled in a
cash return of around 370m.
Mining giant Anglo American
gained after appointing Mark Cutifani of AngloGold Ashant as CEO to
replace Cynthia Carroll. Cutifani will take the reins in April with a
pay packet worth around 2.38m, including salary and bonuses.
Canadian miner Barrick Gold has abandoned plans to sell its majority stake in London-listed African Barrick Gold (ABG) to a Chinese buyer, causing shares in the latter to plummet this morning.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 164.25p +2.88%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,034.50p +1.70%
Shire Plc (SHP) 1,932.00p +0.94%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 791.50p +0.83%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 252.80p +0.76%
BT Group (BT.A) 244.70p +0.70%
Centrica (CNA) 335.90p +0.60%
Carnival (CCL) 2,412.00p +0.50%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 803.50p +0.50%
Pearson (PSON) 1,215.00p +0.41%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
TUI Travel (TT.) 276.60p -3.49%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,460.00p -2.11%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,247.00p -1.89%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,305.00p -1.29%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 125.30p -1.10%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 149.70p -1.06%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 811.50p -0.98%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,758.00p -0.96%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,820.00p -0.94%
Evraz (EVR) 271.40p -0.88%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Galliford Try (GFRD) 798.00p +2.70%
Bumi (BUMI) 294.80p +2.18%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 198.50p +1.79%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 210.00p +1.60%
Interserve (IRV) 404.60p +1.53%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 368.20p +1.24%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 597.50p +1.10%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,357.00p +1.04%
Raven Russia Ltd (RUS) 66.00p +0.92%
Cranswick (CWK) 882.00p +0.92%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 354.40p -20.18%
Debenhams (DEB) 110.70p -5.47%
Hays (HAS) 83.30p -2.97%
Michael Page International (MPI) 403.80p -2.63%
Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 627.00p -2.49%
Dunelm Group (DNLM) 694.00p -2.39%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 232.10p -2.19%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 324.20p -2.05%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 329.50p -1.99%
UK Event Calendar
Tuesday January 08
TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dunelm, Persimmon, Robert Walters, Signet, Balfour Beatty
IMS
Dominos Pizza Group, Debenhams
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Management Consulting Group, Norcros, TR Property Inv Trust, TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares
QUARTERLY EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Verizon Communications
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Trade (GER) (07:00)
Business Climate Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Consumer Credit (US) (20:00)
Current Account (GER) (07:00)
Economic Sentiment Indicator (EU) (10:00)
Retail Price Index (GER) (07:00)
Retail Sales (EU 17) (10:00)
Unemployment (EU 17) (10:00)
GMS
Kingswalk Investments Ltd
IMSS
Domino's Pizza Group
EGMS
Kingswalk Investments Ltd
AGMS
Debenhams
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BRC Retail Sales Monitor (00:01)
| US Market Report |
US close: Slight losses as big cap stocks weigh
- Consumer electronics stocks lead gains
- Obama names new Cabinet
- Banks down after settling with government/Fannie
Dow Jones Industrials: -0.38%
Nasdaq Comp.: -0.09%
S&P 500: -0.31%
The main US market averages finished slightly lower, weighed down
weakness in large capitalisation stocks. That ahead of the start of the
first quarter earnings season, tomorrow, after aluminium maker Alcoa publishes its latest quarterly results.
Banks ended in a slightly mixed fashion despite the Basel Banking
Supervision Committee having eased its calendar and the terms - for the
implementation of lender's new liquidity requirements. This on news that
a group of institutions has reached a multi-billion dollar settlement
with Federal authorities. In parallel, Bank of America settled with
Fannie Mae over most of the issues they had pending.
Economists cut their forecasts for Treasury yields in 2013 to the least since Bloomberg
began compiling the predictions, last July. Ten-year yields will be
2.14% by Dec. 31st, according to a survey of banks and securities
companies as of January 4th.
Mortgage finance and consumer electronics in the lead
Bank of America will pay Fannie Mae
$3.6bn to resolve home-loan repurchase claims. The latter, which for
all intents and purposes enjoys the US government's backing, had been
claiming that the lender had knowingly mis-represented the risks
surrounding the mortgage instruments which it had marketed to it.
Equity Residential agreed to sell real estate properties to a joint venture of Goldman Sachs Group and Greystar Real Estate Partners for $1.5bn.
Bank of America will pay Fannie Mae
$3.6bn to resolve home-loan repurchase claims. The latter, which for
all intents and purposes enjoys the US government's backing, had been
claiming that the lender had knowingly mis-represented the risks
surrounding the mortgage instruments which it had marketed to it.
The lender will also pay $6.75bn to repurchase residential mortgages
sold to Fannie Mae. The question which naturally arose is whether the
fact that a deal was being reached now reflected greater confidence on
the part of Bank of America over the outlook for those same instruments.
Federal regulators on Monday reached an $8.5bn settlement
with 10 financial institutions over foreclosure abuses. Amongst the
banks included were Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase.
Yahoo! ended down by 2.3% after Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded the shares.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded their view on Amazon.com to 'overweight' from 'equalweight' before.
Roche took its bid for rival Illumina off the table, the company's Chief Executive Officer has told the Swiss press.
Barclays lowered its target on the shares of Apple to $740 from $800 before.
From a sector stand-point the best performers were to be seen in
following sectors: Mortgage finance (2.75%), Consumer electronics
(2.17%) and Electronic office equipment (1.84%).
Not to be lost sight of, the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is slated to begin tomorrow.
Acting as a backdrop, over the weekend US Senate majority leader Mitch
Mc.Connell indicated that Republicans are not willing to raise taxes any
further. This initial stance may just be a part of the negotiation
process expected to take place over the next month approximately.
Also worth mentioning, as far as market 'technicals' are concerned
were: after rising by 20% Chinese equities have entered a 'bull market'
and levels of volatility have hit relative new lows in the US (the VIX
fell below 14 last Friday).
Other asset classes flat
10 year US Treasury yields finished flat at 1.90%
Front month West Texas crude futures rose by 0.06% to the 93.25 dollar per barrel mark on the NYMEX.
S&P 500 - Risers
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $85.73 +4.43%
Windstream Corp. (WIN) $9.67 +3.77%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $268.46 +3.59%
Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR) $75.19 +3.40%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $99.20 +3.36%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $7.18 +3.16%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.67 +3.09%
Harman International Industries Inc. (HAR) $47.53 +2.81%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $11.65 +2.46%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $41.22 +2.46%
S&P 500 - Fallers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $31.37 -6.60%
Tesoro Corp. (TSO) $40.22 -5.45%
QEP Resources Inc (QEP) $29.78 -5.07%
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) $28.01 -4.14%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $60.25 -3.68%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $17.64 -3.61%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $50.06 -3.53%
Apache Corp. (APA) $80.35 -3.43%
Phillips 66 Common Stock (PSX) $51.36 -3.35%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $19.96 -3.20%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $90.91 +1.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.69 +0.88%
AT&T Inc. (T) $35.39 +0.45%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.25 +0.43%
American Express Co. (AXP) $59.86 +0.42%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $42.12 +0.36%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $95.21 +0.31%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $15.17 +0.20%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $45.80 +0.15%
3M Co. (MMM) $95.49 +0.13%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $50.97 -2.34%
Boeing Co. (BA) $76.13 -2.01%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.10 -1.73%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $73.06 -1.35%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $87.93 -1.16%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $37.30 -0.96%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $68.40 -0.96%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.29 -0.94%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $68.62 -0.68%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $109.75 -0.68%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $85.73 +4.43%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $268.46 +3.59%
Catamaran Corp (CTRX) $51.77 +3.40%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $7.18 +3.16%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $47.29 +3.14%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $26.54 +2.83%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $68.16 +2.42%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $83.02 +2.41%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $29.42 +2.30%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $11.99 +1.96%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $50.06 -3.53%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $88.41 -3.08%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $12.77 -2.89%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $33.24 -2.46%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $19.40 -2.32%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $102.29 -2.25%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $56.29 -2.12%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $94.10 -1.81%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $90.05 -1.75%
Liberty Media Corp. Capital Class A (LMCA) $118.54 -1.63% |
| FX and Commodities round-up |
FX round-up: Dollar headwinds as focus turns to ECB
The
greenback lost ground against major currencies on Monday, following
strong gains last week, on the view that the Federal Reserve will wind
down its bond programme this year.
The dollar index, which
compares the US currency against a basket of six currencies, declined to
80.2558 from 80.440 on Friday.
The US currency had risen 1%
last week after minutes from the last Fed meeting indicated that policy
makers were keen to its quantitative easing programme.
However
jobs data out on Friday took the wind out of the dollar's sails after
figures showed that while jobs were added in December, it was at a
slower pace than November's revised figure.
By Monday, dollar
impetus was further hurt as focus switched to the European Central
Bank's meeting on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to refrain from
cutting interest rates at its meeting this week and markets will be
eager to see if any indication of monetary stimulus is given.
Spanish and Italian bond auctions will also move into focus at the end
of the week and robust demand is expected to fuel euro gains against the
dollar.
The euro changed hands at $1.3111 from $1.3082 the previous session.
Against the yen, the dollar traded at 87.83 from 88.13 on Friday as
profit takers moved in. Sterling rose to $1.6109 from $1.6079 before.
Commodities: Crude captures small gain
Crude
oil futures eked out a modest increase on Monday, ahead of the start of
the first quarter earnings season, which kicks off on Tuesday with
aluminium maker Alcoa's quarterly results.
Crude oil for
February delivery rose 10 cents to settle at $93.19 a barrel on the New
York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement in over two months.
Oil prices were boosted last week by an Energy Information
Administration report that showed a much bigger than expected draw on
crude supplies in the week ended December 28th.
However data
out this week is expected to show crude stockpiles to have risen while
the EIA is also expected to issue its monthly short-term energy outlook
report on Tuesday.
Among precious metals gold eased 0.2% on
Monday as traders remained preoccupied with comments from the last
Federal Reserve meeting that its bond buying programme may come to an
end as early as this year.
Gold for February delivery
retreated $2.60 to settle at $1,646.30 an ounce on the Comex division of
the New York Mercantile Exchange.
March silver rose 14 cents to finish at $30.08 an ounce while March copper lost almost 2 cents to $3.68 a pound.
March palladium dropped $18.50 to $670 an ounce while platinum for April delivery eased $2.20 to $1,556.30 an ounce.
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