Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

ADVFN  Morning Euro Markets Bulletin Daily world financial news Tuesday, 20 February 2018 10:19:00 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 as HSBC, BHP disappoint FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts London stocks nudged lower in early trade on Tuesday following disappointing results from HSBC and BHP Billiton. At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 7,242.33, while the pound was off 0.3% against the dollar at 1.3956 and 0.1% firmer versus the euro at 1.1290 as investors eyed a speech by Brexit secretary David Davis later in the day. He is expected to tell business leaders in Austria that worries the Tories will plunge Britain into a "Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction" after leaving the EU are unfounded. Market analyst Jasper Lawler at London Capital Group said: "Whilst the BoE could look to raise interest rates as soon as spring, this is being overshadowed by Brexit concerns or more specifically confusion from Theresa May’s Brexit cabinet and uncertainties over the post Brexit transition period. As a result, demand for the pound remains limited. "Wednesday and Thursday see the release of high impact data for sterling, in the form of wage data and UK GDP, which will attract attention and could prompt volatility in the pound. Whilst a weaker sterling could boost the FTSE, should the selloff in the dollar also resume, its benefits won’t be felt." On Tuesday, the CBI industrial trends survey is at 1100 GMT. In corporate news, HSBC was under the cosh as its full-year profit and revenue missed expectations, while mining giant BHP Billitonwas also under pressure as its interim profit fell short of analysts' forecasts. InterContinental Hotels was in the red as it reported a jump in full-year profit but said it will not be paying out any additional capital this year as it looks to reinvest savings in growth. Home furnishings retailer Dunelm tumbled as it said its profit margin declined by 1.8 percentage points in the second half of 2017 to 48.6%. On the upside, Fidessa rocketed after confirming that it is in "advanced discussions" about being taken over by Swiss banking software group Temenos for 3,646.7p per share in cash. Hikma Pharmaceuticals surged after appointing Sigurdur Olafsson as its new chief executive officer, while Sports Direct rose as it announced plans to buy back up to £100m worth of its shares as it looks to reduce the share capital of the company. Bodycote advanced as it entered into a long-term contract with Safran to provide manufacturing services. Turnaround specialist Melrose Industries, which is in the throes of a hostile bid for GKN, gained as it said its pre-tax loss narrowed in 2017. Wood Group was also higher as it won a strategic five-year engineering services contract at an Australian gas export project. On the broker note front, Reckitt Benckiser was cut to 'neutral' at Credit Suisse, while Travis Perkins was downgraded to 'hold' at Berenberg. Grafton and ZPG were upgraded to 'buy' and 'overweight' by Berenberg and Morgan Stanley, respectively.   Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,242.33 -0.07% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,739.57 0.44% techMARK (TASX) 3,330.27 0.83% FTSE 100 - Risers Evraz (EVR) 423.30p 2.74% Mediclinic International (MDC) 587.40p 1.49% Relx plc (REL) 1,486.00p 1.09% Ferguson (FERG) 5,220.00p 0.97% ITV (ITV) 172.10p 0.94% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 837.00p 0.92% Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 388.90p 0.91% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 561.00p 0.90% Bunzl (BNZL) 2,017.00p 0.85% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,818.00p 0.85% FTSE 100 - Fallers InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 4,467.00p -4.90% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,510.80p -3.28% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 736.70p -3.13% Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,023.50p -0.78% Shire Plc (SHP) 3,088.00p -0.72% Anglo American (AAL) 1,718.80p -0.50% Antofagasta (ANTO) 893.80p -0.45% Carnival (CCL) 4,802.00p -0.44% WPP (WPP) 1,429.50p -0.42% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 67.74p -0.31% FTSE 250 - Risers Fidessa Group (FDSA) 3,600.00p 23.50% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,008.50p 7.24% ZPG Plc (ZPG) 345.60p 2.98% Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 779.50p 2.30% Pershing Square Holdings Ltd NPV (PSH) 961.00p 2.23% Equiniti Group (EQN) 280.00p 2.19% Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 1,208.00p 2.03% Spectris (SXS) 2,792.00p 1.97% IWG (IWG) 238.30p 1.97% Bodycote (BOY) 926.00p 1.70% FTSE 250 - Fallers Dunelm Group (DNLM) 565.50p -12.53% McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 137.00p -2.77% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 564.00p -1.31% AA (AA.) 113.15p -1.18% Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 528.00p -1.12% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 226.50p -0.92% Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ) 3,213.00p -0.86% Capita (CPI) 184.50p -0.62% Vedanta Resources (VED) 743.38p -0.59% Weir Group (WEIR) 2,001.00p -0.55% Atlantic Advisory - Share Tips of the Year 2018 Download Our Latest Report Here Losses can exceed deposits Europe open: All eyes on US government bond yields FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 European stocks have started the morning higher, with all eyes on Wall Street futures following the long weekend in the States against a backdrop of rising government bond yields. As of 0915 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.15% or 0.58 points higher to 378.79, alongside a rise of 0.25% or 31.34 points to 12,416.54 on the German Dax and an advance of 0.23% or 12.03 points to 5,268.21 for the Cac-40. Meanwhile, S&P 500 'mini' futures contract was pointing to a 13.75 point drop on the benchmark US equity gauge of 13.75 points to 2,721.25 and the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was climbing by four basis points to 2.92%. In the headlines, market commentary had picked up on research from Morgan Stanley pointing out how in inflation-adjusted terms government bond yields in the US had yet to break-out from their recent trading range. Hence, in their opinion, the early February correction in stocks had been just the "appetiser, not the main course". Their comments came ahead of the heavy pipeline of bond issuance expected for over the coming week. Back in European news, Germany's Ministry of Finance reported that the year-on-year rate of advance in consumer prices in the euro area's largest economy slipped to 2.1% for January, versus 2.3% in December (consensus: 1.8%). Still ahead on Tuesday´s economic calendar was the ZEW institute's economic confidence gauge for Germany in February at 1000 GMT followed by a reading on euro area consumer confidence at 1300 GMT. 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 20/02/2018 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... 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 Cryptocurrencies Report Top Cryptocurrencies # Name Market Cap($) Price(%) Change Price Graph(3m) 1 Bitcoin (BTC) 192,047,987,625 11,345.06 +1.51% 2 Ethereum (ETH) 91,925,448,997 935.51 -0.39% 3 Ripple (XRP) 44,511,075,640 1.09 -1.44% 4 Bitcoin Cash / BCC (BCH) 25,647,965,540 1,498.6 -1.32% 5 Litecoin (LTC) 13,236,098,427 240.32 +8.17% 6 Cardano (ADA) 10,056,255,068 0.3716 -0.91% 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. Tuesday newspaper round-up: BHP activist, BT, Energean, Carillion Two more shareholders in BHP Billiton have put pressure on the board of the FTSE 100 mining giant by urging it to consider dropping its dual listing, which Elliott Advisors, an activist investor, says is “obsolete and value destroying”. Baring Asset Management and Plato Investment Management, which control shares worth about $280 million, have asked BHP to set out why it believes the time is not right to consider simplifying its structure. - The Times BT Group has put its cable-making arm up for sale in a sign of efforts to simplify and focus its business following a string of disasters. It is understood that the investment bank Greenhill is handling a sale of BT Cables, a Manchester-based unit within BT Wholesale which supplies the company’s network subsidiary Openreach with fibre-optic and copper cables. - Telegraph Jeremy Corbyn will promise in a speech that a future Labour government would “intervene to prevent hostile takeovers” like investment firm Melrose’s £7.4bn bid for British manufacturing company GKN. The Labour leader will tell delegates at the EEF manufacturing conference in London that if the party wins the next election it will “broaden the scope of the public interest test” to allow the government to stop takeovers that threaten to “destroy our industrial base”. - Guardian Directors of Carillion were “contemptuous” of their obligations to the company’s 29,000 pension fund members while regulators intervened to help far too late, MPs investigating the collapse of the construction group suggested yesterday. Frank Field, chairman of the Commons work and pensions committee, criticised the directors for “refusing to budge an inch” when trustees asked them for more cash in 2010 and 2013 to plug a deficit in the pension scheme. - The Times Sir Philip Green has denied that he is talks with Chinese investor Shandong Ruyi to sell his retail empire Arcadia, branding the speculation as "totally false". Over the weekend, reports emerged that Sir Philip was eyeing an exit from Arcadia, which is behind brands including Topshop and Burton, and had been seeking a buyer for months. - Telegraph Energean, the oil and gas explorer focused on the Mediterranean, is planning to raise $500 million through an initial public offering next month. The company will use the proceeds of the main market listing to fund the development of two gas fields off Israel. - The Times Merlin Entertainments, which runs Madame Tussauds and Legoland, was in the market spotlight today after an activist investor that secured a boardroom seat at Rolls-Royce two years ago declared a 5.4 per cent stake. Shares in Merlin rose by almost 4 per cent after Value Act Capital, a hedge fund in San Francisco, said that it had built a stake worth about £180 million. - The Times Small companies would rather forgo growth than borrow money from a bank and are increasingly opting for alternative sources of funding, new research has revealed. The state-owned British Business Bank, which supports over £4bn of finance to UK businesses, found in its latest annual report into the small business finance market that seven in 10 small companies would choose not to borrow from a bank, even if that meant they did not expand. - Telegraph Bitcoin steadied above $11,000 yesterday after breaking through the price mark for the first time since January over the weekend. The virtual currency reached $11,101 against the US dollar on Saturday, according to Thomson Reuters data, raising hopes that the recent selling could be over. It dropped more than $500 on Sunday but recovered above $11,000 on Monday. - The Times Up to 500 investment bankers could lose their jobs just weeks before they are due to receive bonuses in the latest drive to cut costs at Deutsche Bank. The cull, which has already started, includes some of Deutsche’s 3,500 investment bankers in London. Between 250 and 500 roles will be lost globally. - The Times Banks need to start preparing for the death of Libor in 2021 or a smooth transition away from the scandal-hit benchmark will be "highly unlikely" and pose considerable risks, a consultancy has warned. Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is used to price $240 trillion (£170 trillion) worth of financial products globally but is being slowly phased out as regulators transition to an alternative. - Telegraph Ikea is calling for households to join its latest joint venture – a collective energy switch that promises an exclusive 100% renewable electricity tariff. The furniture retailer has joined forces with the “Big Clean Switch” campaign to use a collective switch to secure cheaper green power for the households that sign up. - Guardian   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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