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| | London Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London open: FTSE 100 rises after results from Apple, Facebook - Apple, Facebook lift sentiment after results
- FTSE 100 at highest since March 7th
- Miners Anglo, ABG and Centamin rise
techMARK 2,762.55 +0.74%
FTSE 100 6,708.61 +0.51%
FTSE 250 16,070.47 +0.51%
Forecast-beating quarterly results from Wall Street heavyweights Apple and Facebook fed through to an upbeat start on UK stock markets on Thursday morning.
The FTSE 100 pushed through the key psychological barrier of 6,700 in early trading, a level it has not closed above since March 7th.
The index was up 0.5% at 6,709 in early trade.
Apple's share price surged in after-hours trading last night after the US tech giant beat forecasts with its quarterly results and added a further $30bn to its share buyback programme. Higher-than-expected sales of iPhones helped Apple to deliver earnings per share (EPS) of $11.62 in its fiscal second quarter, up 15% year-on-year and ahead of the $10.18 estimate.
Social media titan Facebook also rose strongly after it smashed profit forecasts in its first quarter, as a surge in mobile advertising led to a jump in revenues. EPS almost trebled to 34 cents, much better than the forecast for 24 cents.
The economic data calendar for today looks a little light, though jobless claims figures from the States will be in focus later on as always. Consensus estimates are for a slight pick-up in claims to 310,000 last week, from 304,000 the week before.
Global M&A activity was also helping sentiment today on reports that US conglomerate General Electric is eyeing French industrial manufacturing Alstom in a deal worth $13bn.
This follows bid speculation surrounding AstraZeneca and a multi-billion pound deal between pharma peers Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline which gave markets a boost earlier in the week.
Anglo American, African Barrick Gold, Centamin
Diversified miner Anglo American was leading markets higher this morning after impressing with production increases ahead of expectations across the board.
African Barrick Gold was higher after reporting an 18% increase in gold output in the first quarter, whilst delivering its sixth successive quarterly reduction in costs. The company also announced that is has approved the next step in the optimisation of its Bulyanhulu project and expects production to ramp up.
Meanwhile, gold mining peer Centamin gained after saying that thanks to a new investment law brought in by the Egyptian government, it will try and dismiss an ongoing court case over rights to its Sukari mine in the country.
Consumer goods giant Unilever signalled an upturn in Europe in its first quarter but said growth was slowing in emerging markets as it reported a 6.3% fall in turnover to €11.4bn euros due to currency headwinds, causing shares to fall this morning.
Revenue growth of 3% at AstraZeneca was better than expected in the first quarter, driven by the pharmaceutical company's diabetes franchise. Shares were up early on despite earnings falling more than expected. |
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| FTSE 100 - Risers
Anglo American (AAL) 1,596.00p +3.17%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,443.00p +2.49%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 416.70p +2.31%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,297.00p +2.29%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,129.50p +2.15%
Standard Life (SL.) 390.20p +2.01%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,710.00p +1.96%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,718.00p +1.90%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,015.00p +1.86%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,219.00p +1.84%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Unilever (ULVR) 2,605.00p -1.10%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,309.00p -0.91%
Carnival (CCL) 2,276.00p -0.74%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,392.50p -0.72%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,942.00p -0.68%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,527.00p -0.67%
Pearson (PSON) 1,050.00p -0.57%
SSE (SSE) 1,490.00p -0.47%
National Grid (NG.) 819.50p -0.43%
Whitbread (WTB) 4,055.00p -0.42%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 61.60p +10.10%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 201.30p +9.52%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 258.10p +3.99%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 159.70p +3.43%
AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 1,022.00p +3.08%
Genus (GNS) 1,047.00p +2.75%
Pace (PIC) 408.50p +2.64%
Henderson Group (HGG) 253.00p +2.43%
Hunting (HTG) 862.00p +2.19%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 789.00p +2.14%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Spirent Communications (SPT) 101.50p -2.40%
Infinis Energy (INFI) 219.50p -2.36%
Alent (ALNT) 309.40p -2.21%
BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.71 -1.35%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,499.00p -1.15%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,552.00p -1.12%
Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd Ptg NPV (GSS) 507.50p -1.07%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,170.00p -0.85%
Bellway (BWY) 1,522.00p -0.85% |
| | UK Event Calendar | | Thursday April 24th
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Produce Investments
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Bloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (14:45)
Continuing Claims (US) (13:30)
Durable Goods Orders (US) (13:30)
IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)
IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)
IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)
Initial Jobless Claims (US) (13:30)
GMS
Damille Investments II Ltd
FINALS
Aseana Properties Ltd., Camellia
ANNUAL REPORT
African Barrick Gold , Anglo-Eastern Plantations
INTERIMS
Spirit Pub Company
IMSS
African Barrick Gold, Amec, Anglo American, AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI), Berendsen, Cobham, Computacenter, Croda International, Henderson Group, International Ferro Metals Group, Pace, Senior, Travis Perkins, Elementis, Mecom, Premier Foods, Unilever
AGMS
African Barrick Gold , Aggreko, Anglo American, AstraZeneca, Barclays, Berendsen, Cloudtag Inc, Cobham, COLT Group SA, Croda International, Diamond Bank GDR (Reg S), Elementis, European Assets Trust NV (Regd), Kennedy Ventures, LSL Property , Molins, New World Resources A Shares, Pace, Progressive Digital Media Group, Reed Elsevier, Sampo OYJ, SpaceandPeople, SThree, Symphony International Holdings Ltd., Tomco Energy
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00)
Public Sector Finances (09:30)
FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Belvoir Lettings, Maintel Holdings |
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| | Europe Market Report | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe open: GE may purchase Alstom for 13bn dollars - IFO index, Draghi awaited
- Clashes in Ukraine
- Euro edges higher, rises towards 1.3830
- Industrial goods stocks best performers, Alstom rockets 16 per cent
FTSE-100: 0.45%
Dax-30: 0.50%
Cac-40: 0.56%
FTSE Mibtel 30: 0.79%
Ibex 35: 0.59%
Stoxx 600: 0.54%
European stocks began the session registering moderate gains following the advance seen in after-hours trading in shares of US technology giant Apple.
Further helping sentiment along are reports that American outfit GE may be looking to purchase French rival Alstom for about $13bn.
That may be interpreted by investors as confirmation that 'animal spirits' in the
corporate world – even if only on the other side of the pond – have indeed improved.
On the macroeconomic front, investors were waiting on the latest German business confidence figures due out at 09:00, courtesy of the IFO institute.
Traders were also keen to hear what European Central Bank President Mario Draghi might say, or not, this morning, when he speaks at an event marking the 200th anniversary of the Netherland's central bank.
Acting as a backdrop, various clashes have been reported overnight in Ukraine, as the authorities in Kiev moved to act against pro-Russian radicals.
Industrial goods sector leads gains
From a sector standpoint, the worst performance was being logged by companies in the following industrial groups: Industrial Goods&Services (1.09%), Basic Resources (1.02%) and Financial Services (0.87%).
Shares of French engineering group Alstom are 16% higher following the reported interest from US firm GE. Bouygues, one of its major shareholders, is said to back the bid.
Coincidentally, the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has cleared Dassault Systems acquisition of US scientific software firm Accelrys. The French outfit also confirmed its 2014 forecasts.
Spanish lender Caixabank reported a 54.6% drop in first quarter net profit to €152m.
Euro moves edges slightly higher
The euro/dollar was up by 0.06% at 1.3830.
Front-month Brent crude futures were edging higher by 0.22% to the $109.35/barrel mark on the ICE. |
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| | US Market Report | | US close: Stocks end lower ahead of Facebook, Apple results - Apple, Facebook fall ahead of results
- Manufacturing, new homes sales miss forecasts
- Russia says it will respond if interests in Ukraine directly attacked
Dow Jones: -0.08%
Nasdaq: -0.83%
S&P 500: -0.22%
It was a negative finish for US stocks as investors awaited results from important technical stocks after the close of today's session, with sentiment hit by misses on key data.
The country's manufacturing sector dropped unexpectedly in April, while new home sales declined by 14.5% month-on-month.
However, the focus was very much on Apple and Facebook ahead of their quarterly results, both due to be released after the closing bell.
Apple, whose products include the iPhone, saw its shares fall more than 1%, despite being expected to report second quarter earnings of $10.19 a share.
Social networking site Facebook, meanwhile, fell more than 2.5% ahead of a predicted 24 cents a share earnings.
Data fails to impress
US new home sales dropped by 14.5% to 384,000 in March, from an upwardly revised 449,000 in February and well under the 450,000 consensus forecast.
"The decline was much sharper than we (451k) and consensus (450k) were expecting and, in our view, signals that housing may be slower to rebound after the adverse winter than other sectors of the US economy," Barclays Research commented.
That came as it was revealed growth in the US manufacturing sector unexpectedly eased slightly in April, according to Markit. The preliminary purchasing managers' index for manufacturing edged lower to 55.4 this month, from 55.5 in March. While still in positive territory, signalled by any figure above the 50-point threshold, analysts were expecting a reading of 56.
Elsewhere on the macro front, looking ahead to the two-day FOMC meeting that concludes next Wednesday on April 30th, Capital Economics communicated its belief that the meeting is likely to be a quiet affair for two reasons.
Explaining these, it said: "The Fed made key changes to its forward guidance at the last meeting in mid-March. The upcoming meeting is also likely to be one of the most sparsely attended in years.
"Sticking to its previous tapering plan, we expect the Fed to reduce its monthly asset purchases by a further $10bn, to $45bn per month. We still anticipate that the first rate hike will be in June 2015."
Crisis continues to build in Eastern Europe
Acting as a backdrop to the day's events, news broke this morning that hundreds of US troops have been dispatched to Eastern Europe for manoeuvres. The order came after Kiev accused pro-Russian separatists of torturing and killing two persons and having shot at one of its aircraft.
Furthermore, later in the day Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, told RT News that if Russia's legitimate interests in Ukraine are directly attacked – as he believes they were in South Ossetia - then he sees no other option for his country but to respond in "accordance with international law."
In other company news...
Elsewhere on the corporate front, Netflix Inc. slumped nearly 5%, reversing its recent strong climb which were driven by better-than-expected quarterly earnings released Monday.
Another notable faller was biopharmaceutical group Amgen, after revealing a 25% decline in first quarter earnings, hit by increased costs.
As for the day's risers, FMC Technologies rose one day after it posted quarterly earnings of 57 cents a share, beating predictions of 50 cents.
S&P 500 - Risers
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $37.09 +6.12%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $43.25 +6.11%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $57.75 +4.20%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $42.03 +4.19%
Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS) $54.48 +3.99%
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $25.92 +3.51%
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) $162.08 +3.44%
Gen Dynamics Corp. (GD) $111.58 +3.28%
Ingersoll Rand Ltd. (IR) $59.85 +3.21%
Xerox Corp. (XRX) $11.96 +3.19%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $373.93 -11.46%
International Game Technology (IGT) $12.62 -10.31%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $39.91 -5.58%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $353.50 -5.20%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $113.32 -5.02%
Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $49.46 -4.44%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $206.82 -4.29%
Juniper Inc. (JNPR) $24.86 -3.98%
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.92 -3.78%
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) $46.46 -3.71%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Boeing Co. (BA) $130.63 +2.41%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $88.13 +1.43%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $78.04 +0.62%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $124.69 +0.56%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $56.04 +0.41%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $119.65 +0.39%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $100.50 +0.13%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $79.52 +0.09%
American Express Co. (AXP) $87.13 +0.07%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $40.73 +0.05%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
AT&T Inc. (T) $34.92 -3.78%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $78.52 -1.44%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $80.36 -1.10%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $47.42 -1.04%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $39.69 -0.75%
3M Co. (MMM) $137.99 -0.65%
General Electric Co. (GE) $26.42 -0.60%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $75.33 -0.57%
Visa Inc. (V) $208.82 -0.55%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $57.50 -0.47%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $153.69 +3.99%
Avago Technologies Ltd. (AVGO) $64.60 +1.83%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $73.86 +1.37%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $30.42 +1.30%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $19.09 +1.17%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $112.89 +1.13%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $114.81 +1.10%
Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (KRFT) $56.92 +1.02%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $49.80 +0.95%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $128.10 +0.90%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $373.93 -11.46%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $353.50 -5.20%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $113.32 -5.02%
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA) $207.99 -4.87%
Keurig Green Mountain Inc (GMCR) $94.08 -4.65%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $206.82 -4.29%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $83.28 -2.90%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $54.11 -2.80%
Vimpelcom Ltd Ads (VIP) $8.80 -2.76%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $303.08 -2.76% |
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| | Newspaper Round Up | | Thursday newspaper round-up: Ukraine, AstraZeneca, Scotland The rhetoric between Kiev and Moscow has taken a distinct turn for the worse. On Wednesday, Russia warned that any attack on its citizens in Ukraine would be considered as an attack on itself. That came as an 'anti-terrorist' operation against pro-Russian militants in the eastern part of the country was restarted. Should the agreement reached last week to de-escalate the situation collapse then a race between Washington and Moscow to fix the blame on the other side could ensue and also set of new rounds of tit-for-tat measures, The Wall Street Journal Europe writes.
Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna has sounded the alarm over the potential takeover of AstraZeneca by America's Pfizer. His concern lies in that the transaction might turn into just an asset-stripping operation. Ummuna also called for more 'grit in the machine' to slow down cross-border takeovers, highlighting how AstraZeneca employs 7,500 staff in Britain and accounts for almost 3% of the country's manufacturing exports, according to The Times.
In what amounts to a stark warning for those wanting Scotland to secede, ratings agency Standard&Poor's has said that the new country could end up with a banking system much like that of Iceland. Simply stated, an independent Scotland would face a situation in which the assets of its banks were 10 times greater than the size of its entire economy. Hence, authorities would be unable to credibly support them should a new crisis arise, The Daily Telegraph reports.
US industrial conglomerate General Electric is set to be in talks to purchase French train maker Alstom in a transaction thought to be worth £7.75bn, for a 25% premium to the company's current market capitalisation. Bouygues, which owns a 29% stake in Alstom, is thought to be backing the American firm. That comes on the heels of a profit warning from the French firm this past January, due to lower than expected demand for its thermal power plants. As a result, it expected to consume more cash than initially thought too, says The Daily Telegraph.
It may take a decade to reach peak activity but by 2024 the annual amount of funds dedicated by the shale gas industry may hit £3.3bn. In total, the fracking industry may spend £33bn over the coming 18 years to drill 4,000 wells with the ability to supply a third of the nation's gas needs, a study commissioned by the UK Onshore Operators Group (UKOOG) shows. In parallel, that could create up to 64,000 new jobs if Britain moves to rapidly exploit its shale gas reserves, The Times reports.
Coca Cola's largest shareholder, Warren Buffet, is against the highly contested pay plans for the company's executives. Nevertheless, he demurred from voting 'no' because its "un-American to vote no at a Coke meeting". Speaking on CNBC, he termed the compensation awards "excessive" but added that his investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, demurred from voting against them because it did not want to express disapproval of the company's management, The Daily Telegraph says. | | |
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