ADVFN III Morning Euro Markets Bulletin (February 4, 2013).

ADVFN III Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

Daily world financial news Monday, 04 February 2013

London Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts

London open: Banks weigh on the Footsie early on Market Movers techMARK 2,287.96 -0.11% FTSE 100 6,332.52 -0.23% FTSE 250 13,273.16 -0.02% The FTSE 100 slipped into the red in early trading on Monday morning as investors took a breather after the impressive rally seen so far in 2013. Since the start of the year, the index has risen a whopping 7.62% and is now trading at levels not seen since mid-2008. "We may see a break in the recent stock market rally this week, as corporate earnings season begins to wind down and focus turns to the Eurozone," said market analyst James Hughes from Alpari. "Corporate earnings season has been a major driver behind the stock market rally over the past month, and with that now coming to an end, we could now see the rally run out of steam. Economic data has been quite mixed over the past few weeks, with the fiscal cliff in the US taking its toll on everything from sentiment to consumer spending." Nevertheless, Hughes did highlight Friday's jobs report from the US as a positive, which showed huge upward revisions to previous months' data. Barclays leads Footsie lower UK lender Barclays was out of favour early on after announcing that its long-running Finance Director, Chris Lucas, has stepped down ahead of the group's conclusion of its strategic review in the coming weeks. Mark Harding, the Group General Counsel who has been with the bank for 10 years, has also decided to call it quits. The wider banking sector was subdued this morning ahead of an announcement by Chancellor George Osborne, who is expected to unveil plans to "electrify" the ringfence - this would mean that commercial and investment banking activities could be separated if lenders are seen breaking rules. However, Anthony Browne, the Chief Executive of the British Bankers' Association said: "This will create uncertainty for investors, making it more difficult for banks to raise capital which will ultimately mean that banks will have less money to lend to businesses." HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered were trading flat to slightly lower in the opening hour. Diversified mining group Anglo American gained despite saying that its troubled South African platinum division fell sharply into the red in 2012. Amplats reported a IFRS headline loss of 1,468m South African rand, or $170m, for the 12 months to December 31st, compared with a $527m profit in 2011. Fellow miner Randgold was also wanted after full-year profits rose 16% to $511m. Production levels for the year also rose 14% to 794,844 ounces of gold. Aerospace engineer Meggitt was under the weather after UBS downgraded the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral'. Chemicals group Johnson Matthey was also hit by a ratings cut by Citigroup to 'neutral'. FTSE 250 oil and gas group Salamander Energy was a high riser after discovering oil at the first well in its multi-well programme in the North Kutei Basin. Sector peer EnQuest also rose after saying that oil production is line with its guidance. AIM-listed luxury interior furnishings group Walker Greenbank surged after saying it expects pre-tax profits for the year to be ahead of the top end of analyst forecasts, following a good first half performance.

FTSE 100 - Risers Shire Plc (SHP) 2,169.00p +1.59% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,402.00p +1.08% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,145.00p +0.99% Wood Group (John) (WG.) 833.00p +0.60% United Utilities Group (UU.) 735.50p +0.55% Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,370.00p +0.51% BG Group (BG.) 1,128.50p +0.49% Severn Trent (SVT) 1,636.00p +0.49% Evraz (EVR) 298.30p +0.44% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,904.00p +0.42% FTSE 100 - Fallers Meggitt (MGGT) 431.40p -2.27% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,133.00p -2.24% Vodafone Group (VOD) 170.70p -1.59% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,290.00p -1.55% Glencore International (GLEN) 392.25p -1.41% Xstrata (XTA) 1,180.50p -1.21% Aviva (AV.) 363.80p -1.17% CRH (CRH) 1,353.00p -1.17% Melrose Industries (MRO) 238.00p -1.04% Aggreko (AGK) 1,608.00p -0.92% FTSE 250 - Risers Salamander Energy (SMDR) 200.00p +7.53% Sports Direct International (SPD) 414.80p +2.95% Perform Group (PER) 388.00p +2.65% Ted Baker (TED) 1,185.00p +1.72% Homeserve (HSV) 239.80p +1.61% Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,336.00p +1.60% Afren (AFR) 156.10p +1.36% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,738.00p +1.34% Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 559.50p +1.27% BTG (BTG) 338.60p +1.26% FTSE 250 - Fallers Carpetright (CPR) 681.12p -2.70% Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,045.56p -2.01% Chemring Group (CHG) 289.20p -1.97% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 59.40p -1.66% Petropavlovsk (POG) 354.10p -1.56% Stagecoach Group (SGC) 307.90p -1.54% Carillion (CLLN) 304.40p -1.52% Ocado Group (OCDO) 104.40p -1.51% ITE Group (ITE) 252.60p -1.37% UK Event Calendar Monday February 04 INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE BT Group, Mitie Group INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Factory Orders (US) (15:00) Goods Orders (US) (15:00) Producer Price Index (EU) (10:00) Q4 Randgold Resources Ltd., Torchmark Corp. FINALS Randgold Resources Ltd., Torchmark Corp. IMSS 888 Holdings AGMS Future TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS 888 Holdings UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS PMI Construction (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Artemis VCT, Scottish Inv Trust

Europe Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40

Europe open: Political considerations weigh on the periphery - Periphery debt and equities seeing some selling pressure - LCH Clearnet lowers margin requirements on Spanish and French debt - Banks deposited 181bn euros overnight at ECB FTSE-100: 0.14% Dax-30: 0.01% Cac-40: 0.01% FTSE Mibtel 30: -0.98% Ibex 35: -0.46% Stoxx 600: -0.11% European equities have begun the day in a mixed fashion, but with periphery markets clearly under pressure. The reason for the latter has to do with the somewhat increased election uncertainty in Italy, where the most recent polls show Mario Monti losing support versus his political rivals, particularly against Berlusconi. Meanwhile, and over in Spain, the centre-right PP party has come under increasing pressure after left-leaning El Pais newspaper accused at least a dozen government officials of receiving illicit payments, sometimes from the construction industry. The country´s Prime Minister has denied those allegations, saying that the evidence provided by the newspaper – purportedly from the party´s own Treasurer, Jose Luis Barcenas, who himself was already being investigated - had been doctored. Somewhat ironically, according to EPFR Global equity funds attracted another $18.7bn during the final week of January, with flows into Italy reaching their best level since the financial crisis. Similarly, just this morning LCH Clearnet has cut its margin requirements for trading in Spanish and French public debt. Large increase in profits at Swatch Spanish companies Abertis, Ferrovial and Itinere have offered to invest €3.34bn in state highways in exchange for longer concessions, newspaper Cinco Dias reported. Swatch has reported a 26% increase in 2012 net income to 1.6bn francs ($1.8bn). From a sector stand-point the best performance is now to be seen in the following industrial groups: Technology (1.15%), Utilities (0.69%) and Health care (0.48%). Eurozone PMI at 11 month high Eurozone producer price data for the month of January is due at 10:00. The Sentix index of Eurozone investor confidence improved to -3.9 points for February (Consensus: -1.7) after a reading of -7.0 for the previous month. Slight losses in other asset classes The euro/dollar is now sitting at 1.3599, off by 0.31%. Front month Brent crude futures are now down by 0.258 dollars to the 116.46 dollar level on the ICE.

US Market Report

US close: Dow caps 14,000 mark for first time in five years Dow 14,010 (+1.08%) Nasdaq 3,179 (+1.17%) S&P 500 1,513 (+0.99%) US stocks rallied on Friday lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average above the 14,000 mark, representing the highest level achieved since 2007. The fifth straight week of gains in the core US index was underpinned by the publication of strong jobs and manufacturing data. Newly released data from the US Labor Department gave cause for celebration, with figures revealing that payrolls rose by 157,000 in January. This followed a revised gain of 196,000 in December and 247,000 in November. Meanwhile, the rate of unemployment across the country contracted by 0.1 percentage points to 7.8% month-on-month while the average hourly earnings of all employees rose 0.2%, twice the predicted 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite added 36.97 points and the S&P 500 rose by 0.99%. Market murmers Earnings and company announcements from a number of major US-listed equities drove market movements throughout the day. All eyes were glued to Sony Corp following the company's announcement that it would host its first major Playstation meeting in two years, fuelling speculation that the consumer electronics giant might be gearing up to reveal the successor to its PS3 games console. According to news agencies, Sony declined to say whether it would release a new product. A consortium of Michael Dell, Silver Lake and Microsoft were reportedly negotiating taking Dell private at $13-$14 per share, a report on Reuters citing unnamed sources alleged. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp's shares were up 1.67% to $27.93 and Cisco Systems Inc's shares were up 1.31% to $2.84 Less lucky on the markets today were computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co, whose shares fell 0.30% to $16.46 and healthcare company Merck & Co Inc, whose shares fell 3.28% to $41.83. Crude futures Front month West Texas crude futures rose 0.358 to the $97.84 per barrel level in NYMEX trading. 10-year US Treasury yields were down by two basis points to 1.99%. S&P 500 - Risers GameStop Corp. (GME) $24.69 +6.42% Perrigo Company (PRGO) $105.28 +4.75% Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $33.11 +4.61% Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $97.87 +4.13% Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $93.41 +3.87% Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) $74.78 +3.66% Phillips 66 Common Stock (PSX) $62.75 +3.60% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $7.83 +3.57% Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.71 +3.45% Cameron International Corp. (CAM) $65.46 +3.40% S&P 500 - Fallers PerkinElmer Inc. (PKI) $33.74 -4.26% Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $13.82 -4.09% National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $71.26 -3.88% Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.39 -3.83% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $41.83 -3.28% LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) $61.37 -3.23% Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $26.79 -3.11% Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $161.54 -2.97% AvalonBay Communities Inc. (AVB) $126.11 -2.84% Aon plc (AON) $56.13 -2.79% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.71 +3.45% United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $89.84 +2.59% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.56 +2.18% AT&T Inc. (T) $35.51 +2.07% American Express Co. (AXP) $59.91 +1.87% Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $79.89 +1.82% Alcoa Inc. (AA) $9.00 +1.81% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.93 +1.75% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $47.85 +1.70% General Electric Co. (GE) $22.62 +1.53% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $41.83 -3.28% Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $16.46 -0.30% Nasdaq 100 - Risers Perrigo Company (PRGO) $105.28 +4.75% Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $97.87 +4.13% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $7.83 +3.57% Liberty Global Inc. Series A (LBTYA) $70.48 +3.21% Altera Corp. (ALTR) $34.49 +3.20% Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $34.52 +3.20% Catamaran Corp (CTRX) $53.50 +3.10% Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $67.27 +3.10% Dell Inc. (DELL) $13.63 +2.95% Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) $3.23 +2.87% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Facebook Inc. (FB) $29.73 -4.04% Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $103.98 -1.52% Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $33.67 -0.91% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $172.88 -0.61% Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $47.65 -0.52% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $46.77 -0.49% Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $59.43 -0.45% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $453.62 -0.41% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $265.00 -0.19% Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $27.30 -0.07%

FX and Commodities round-up

FX round-up: Euro rallies against dollar The euro bounced against the dollar on Friday, hitting a fourteen month high, after stronger than expected Eurozone manufacturing data. The latest Purchasing Managers' Index survey showed Eurozone factories enjoyed their most robust month in almost a year in January, after strong German output. The single currency pushed past $1.37 to a high of $1.3711 before later trading at around $1.3662 versus $1.3579 the previous session. It was the first time the euro has been bought at $1.37 since the end of 2011. Meanwhile investors were kept busy with plenty of US data out on Friday. The US Labor Department said payrolls rose by 157,000 in January, after a revised gain of 196,000 in December and 247,000 in November. The US jobs data underlined expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain its stimulus programme, which erodes the value of the dollar. The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six major units, declined to 79.098 from 79.197 on Thursday. A separate survey from the Institute for Supply Management reported that activity for US manufacturers in January strengthened to 53.1%, the highest level since April. December construction spending surged while January consumer sentiment also rose. Against the yen, the greenback bought ¥92.50 compared to ¥91.46 while the euro traded at ¥126.36 versus ¥124.15 on Thursday. Sterling was down at $1.5718 from $1.5857 on Thursday. The euro rallied to 15-month high against the pound, rising 1.5% to 0.8692p as confidence in the Eurozone continues to improve. Commodities: Crude rises after strong data Crude oil futures prices rose on Friday with momentum underpinned by the latest US jobs and manufacturing data. Crude oil for March delivery settled up 26 cents at $97.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil futures ended with a weekly gain of 2%. The US Labor Department said payrolls rose by 157,000 in January, after a revised gain of 196,000 in December and 247,000 in November. The unemployment rate contracted by 0.1 percentage points month-on-month to 7.8%. The average hourly earnings of all employees rose 0.2%, better than forecasts of 0.1%. A separate survey from the Institute for Supply Management reported that activity for US manufacturers in January strengthened to 53.1%, the highest level since April. Another report revealed a surge in December construction spending and a rise in January consumer sentiment. Focus on Friday also turned to reports by Enterprise Products Partners, operators of the Seaway Pipeline, said the bottleneck at its pipeline should be resolved by the fourth quarter. The news boosted hopes that the Seaway pipeline will help reduce the glut of oil supplies in storage at Cushing, Okla., the trading hub for Nymex oil. Over on the ICE futures exchange March North Sea Brent advanced $1.21 to settle at $116.76 a barrel. Brent climbed 3.1% or $3.48 a barrel over the week. Among precious metals gold advanced 0.5% on Friday as investors cheered upbeat US jobs data while the weaker dollar also helped fuel demand. Gold for April delivery climbed $8.60 to settle at $1,670.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.