Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

ADVFN  Morning Euro Markets Bulletin Daily world financial news Thursday, 18 January 2018 10:48:03 Monitor Quote Charts News CFD's Compare Brokers Free BB   Share Tips for 2018 The Share Centre’s investment research analyst Ian Forrest, comments on five equities, an investment trust as well as an ETF that our expert research team think could flourish in 2018.  Read more. Capital at risk. London Market Report FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts London open: Stocks slip as investors sift through trading updates London stocks slipped in early trade on Thursday as positive cues from Wall Street were offset by profit taking and shares going ex-dividend day amid a torrent of trading updates. At 0850 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,714.41 though the FTSE 250 mid-cap index was in positive territory at 20,770.71. The pound was flat against the dollar at 1.3835 and down 0.1% versus the euro at 1.1334. Analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said that holding above support at 7,715 will either prove a platform for recovery for the FTSE 100 or merely a consolidation break lower towards 7,688. In corporate news, profit taking hit Royal Mail, which declined after a strong recent run and as it reported on a solid performance over the Christmas trading period, and Associated British Foods, which was weaker as it reported a 3% increase in revenues in recent weeks, as strong growth from its Primark clothing retail arm helped offset a big decline in sugar. Halfords fell despite reporting a rise in third-quarter sales and record sales over Christmas and Black Friday. GKN slipped as it called Melrose Industries out over its offer statement, saying it was "misleading", after the engineer rejected a sweetened but hostile bid of £7.4bn a day earlier. Rightmove was hit by a downgrade to 'underweight' at JPMorgan, while Premier Oil was lower after a downgrade to 'hold' by Investec. Metro Bank was weaker as Berenberg initiated coverage of the stock at 'sell'. SSE, Compass Group, Shaftesbury and Micro Focus were all in the red as their stock went ex-dividend. On the upside, Whitbread was in the black despite warning that tough UK conditions were brewing, as the Costa and Premier Inn owner said sales rose 0.3% in the third quarter. Mining giant BHP edged up after saying said it was looking at offloading its US shale oil business either a trade sale, demerger or public offering. In a quarterly update the company reported a 20% rise in copper production to 429,000 tonnes, iron ore output rose 3% to 62m tonnes, 6% per cent to 48m barrels. Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty rallied after saying the recently-enacted US tax changes would lower its effective tax rate on US earnings to 26% from 40% in 2018 and beyond. Information services giant Experian ticked up as it reported an 8% improvement in revenue for the three months to 31 December. Hargreaves Lansdown was the standout gainer as Barclays reiterated its 'overweight' stance on the stock and lifted the price target, while Britvic was boosted by an upgrade to 'buy' at Deutsche Bank. On the data front, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' monthly house price index rose to +8 in December from 0 in November, which had been the worst reading since March 2013. Economists had been expecting the index to be unchanged. But the survey found that last year's cut in stamp duty for first-time buyers has done nothing to boost demand, with the new buyer enquiries balance falling to -15 in December from -5 in November. The Top 10 Stocks for 2018 What does the year hold for these 10 blue chips? A look at some of the key themes in the coming 12-months, the key numbers from 2017, FTSE 100 companies that reached record highs… and those that fell to all-time lows, and our Top Stock Picks for 2018. Losses can exceed deposits. Get your copy Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,714.41 -0.14% FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,770.71 0.01% techMARK (TASX) 3,503.22 -0.56% FTSE 100 - Risers Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,903.50p 3.45% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,400.00p 1.69% Whitbread (WTB) 3,917.00p 1.61% Scottish Mortgage Inv Trust (SMT) 467.40p 0.82% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 652.00p 0.62% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,028.00p 0.59% Next (NXT) 5,030.00p 0.56% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,152.00p 0.56% Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 8,405.00p 0.54% Persimmon (PSN) 2,624.00p 0.54% FTSE 100 - Fallers SSE (SSE) 1,304.00p -2.83% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,804.00p -1.86% Vodafone Group (VOD) 223.95p -1.63% Mediclinic International (MDC) 610.40p -1.39% Compass Group (CPG) 1,506.00p -1.31% BT Group (BT.A) 265.75p -1.21% Pearson (PSON) 678.20p -0.99% Land Securities Group (LAND) 995.80p -0.97% Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,154.00p -0.97% GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,347.20p -0.88% FTSE 250 - Risers Britvic (BVIC) 831.50p 3.94% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 301.90p 3.71% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 1,058.00p 3.12% CYBG (CYBG) 333.20p 2.46% NewRiver REIT (NRR) 305.00p 1.84% Capita (CPI) 394.50p 1.54% Sports Direct International (SPD) 378.50p 1.47% Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 937.00p 1.36% CLS Holdings (CLI) 236.92p 1.25% Cineworld Group (CINE) 537.50p 1.22% FTSE 250 - Fallers AA (AA.) 157.95p -4.36% BTG (BTG) 721.00p -3.87% Rightmove (RMV) 4,431.00p -2.85% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 383.20p -2.79% Ibstock (IBST) 256.28p -2.48% Vedanta Resources (VED) 896.00p -2.44% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 235.70p -1.96% Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 280.60p -1.61% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,007.50p -1.47% Top of the stocks Number of Deals Bought Place EPIC Equity name % 1 RMG Royal Mail PLC 6.54 2 BP. BP Plc 5.31 3 NG. National Grid 5.19 4 RDSB Royal Dutch Shell Plc B Shares 4.49 5 SMT Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 1.45 6 ULVR Unilever plc 1.40 7 CLLN Carillion plc 1.23 8 WTAN Witan Investment Trust 1.20 9 BOO Boohoo.com 1.18 10 SOPH Sophos Group plc 1.08 Number of Deals Sold Place EPIC Equity name % 1 LLOY Lloyds Banking Group plc 2.81 2 CLLN Carillion plc 2.80 3 BOO Boohoo.com 1.54 4 GKN GKN plc 1.49 5 XBT Provider AB 1.45 6 PMO Premier Oil Plc 1.17 7 IQE IQE plc 1.09 8 XBT Provider AB 1.05 9 GLEN Glencore plc 0.82 10 SXX Sirius Minerals plc 0.80 FatPROPHETS Successful stock recommendations since 2000 Fat Prophets is a stock market research house that specialises in assisting value based investors with buy, hold and sell recommendations Click Here Cryptocurrencies Report Top Cryptocurrencies # Name Market Cap($) Price(%) Change Price Graph(3m) 1 Bitcoin (BTC) 190,599,070,920 11,196.63 +2.78% 2 Ethereum (ETH) 97,653,425,340 994.37 +3.74% 3 Ripple (XRP) 55,535,272,960 1.43 +10.36% 4 Bitcoin Cash / BCC (BCH) 30,168,484,527 1,764.44 +1.73% Atlantic Advisory - Share Tips of the Year 2018 Download Our Latest Report Here Losses can exceed deposits US Market Report US close: Dow Industrials breaks past 26,000, S&P tops 2,800 points Wall Street continued to push higher, with the Dow Industrials clambering above the 26,000 point mark on Wednesday and the S&P 500 rising past 2,800 points, helped by upbeat economic data and tech giant Apple's announcement that it would repatriate part of its overseas cash hoard. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was standing 1.25% or 322.70 points higher at 26,115.65, having failed to close above 26,000 the day before after breaching that level at the open. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up 0.3% to 2,785.56 and 7,246.35, respectively. From a sector standpoint, the best performance was put in by the following industrial groups: Coal (9.87%), Semiconductors (2.75%) and Home construction (2.60%). "While European markets had a disappointing day yesterday it turned out that the late evaporation of those strong early gains in US markets on Tuesday, turned out to be a one day wonder, as sentiment got turned on its head with a rally of over 300 points on the Dow, with most of the gains helped by an afternoon announcement from Apple about its future investment plans in the US," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. Hogging the headlines in the corporate space, towards the end of the session, Apple said it would pay a one-off tax bill $38bn, repatriate a large slice of the cash hoard it had amassed overseas and expand its US operations. Technology stocks also got a boost from IBM up after a double upgrade from Barclays to 'overweight'. Microsoft and Intel also gained. Bank of America stock on the other hand ended in the red. Although it posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, the bank took a big hit from US tax reforms. Its fourth-quarter adjusted earnings came in at $0.47 a share, beating expectations for a $0.45 despite a one-off charge of $2.9bn related to the newly-signed US tax law. Shares of Goldman Sachs also retreated after the lender and investment bank reported its first quarterly loss since 2011, of $1.93bn, as it recorded more than $4bn in charges related to the new tax law, while US Bancorp was weaker despite its adjusted earnings for the fourth quarter coming in a touch ahead of estimates. Elsewhere, Charles Schwab slipped after its third-quarter earnings, as it said trading revenue was hurt by price cuts. On the data front, industrial production rose 0.9% last month versus expectations for an increase of 0.4%, as unseasonably cold weather boosted demand for heating. Industrial production had risen 0.2% November. Manufacturing output slowed, rising by just 0.1% in December following a 0.3% increase the month before, although data for total production during the month of October was revised sharply higher. Other economic reports released earlier in the day showed sentiment among US housebuilders deteriorated a little in January, as expected. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index fell to 72 from December's 18-year high of 74, in line with analysts' expectations. The component gauging current sales conditions dropped one point to 79, while the component charting sales expectations in the next six months fell one point to 78 and the index measuring buyer traffic declined four points to 54. NAHB chairman Randy Noel said: "Builders are confident that changes to the tax code will promote the small business sector and boost broader economic growth. Our members are excited about the year ahead, even as they continue to face building material price increases and shortages of labour and lots." Dow Jones - Risers Boeing Co. (BA) $351.01 4.73% International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $168.49 2.93% Intel Corp. (INTC) $44.39 2.90% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $238.55 2.43% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $90.14 2.03% Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $102.70 2.00% Home Depot Inc. (HD) $199.82 1.79% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $179.10 1.65% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $41.20 1.63% Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $37.18 1.58% Dow Jones - Fallers General Electric Co. (GE) $17.33 -4.72% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $253.65 -1.86% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $168.74 -0.48% Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $62.03 -0.06% Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $146.94 0.08% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $51.73 0.14% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $132.36 0.27% United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $134.40 0.32% American Express Co. (AXP) $100.76 0.42% Nike Inc. (NKE) $63.80 0.60% S&P 500 - Risers Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $205.08 7.72% Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $119.16 5.53% KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $113.49 5.42% Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $57.34 5.21% Boeing Co. (BA) $351.01 4.73% Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $67.07 3.89% Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $18.83 3.29% Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $61.86 3.22% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $44.26 3.12% Anthem Inc (ANTM) $249.19 3.06% S&P 500 - Fallers Ford Motor Co. (F) $12.18 -7.02% Fastenal Co. (FAST) $52.20 -5.84% Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $7.42 -5.12% General Electric Co. (GE) $17.33 -4.72% Dentsply International Inc. (XRAY) $62.65 -4.57% Endo International Plc (ENDP) $7.69 -4.00% Flowserve Corp. (FLS) $43.37 -3.71% Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $22.28 -3.67% Patterson Companies Inc. (PDCO) $36.85 -3.36% W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $225.25 -2.84% Nasdaq 100 - Risers Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $205.08 7.72% Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $199.18 6.87% Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $119.16 5.53% KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $113.49 5.42% Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $57.34 5.21% Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $67.07 3.89% Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $272.25 3.17% Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $44.26 3.12% Intel Corp. (INTC) $44.39 2.90% Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $96.02 2.88% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Fastenal Co. (FAST) $52.20 -5.84% Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $45.45 -5.29% Dentsply International Inc. (XRAY) $62.65 -4.57% Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $31.32 -3.12% Celgene Corp. (CELG) $102.02 -2.67% Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $122.12 -1.90% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $217.50 -1.82% Incyte Corp. (INCY) $90.31 -1.46% Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $27.52 -1.26% Following the financial crisis, high street banks have funded fewer SME housebuilders Alternative finance providers are stepping in to fill this void, offering investors high margins and attractive returns. One of these lenders, Clearwell Capital is currently fundraising with a 3-year secured bond paying 10% per annum. Click here to find out more. Capital at risk. Newspaper Round Up Thursday newspaper round-up: Carillion collapse, Bitcoin, Barclays, RBS Taxpayers will be forced to hand over nearly £200bn to contractors under private finance deals for at least 25 years, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog. In the wake of the collapse of public service provider Carillion, the National Audit Office found little evidence that government investment in more than 700 existing public-private projects has delivered financial benefits. – Guardian Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble and even after almost halving in value in a matter of weeks it still has further to fall, according to a leading team of economists. As regulators in South Korea again signalled on Thursday that they were considering a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, Capital Economics also dismissed claims that bitcoin and its imitators could replace established currencies as "rubbish". ?" Guardian Topshop owner Arcadia has told suppliers it is imposing a 2pc discount on future orders and orders it has already placed, blaming the changing retail environment. Arcadia's chief executive Ian Grabiner said, in a letter to suppliers, that the group had "absorbed significant costs in technology, distribution and people". ?" Telegraph There is little evidence that handing public contracts to private organisations offers value for money for taxpayers, according a National Audit Office report published days after major government partner Carillion collapsed. There are currently 716 private finance initiative (PFI) projects either under construction or in operation, with a total value of £59.4bn. Repayment for these projects cost the taxpayer £10.3bn last year, the report found. ?" Telegraph MPs are seeking answers from regulators and the trustees of the giant Barclays staff retirement fund over plans to allow the core UK bank to walk away from responsibility for honouring pension promises to 200,000 people. Frank Field, chairman of the Commons work and pensions committee, said that he would be writing to the Pensions Regulator and the trustees after seeing coverage of the issue in The Times. ?" The Times Staff at Royal Bank of Scotland's rogue restructuring division were urged to give struggling businesses enough rope to hang themselves in a damning internal memo released yesterday by the Treasury select committee. The memo by an unnamed manager urges staff to focus on "basket cases", which were "time-consuming but remunerative", and encourages them to find every possible way of squeezing fees from them. Entitled Just Hit Budget!, it includes a section called "16 Ways to generate income". In another section, it said: "Rope: Sometimes you need to let customers hang themselves." ?" The Times   To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact advertise@advfn.com     To unsubscribe from this news bulletin or edit your mailing list settings click here. 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