Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

ADVFN  Morning Euro Markets Bulletin Daily world financial news Monday, 19 February 2018 12:29:43 Monitor Quote Charts News CFD's Compare Brokers Free BB   Get Your FREE Weekly Bitcoin Newsletter From Guardian Stockbrokers Click Here To Subscribe For FREE Today All trading involves risk. Losses can exceed deposits. London open: Stocks nudge lower ahead of busy week FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts London stocks were a touch weaker in early trade on Monday despite positive opening calls, as investors sifted through earnings and looked ahead to a busier rest of the week. At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,289.56,while the pound was 0.1% lower versus the dollar and the euro at 1.4011 and 1.1295, respectively. There are no major data releases due but Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will give a speech at Regents University at 1845 GMT. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: “Today’s empty economic calendar actually masks an incredibly busy week for the UK markets. Wednesday sees the latest jobs report, with wage growth expected to remain at 2.5% against inflation’s stubborn 3.0% levels, while Thursday brings with it the second estimate Q4 GDP reading. “Not only that, it is one of the most over-stuffed weeks for earnings since the year began, with the FTSE’s big four banking stocks, a decent chunk of the index’s miners, and the likes ofInterContinental Hotels, Barratt Developments, BAE Systems, IAG, Pearson, British American Tobacco and Centrica all reporting. If the market’s recent macro-trading doesn’t come to dominate, then such releases will likely become the FTSE’s main source of direction this week.” Investors were digesting the latest survey from Rightmove released earlier, which showed the average UK asking price rose 0.8% on the month in February following a 0.7% jump the month before. On the year, house prices were up 1.5% compared to a 1.1% increase in January. Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: "This month's rise of 0.8% is well below the 1.6% monthly average at this time of year over the last 10 years, and it is wise for sellers to be cautious and not to over-price given stretched buyer affordability." In corporate news, consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser was under the cosh as it vowed to return to growth after reporting flat like-for-like sales for 2017. Polymetal International slipped after it agreed to increase its stake in the Russian Prognoz silver property to 50% from 5% for $72m to be paid in Polymetal shares. James Fisher was a little weaker after saying it had bought Australian recompression chamber maker Cowan Manufacturing for AUD $2.6m (£1.5m) in cash. AstraZeneca ticked lower after it and MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Imfinzi for the treatment of patients with unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), whose disease has not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT). On the upside, Spectris rallied as it posted a 12% increase in full-year pre-tax profit and a 13% rise in revenue, while Fidessa racked up strong gains after saying full-year pre-tax profit and revenue rose 2% and 7%, respectively. Retailer N Brown advanced after announcing that Matt Davies, the former UK boss of Tesco, will succeed Andrew Higginson as its chairman. FTSE 250 merchanting and DIY group Grafton rose after announcing the acquisition of London-based independent specialist decorators’ merchant Leyland SDM for £82.4m on a debt-free, cash-free basis. Saga also gained after saying it has appointed Patrick O'Sullivan as chairman with effect from 1 May. In broker note action, Kier was initiated at ‘buy’ by Stifel, while AAwas downgraded to ‘sell’ by Berenberg. Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,289.56 -0.07% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,770.37 0.19% techMARK (TASX) 3,328.96 0.23% FTSE 100 - Risers NMC Health (NMC) 3,480.00p 1.64% Evraz (EVR) 398.90p 1.09% Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) 368.00p 1.04% easyJet (EZJ) 1,661.00p 0.85% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.29p 0.83% Barclays (BARC) 201.70p 0.82% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 612.40p 0.72% Ashtead Group (AHT) 2,045.00p 0.69% Carnival (CCL) 4,836.00p 0.52% AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,763.50p 0.51% FTSE 100 - Fallers Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,318.00p -3.81% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,381.40p -1.33% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,224.00p -1.30% Shire Plc (SHP) 3,175.00p -0.84% Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,101.00p -0.80% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,075.00p -0.66% Unilever (ULVR) 3,780.00p -0.57% Imperial Brands (IMB) 2,643.50p -0.53% Vodafone Group (VOD) 203.70p -0.46% Informa (INF) 686.40p -0.38% FTSE 250 - Risers Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,790.00p 7.10% Softcat (SCT) 589.00p 4.62% Spectris (SXS) 2,730.00p 3.14% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 961.00p 1.48% Vectura Group (VEC) 80.15p 1.39% PZ Cussons (PZC) 292.88p 1.34% IP Group (IPO) 112.60p 1.26% RPC Group (RPC) 830.20p 1.24% TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 1,680.00p 1.20% Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,199.20p 1.11% FTSE 250 - Fallers AA (AA.) 113.88p -4.02% Rank Group (RNK) 227.50p -1.73% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 561.50p -1.49% McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 146.80p -1.48% TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 104.86p -1.35% Cineworld Group (CINE) 240.80p -1.31% Sophos Group (SOPH) 526.44p -1.14% Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 438.00p -1.13% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 634.75p -0.98% St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 384.86p -0.96% Atlantic Advisory - Share Tips of the Year 2018 Download Our Latest Report Here Losses can exceed deposits Top of the stocks Number of Deals Bought Place EPIC Equity name % 1 BT.A BT Group plc 6.74 2 VOD Vodafone Group plc 6.12 3 GSK GlaxoSmithKline plc 5.84 4 SMT Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 2.02 5 MKS Marks & Spencer Group plc 1.93 6 FRCL Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust plc 1.69 7 UU. United Utilities Group Plc 1.65 8 LLOY Lloyds Banking Group plc 1.51 9 BLND British Land Co plc 1.08 10 LGEN Legal & General Group plc 1.08 Number of Deals Sold Place EPIC Equity name % 1 RMG Royal Mail PLC 1.70 2 LLOY Lloyds Banking Group plc 1.42 3 IQE IQE plc 1.40 4 GLEN Glencore plc 1.22 5 BOO Boohoo.com 1.02 6 NG. National Grid 0.97 7 SOPH Sophos Group plc 0.95 8 SXX Sirius Minerals plc 0.91 9 WPP WPP plc 0.86 10 BARC Barclays plc 0.83 Market Analysis 19/02/2018 Today,s highlights: Global markets remain higher Wall Street ends week higher: The Dow Jones and S&P 500 both showed gains on Friday, while the Nasdaq registered slight losses. However, all three indices finished overall higher for the week, including a 4% spike for the S&P 500 – its biggest weekly gain in five years. Strong numbers in Asia: Markets in the East were seen higher today, as leading indices Nikkei and China50 rose more than 1.5% and 1.2% respectively. Volatility expected for GBP today: Bank of England governor Mark Carney will be speaking and taking questions at Regent’s University, in London, at 18:45 GMT. Carney’s words could potentially generate volatility for the Pound Sterling. Read More... Cryptocurrencies Report Top Cryptocurrencies # Name Market Cap($) Price(%) Change Price Graph(3m) 1 Bitcoin (BTC) 186,447,461,932 10,907 +4% 2 Ethereum (ETH) 92,940,166,825 944.41 +2.23% 3 Ripple (XRP) 45,368,498,204 1.12 +2.37% 4 Bitcoin Cash / BCC (BCH) 26,265,568,040 1,512.3 +1.39% 5 Litecoin (LTC) 12,438,782,911 221.96 +1.49% 6 Cardano (ADA) 10,250,371,045 0.3743 -0.98% Looking for early access to investment opportunities? Make your own informed investment decisions. Get the right tools and information at Master Investor Show 2018. Register for free today US open: Stocks start slightly higher, Nasdaq set for best week since 2011 Wall Street kicked-off the Friday session in good form, with investors seemingly setting aside their concerns about rising inflation and higher interest rates and stocks on track to extend their win streak into a sixth day. At 1515 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.15%, with the S&P 500 having moved up 0.08% as the Nasdaq gained 0.20%, with the latter flirting with its best week in over six years. Connor Campbell, financial analyst over at SpreadEx, said, "The Dow looked pretty tired after the bell, at the very best nudging 0.2% higher. It must be said, however, that of late the index has tended to save most of its energy for later in the US session, meaning it may well open David Morrison, chief market analyst at GKFX, was a tad more cautious. "All this suggests that investors have shrugged off the stock market correction from earlier in the month. However, it's worth noting that the futures indices have all pulled back from their best levels this morning and also that this week's bounce-back looks a bit overdone. So today's session takes on particular significance, especially ahead of the weekend. Another strong close will have many traders looking for US stock indices to retest January’s record highs. However, if we get a pull-back which takes the S&P 500 back below 2,700 then get set for another bumpy week," Morrison told clients. From a technical standpoint, Jose Maria Rodriguez, chief technical analyst at WebFG UK, pointed out that the S&P 500 was now at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of its recent downdraft. In terms of probabilities, although it was impossible to know for certain, a re-test of the 200-day moving average was more likely than an extension of the recent rally in the S&P 500 back to its record highs, Rodriguez said. He also noted the recent decline in trading volumes ahead of the 19 February holiday celebrating George Washington's birthday. In the FX arena, the dollar was trying its best to soften losses seen all week, taking back 0.4% against the pound and 0.5% on the Euro. In macro news, new-home construction rose to the highest level seen since October 2016 in January, as a surge in apartment building helped build momentum in the housing market, government figures showed on Friday. The results were seen as a positive sign that homebuilding in the US would continue to advance after the best year seen in terms of new construction in the last decade. Demand was expected to be supported by continued hirings and heightened confidence required for consumers to make big purchases. Separately, building permits soared to their highest level since 2007 as housing starts jumped 9.7% to an annual rate of 1.32m units, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The general consensus amongst economists led to a forecast of housing starts rising at a pace of 1.23m units to kick the year off. US consumer sentiment improved unexpectedly in February, hitting its second-highest level since 2004 as tax cuts and a recovering jobs market helped Americans shrug off stock-market volatility, according to a survey undertaken by the University of Michigan. The rise in sentiment, which beat all forecasts, came as Americans were getting paid more as a result of Donald Trump's tax cuts announced in December. The increase was also consistent with data on hiring and wages published by the Labour Department earlier in February that showed around 35% of respondents gave favourable references to government policies, the highest level in more than fifty years. In corporate news, Campbell Soup had fallen back as much as 3.06% despite its second-quarter results returning an adjusted earnings per share of $1.00 versus estimates of $0.82, and Kraft Heinz suffered its worst decline in more than two years after revealing disappointing sales and profit results, fuelling sentiment that the firm required large-scale acquisition to drive growth. Coca-Cola fizzed 0.71% higher at the open after its fourth-quarter numbers beat analysts' forecasts on both the top and bottom line. 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. Monday newspaper round-up: House prices, Arcadia, Carillion, Brexit The average price of a UK property coming on to the market has risen by more than £2,400 in a month to just over £300,000 amid evidence of “record” levels of house-hunting activity, according to Rightmove. The website, which tracks 90% of the UK property market, said the national average asking price for a home had increased by 0.8% during the past month, following the 0.7% rise it reported in mid-January. – Guardian Sir Philip Green is thought to be considering the sale of his Topshop-to-Burton empire Arcadia as a Chinese textiles giant reportedly looks over its books. Green is thought to be seeking an exit from the group as his ageing, poor-performing brands including Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Evans come under attack from fast-expanding online players such as Boohoo and Missguided. – Guardian One of Carillion’s largest shareholders was lining up to sue the group for loss of its clients’ money when the firm collapsed, as investors said the board failed to effect change as the company floundered. A letter sent from Kiltearn Partners’ chief executive Murdoch Murchison to the House of Commons select committee leading the inquiry on Carillion’s downfall said that if it had not gone into liquidation, the company would have “considered participation in civil legal action against Carillion with a view to recovering a proportion of its clients’ crystallised losses”. – Telegraph The UK’s competition watchdog is launching a crackdown on cartels after the success of its first advertising campaign led to a rise in tip-offs about illegal activity. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) paid for adverts for the first time last year to encourage tip-offs about potential price-fixing activity. - Telegraph Savers are being tricked out of half a million pounds every day after a surge in criminals targeting British pension riches, The Times can reveal. People with nest eggs to invest, including those with new freedoms to access their pensions, are falling for well-resourced foreign fraudsters impersonating the identities of legitimate companies. Investigations into “clone fraud” have almost doubled over the past year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the City’s chief watchdog, with some victims losing hundreds of thousands of pounds. – The Times The government must guarantee that it will not interfere with the way industry standards are set in the UK after Brexit, three of Britain’s biggest business groups have warned. Many businesses are concerned that the government may choose to establish new UK rules and standards of its own once Britain has left the EU in order to simplify regulations. – 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. Registered Office/Accounts Dept: Suite 27, Essex Technology Centre, The Gable, Fyfield Road, Ongar, CM5 0GA. Customer Support +44 (0) 207 0700 961. Company registered in England and Wales: Number 2374988 VAT No. GB 549 2130 49