Morning Euro Markets Bulletin.

ADVFN III Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

Daily world financial news Thursday, 07 November 2013

London Market Report

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

London open: Stocks fall as caution sets in ahead of ECB, US data - Investors scale back positions ahead of 'risk events' - MPC, ECB meetings in focus - US GDP, jobless claims on tap this afternoon techMARK 2,650.85 -0.10% FTSE 100 6,725.30 -0.24% FTSE 250 15,397.87 -0.04% UK stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday morning as caution set in ahead of a busy end to the week for financial markets worldwide. Benchmarks across Europe were lower "as investors refused to commit to long positions amidst a series of economic announcements due today which could have a massive impact on investors' sentiment", according to Financial Trader Shavaz Dhalla from Spreadex. On the agenda today will be the Monetary Policy Committee vote in the UK and German industrial production figures. However, the focus is likely to be on the European Central Bank policy decision this afternoon with many expecting to see a reduction in interest rates in response to last week's sharp fall in inflation across the euro area. Over in the States, eyes will be kept on a barrage of US economic data, including the initial estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product growth, personal consumption figures and the initial jobless claims report. Traders will also be looking ahead to the all-important non-farm payrolls numbers due out on Friday which are expected to show a sharp slowdown in employment growth in October. Randgold surges after Q3 results Gold miner Randgold Resources was a high riser in London this morning after recording a 80% quarter-on-quarter profit increase in the third quarter after a strong performance by its flagship Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali. The bottom-line growth came despite a 3% drop in the average gold price over the period. Food and sweetener company Tate & Lyle edged higher despite saying half-year profits slipped 6% after a soft beverage season in the US overshadowed growth in Speciality Food Ingredients and progress in emerging markets. Heading the other way was fund manager Schroders as it underwhelmed with a sharp rise in third-quarter profits. The company did say that its wealth management division suffered a £0.7bn net outflow following the loss of a large custody account. Coca-Cola HBC, the world's second-largest bottler of Coca-Cola, also declined after a dip in revenues in the third quarter as volumes were hit by tough economic conditions in Europe. The company also warned that trading conditions would "remain difficult" for the rest of 2013. Auto and bike parts retailer Halfords surged despite a 35% drop in its interim dividend as investors celebrated +6% improvements in like-for-like revenues and profits in the first half. Satellite operator Inmarsat was lower after recording a small fall in revenues in the third quarter and saying that delayed launches will "apply some downward pressure on operating profits during the year 2014".

FTSE 100 - Risers Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,875.00p +5.86% Carnival (CCL) 2,306.00p +0.87% Tate & Lyle (TATE) 800.00p +0.82% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 501.00p +0.32% Fresnillo (FRES) 993.00p +0.30% Antofagasta (ANTO) 860.50p +0.29% Shire Plc (SHP) 2,838.00p +0.28% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 328.70p +0.21% Tesco (TSCO) 364.05p +0.19% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,806.00p +0.19% FTSE 100 - Fallers Schroders (SDR) 2,511.00p -3.61% Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,761.00p -2.38% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,727.00p -1.65% Intertek Group (ITRK) 3,181.00p -1.18% Old Mutual (OML) 202.00p -1.08% G4S (GFS) 254.90p -1.01% Croda International (CRDA) 2,357.00p -0.97% Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 338.70p -0.94% Reed Elsevier (REL) 869.50p -0.86% RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 119.10p -0.83% FTSE 250 - Risers Halfords Group (HFD) 461.30p +10.17% Grainger (GRI) 209.00p +6.09% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 51.15p +5.90% Betfair Group (BET) 1,017.00p +3.72% Kazakhmys (KAZ) 276.50p +3.13% Rank Group (RNK) 154.00p +2.67% Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 47.56p +2.28% BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.89 +2.06% Dialight (DIA) 1,056.00p +2.03% Supergroup (SGP) 1,227.00p +1.74% FTSE 250 - Fallers Inmarsat (ISAT) 660.00p -7.56% Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 506.50p -2.31% Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,957.00p -2.20% Micro Focus International (MCRO) 832.00p -1.94% Synthomer (SYNT) 228.50p -1.76% 3i Infrastructure (3IN) 133.20p -1.70% Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 672.00p -1.47% RPC Group (RPC) 502.00p -1.38% Hunting (HTG) 896.00p -1.21%

UK Event Calendar

Thursday November 07 INTERIMS Cable & Wireless Communications, Dairy Crest Group, Halfords Group, Invensys, Shanks Group, Tate & Lyle, Wincanton INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Bodycote, British American Inv Trust, Cenkos Securities, Hydrogen Group, SIG, Synthomer INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45) Consumer Credit (US) (20:00) Continuing Claims (US) (13:30) ECB Interest Rate announcement (EU) (12:45) Industrial Production (GER) (11:00) Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30) PMI Construction (GER) (08:55) Q3 GDP (US) (13:30) Q3 Hellenic Telecom Industries SA ADS, RSA Insurance Group, Talvivaara Mining Company (CDI) FINALS AB Dynamics, Grainger ANNUAL REPORT Associated British Foods IMSS Aviva, Beazley, Bumi, Cable & Wireless Communications, Dialight, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, London Mining, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Ruspetro, Schroders, Schroders (Non-Voting), Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Synthomer EGMS Telekomunikacja Polska S.A GDR (Reg S) AGMS CAP-XX Ltd., Ceres Power Holdings, Hansard Global, JPMorgan Mid Cap Inv Trust, Jupiter Energy Ltd, Mirada, New Star Investment Trust, Schroder Japan Growth Fund TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BoE Interest Rate Decision (12:00) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Begbies Traynor Group, Penna Consulting, Photo-Me International, Wilmington Group FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Downing Absolute Income VCT 1, Downing Absolute Income VCT 1 'C' Shares

Europe Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40

Europe open: Stocks mixed ahead of central bank meetings - ECB and BoE meetings in focus - US GDP, jobs report - US says German needs stimulus - Italy showing no signs of revival, says Squinzi FTSE 100: -0.16% DAX: 0.08% CAC 40: 0.11% FTSE MIB: -0.52% IBEX 35: -0.39% Stoxx 600: -0.02% European stocks were mixed ahead of policy meetings of the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE). Whispers the ECB could announce it will cut its benchmark interest rate today have been circulating following a dip in Eurozone inflation last week. Bank of America, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have forecast the ECB will cut the rate at the meeting while others believe the central bank will hold fire, at least until December. Some economists have warned over recent days that simply cutting the main refinancing rate - the central bank's main policy tool - would achieve next to nothing. Morgan Stanley, however, said a cut to the deposit rate may allow for some weakening in the single currency on foreign exchange markets. According to Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari, this morning: "While I agree that there's certainly grounds for a rate cut today, with unemployment currently at record highs and inflation falling so low that deflation is becoming a very real threat, I don't believe the ECB will act today." The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will also meet today to discuss interest rates and its quantitative easing programme, although they are expected to keep their policy unchanged. IHS Global Insight's Chief UK & European Economist Howard Archer said it seems a "stone dead-certainty" that the BoE will maintain interest rates at 0.50% and asset purchases at £375bn following its meeting. "Indeed, the markets and analysts will be most likely looking beyond the November MPC meeting and focusing much more on the November Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report which is released on Wednesday 13th." US economic data US economic growth is expected to expand 2% in the third quarter, according to consensus ahead of this afternoon's gross domestic product figures. A separate report is forecast to show US personal consumption expenditure rose 1.6% in the third quarter, compared to 1.8% the previous three months. Initial jobless claims in the week to November 2nd are tipped to come in at 335,000, compared to 340,000 the week before. The market is turning to economic data for clues as to when the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its monthly $85bn bond buying programme. Meanwhile the US Treasury thinks Germany should take a leaf out of its own book and learn to "lighten up", according to Chief Economist at markets.com Bill Hubbard. "If Germans would splurge now and again Europe would recover," he said. "If Europe would recover the global economy could rebalance." In Italy, President of Italian employers' federation Confindustria Giorgio Squinzi yesterday announced in Brussels that the country was "well and truly in a situation of deflation", according to Reuters. He said Confidustria would cut its 2013 growth forecast, the most recent being a negative 1.8%, as the economy is showing no signs of revival. Siemens, Swiss Re Siemens advanced after saying it expected fiscal 2014 earnings per share to rise by at least 15% from last year. Swiss Re climbed after the reinsurer reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates. Deutsche Telekom slumped despite posting a rise in third-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation that exceeded forecasts. Bureau Veritas declined as the goods-inspection company reported third-quarter sales that trailed analysts' expectations. Other asset classes mixed The euro rose 0.04% to $1.3519. Brent crude futures fell $0.295 to $104.930 per barrel on the ICE.

US Market Report

US close: Dow hits record high as Microsoft jumps - Microsoft rises as company shortlists CEO candidates - Dow and S&P 500 rise, Nasdaq falls - Eyes turn to upcoming economic data Dow Jones: 0.82% Nasdaq: -0.20% S&P 500: 0.40% US stocks finished broadly higher on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at an all-time high and the S&P 500 ending within touching distance of its record, helped by some large gains by software giant Microsoft. The Dow finished 128.66 points higher (+0.8%) at 15,746.88, surprising its previous high reached on October 29th. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 7.52 (+0.4%) to 1,770.49. However, the Nasdaq ended slightly lower with social-media stocks, Tesla Motors and heavyweight constituent Apple offsetting gains made by Microsoft. On the whole, investors were taking an optimistic approach as the focus turns to a number of key 'risk events' in the coming days, including the initial estimate of third-quarter US economic growth, jobless claims and the all-important jobs report. Comments from President of the San Francisco Fed John Williams were also closely watched on Wednesday after he said he is not worried about current stock prices in spite of recent gains. "If you look at the valuation of stocks today compared to earnings and dividends and relative to historical averages, it's not obvious that the stock market is overvalued, in fact a lot of models will tell you that it's under-valued given how strong profits have been," Williams said. Leading indicators beat forecasts The release of the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators showed an increase of 0.7% in September after a 0.7% gain a month earlier, and came in ahead of the 0.6% rise expected by analysts. However, the Mortgage Bankers Association revealed applications for US home loans fell 7% in the week ended November 1st, compared to a rise of 6.4% the previous week. Microsoft gains on CEO speculation Software giant Microsoft was making decent gains after Reuters reported that the firm has begun drawing up a "shortlist" for external candidates to replace Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. The article said that the company has around five people in mind, including Ford frontman Alan Mulally and former Nokia chief Stephen Elop. Offshore contract driller Ensco boosted its quarterly dividend pay-out by 50% to 75 cents. Media group Fox declined after saying profit from continuing operations fell to 33 cents a share from 95 cents a year earlier, missing analysts' estimates. Newmont Mining advanced as the price of gold rose for the first time in a week. Shares of iconic fashion chain Polo Ralph Lauren rose after the fashion group upped the lower end of its annual revenue growth target. Meanwhile, rival Abercrombie&Fitch dropped after unveiling lower-than-expected sales figures, as teens held back their spending on clothing. On the Nasdaq, social-media peers Facebook, Zynga and LinkedIn were providing a drag after the news that Twitter had raised the price of its initial public offering ahead of its stock-market debut this week. Electric car maker Tesla slumped after saying it delivered about 5,500 of its Model S vehicles in the third quarter. Tech titan Apple was also weighing on the Nasdaq following a solid 8% gain over the past month. S&P 500 - Risers Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $4.72 +5.47% eBay Inc. (EBAY) $53.28 +4.31% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $38.18 +4.20% Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $59.73 +4.11% Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $124.07 +3.28% ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) $32.56 +2.88% Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) $41.98 +2.72% Unum Group (UNM) $32.58 +2.58% GameStop Corp. (GME) $56.56 +2.28% Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $64.86 +2.21% S&P 500 - Fallers Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $44.00 -8.83% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $288.27 -4.65% Corning Inc. (GLW) $16.50 -4.40% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $62.60 -4.25% Fossil Group Inc (FOSL) $128.46 -4.15% Celgene Corp. (CELG) $144.49 -4.15% Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $57.80 -4.05% International Paper Co. (IP) $43.57 -3.90% International Game Technology (IGT) $18.78 -3.84% CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $209.50 -3.74% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $38.18 +4.20% Nike Inc. (NKE) $77.20 +1.09% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $23.28 +0.93% Intel Corp. (INTC) $24.25 +0.89% Visa Inc. (V) $197.37 +0.48% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $118.45 +0.30% Boeing Co. (BA) $133.09 +0.22% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $84.05 +0.19% Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $81.43 +0.12% Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $77.42 +0.12% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers AT&T Inc. (T) $35.53 -2.52% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $50.10 -1.92% International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $176.90 -1.87% Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $31.00 -0.83% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $45.36 -0.79% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $161.95 -0.74% Home Depot Inc. (HD) $76.65 -0.45% United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $107.68 -0.28% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $92.81 -0.24% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $51.95 -0.17% Nasdaq 100 - Risers Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $80.98 +6.51% eBay Inc. (EBAY) $53.28 +4.31% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $38.18 +4.20% Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $59.73 +4.11% Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $124.07 +3.28% Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $64.86 +2.21% Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $23.13 +1.98% F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $81.20 +1.83% Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $60.11 +1.61% Equinix Inc. (EQIX) $163.26 +1.23% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $151.16 -14.51% Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $62.00 -8.55% Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $13.50 -5.79% Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $288.27 -4.65% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $62.60 -4.25% Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $59.89 -4.16% Fossil Group Inc (FOSL) $128.46 -4.15% Celgene Corp. (CELG) $144.49 -4.15% Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $57.80 -4.05% Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $67.36 -3.13%

Newspaper Round Up

Thursday newspaper round-up: Banks, Twitter, Africa One hundred of the world's largest banks could be dismantled or taken over by more successful rivals within the next couple of years, according to a report by McKinsey & Co.. About a fifth of the world's top 500 banks are at risk of becoming a takeover target due to their underperformance and inability to adapt to market conditions in the wake of the financial crisis. In its closely followed annual report on the banking industry, the firm's consultants said it only thought 10 banks would be able to make the transition from the also-rans to join an emerging group of 90 global financial leaders, The Times reports. After at least two months in secret talks, eight weeks of generating headlines and 10 days of meeting investors in eight US cities, Twitter ended its journey to becoming a public company back where it started: pricing its shares at $26 each. Before Twitter announced its plans to go public at the start of September, shares were priced at $26 on the private market, giving it an equity value of $18bn, the Financial Times reports. Britain must take China's lead and invest in Africa to boost British business, a government minister has said. Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, signalled a move towards trade with countries that have traditionally been the beneficiaries of UK aid. Yesterday, she gave British businesses including JCB, the construction company, SABMiller, the brewer, and Mott MacDonald, the design consultancy, a guided tour of Tanzania to encourage them to invest in the poverty-stricken but gas-rich country, The Times says. Six financial institutions face a record fine of at least £1.3bn for rigging interest rates, it emerged yesterday. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and the world's biggest interdealer broker ICAP, are among those in line for a penalty from EU antitrust regulators. The fines, likely to be the biggest so far handed out by Brussels, relate to the benchmark 'Libor' interest rate for the Japanese yen, The Daily Mail reports. Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis aims to slash more than 440 jobs in Britain, blaming industry-wide difficulties. Novartis is considering closing its manufacturing site in Horsham, West Sussex, which would lead to the loss of 371 jobs, the company told AFP in an email, confirming a report by the FierceBiotech website. The closure was needed as Novartis attempts to adapt to "a challenging healthcare marketplace", it said, stressing that the decision was still subject to consultations with employees and final approval by its UK board, The Daily Telegraph writes. The economy is cooking with gas and the claimant-count measure of unemployment proves it. That has been what government supporters have been saying in recent months as the dole queues have shrunk. Yet since the new regime for claiming benefits was introduced last October the number of adverse decisions is running at almost two and a half times as high as in the decade 2000-2010. Ministers say that they are providing help as well as penalties, and that those coming off the count are finding jobs. This seems unlikely. Demand for labour remains weak, The Guardian says.