Evening Euro Markets Bulletin

ADVFN III Evening Euro Markets Bulletin Daily world financial news Wednesday, 07 March 2018 21:29:16 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 close: Stocks shrug-off trade war worries to end higher FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts London stocks finished higher on Wednesday, helped by a stellar performance from Rolls-Royce, although the resignation of US President Trump's chief economic advisor Gary Cohn and the prospect of a trade war kept investors on edge. The FTSE 100 ended the day up by 0.16% to 7,157.84, while the pound was down 0.1% against the dollar at 1.3876 and essentially flat versus the euro at 1.1193. Cohn, an advocate of free trade, quit over Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. His resignation was announced after the close of US markets on Tuesday. "European equity markets finished the day on a positive note, as traders shrug-off talk of an American trade war. Equity benchmarks spent a large portion of the day in the red, but the fear appears to have melted away," said CMC Markets UK's David Madden. According to a Bloomberg report, Trump's administration is considering a wide range of import tariffs on Chinese goods from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics, and a clampdown on Chinese investments in the US. The European Union responded to Trump's plans on Wednesday, with commissioner for trade Cecilia Malmstrom saying that the EU is working hard to ensure any tariffs imposed comply with WTO rules. Malmstrom tweeted: "We have made it clear that a move that hurts the EU and puts thousands of European jobs in jeopardy will be met with a firm and proportionate response." Investors were also jittery ahead of the impending release of the EU's draft guidelines for the upcoming Brext trade talks. In economic news, the latest data from lender Halifax showed that house prices in the UK registered their first quarterly fall since May last year in the three months to February, while on a yearly basis, they hit their lowest rate of growth since March 2013. House prices in the quarter were down 0.7% compared to the previous three months. On the month, prices were up 0.4% following 0.5% and 0.8% declines in January and December, beating expectations for a 0.3% increase. On the year, meanwhile, house prices rose 1.8% to an average price of £224,353 in February, ahead of expectations for a 1.6% gain but below the 2.2% growth seen in January and marking the slowest growth in five ye On the corporate front, NMC Health lost ground despite reporting a jump in full-year net profit and revenue, while Paddy Power Betfair declined after saying it swung to a net profit in 2017 as operating profit and revenue grew, but warning that sporting results favouring bookies have hit customer activity. FTSE 250 recruiter PageGroup was weaker as it posted an 18% jump in pre-tax profit in a year that saw record gross profit in 22 countries, but warned of challenging conditions in the UK. Equiniti jumped back from early losses after it announced that profit after tax declined 53% in 2017 to £15.6m, while Rank Group fell after announcing the resignation of its chief executive Henry Birch. Esure slipped even as it reported a 36% rise in full-year pre-tax profit. Leading the risers was aerospace and defence giant Rolls-Royce, which rocketed after reporting 25% profits growth thanks to solid revenues and its cost-saving programme. These gains helped to keep overall losses in the equity market to a minimum. National Grid was higher after relaying its tentatively positive initial thoughts with regard to the latest gas and electricity transmission price control proposal from regulator Ofgem. Legal & General ticked higher as it said its annual profit rose by almost a third as the insurer sold more pension services and released £332m from its reserves. Operating profit for the year to the end of December increased 32% to £2.1bn as new annuity and pension risk transfer business rose to £4.6bn from £4.1bn. DS Smith, whose shares rallied on Tuesday after peer Smurfit Kappa said it had rejected a takeover offer from International Paper, edged higher after saying its overall trading in the third quarter was in line with expectations. Hill & Smith jumped after saying it delivered its "best ever" trading performance in 2017 and following an upgrade to 'buy' at Investec. Tritax Big Box gained as the real estate investment trust reported a 10.3% increase in 2017 EPRA net asset value, while CLS Holdings edged up as the property investment company posted a 17% increase in full-year EPRA net asset value. In broker note action, EasyJet and IAG were both initiated at 'neutral' at Citi, while Informa was lifted to 'add' by Peel Hunt. Superdry and Card Factory were both upgraded to 'buy' at Liberum. Market Movers FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,157.84 0.16% FTSE 250 (MCX) 19,774.17 0.43% techMARK (TASX) 3,343.97 -0.12% FTSE 100 - Risers Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 924.00p 11.46% Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 3,218.00p 5.79% Evraz (EVR) 454.20p 3.30% Just Eat (JE.) 768.20p 3.14% National Grid (NG.) 779.50p 2.85% Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,463.00p 2.03% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,140.00p 1.88% RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 631.00p 1.81% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 621.80p 1.77% Severn Trent (SVT) 1,765.00p 1.76% FTSE 100 - Fallers WPP (WPP) 1,210.50p -3.89% Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) 7,940.00p -3.41% NMC Health (NMC) 3,274.00p -2.50% Intertek Group (ITRK) 4,991.00p -1.98% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,208.50p -1.71% BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,443.60p -1.66% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,980.00p -1.48% ITV (ITV) 151.95p -1.07% Micro Focus International (MCRO) 2,015.00p -1.03% Antofagasta (ANTO) 876.20p -0.90% FTSE 250 - Risers AA (AA.) 85.36p 15.35% IP Group (IPO) 113.20p 7.20% Equiniti Group (EQN) 303.50p 5.93% FDM Group (Holdings) (FDM) 940.00p 5.86% Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,297.00p 4.94% Dignity (DTY) 901.00p 4.52% Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 317.90p 4.47% Capita (CPI) 158.75p 4.44% Aggreko (AGK) 717.20p 3.13% Ibstock (IBST) 288.40p 3.07% FTSE 250 - Fallers Vectura Group (VEC) 74.25p -7.13% Acacia Mining (ACA) 137.65p -4.41% Inmarsat (ISAT) 462.90p -3.80% Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 228.00p -2.98% Rank Group (RNK) 218.00p -2.90% Renewi (RWI) 89.40p -2.72% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 205.00p -2.52% Pagegroup (PAGE) 510.50p -2.48% Provident Financial (PFG) 916.60p -2.45% Playtech (PTEC) 765.00p -2.35% Crypto Pizza Evening with Clem Chambers, CEO of Online Blockchain In May 2010, programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas from Papa Johns for 10,000 bitcoins. Had he kept the coins, as of today they would be worth a cool $86,000,000. Join us on Wednesday 14 March for a crypto pizza 'Bite' on Clem Chambers, the CEO of the first London-listed British blockchain company - Click Here To Register For Free  Europe close: Stocks gain despite trade jitters FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Stocks on the Continent finished higher despite news that White House economic adviser Gary Cohn had stepped down in protest over US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's proposed steel and aluminium tariffs. "Not only does this mean that the tariffs are likely to be implemented, but Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive, was seen as a beacon of reason and conventional economic thinking in an erratic administration. His departure adds to the impression of chaos in the White House," surmised Marshall Gittler at ACLS Global. Cohn's decision reportedly came after he chose not to publicly support those tariffs, even after being asked to do so by Trump. Despite that backdrop, by the closing bell the benchmark Stoxx 600 was trading 0.36% or 1.34 points higher to 372.71, alongside a 1.09% or 131.49 point jump for the German Dax to 12,245.36 and a 0.34% or 17.60 points on the Cac-40 to 5,187.83. Also weighing in on the latest news from the White House, Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said: "[the news] suggests that Trump is leaning heavily towards some form of protectionist measures. Needless to say that Cohn’s resignation also leaves further question marks around Trump’s economic agenda. "On a similar note, overnight, news has also emerged that Trump is considering further measures, specifically for China imports and investments, supposedly following theft of intellectual property rights. An investigation by the US Trade Representative’s office into China’s intellectual property practices is expected in the coming weeks." Meanwhile, in economic news, Eurostat reported that the euro area's gross domestic product expanded at a 0.6% pace quarter-on-quarter over the three months to December, as expected. On the corporate front, Vestas was in the spotlight after Denmark's Business minister said US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had shown sympathy for the impact that his proposed tariffs would have on the wind turbine maker's US operations. Siemens's initial public offering of its Healthineers unit appeared to be on track, following reports that the flotation was already fully subscribed. In other German news, BMW announced that the R&D associated with its next electric 'mini' would be carried out in China. Further South, Air France's unions called a strike for 23 March after wage talks fell through. Within the same sector, reports indicated the Elysee was set to decided on its final plans to privatise Aeroports de Paris during the following weekend. US open: Markets unsteady at start of trading on news of Cohn's resignation Wall Street trading opened with two of the three major indices down on Wednesday as investors reacted to news that the White House's chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, had resigned, reigniting fears of a trade war. At 1530 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% and the S&P 500 had lost 0.17%, with the Nasdaq being the only index to in the green, up 0.13% after all the main market gauges ended in the black on Tuesday, with Cohn's resignation not being announced until after the close of US markets. Cohn, an advocate of free trade widely seen as a calming influence on Trump, quit over the president's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said: "The implication is that without the restraining influence of Cohn on Trump, the president will now have a free hand to press ahead with further tariffs and generally up the ante on trade. Clearly he fought back on trade and lost. This in itself does not bode well for risk despite that small boost we saw on news that North Korea could consider de-nuking. "Markets had been pretty sanguine about the tariffs - by yesterday’s close US equities were still higher than they were when Trump first announced his tariffs. The prospect of a full-on trade war was talked down and regarded as a small tail risk. Many felt Cohn and others would stop Trump from launching an all-out trade war. Markets may have been over-confident - the decline on the S&P 500 and Dow post-Cohn’s resignation suggests so. Futures point to a lower open but we would need a close below 2,650 on the S&P 500 for the bears to really take charge as this would call for a move to below 2,550 and a retest of the early February lows." According to a Bloomberg report, Trump's administration is considering a wide range of import tariffs on Chinese goods from shoes and clothing to consumer electronics, and a clampdown on Chinese investments in the US. The European Union responded to Trump's plans on Wednesday, with commissioner for trade Cecilia Malmstrom saying that the EU is working hard to ensure any tariffs imposed to comply with WTO rules. Malmstrom tweeted: "We have made it clear that a move that hurts the EU and puts thousands of European jobs in jeopardy will be met with a firm and proportionate response." She said at a press conference that the EU is discussing which US products would be hit with tariffs if Trump goes ahead with his plans. Higher import duties on bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries, orange juice, steel, and industrial products were being discussed. On the data front, the ADP employment report, widely considered a precursor to the non-farm payrolls report on Friday, showed that private-sector employment had remained robust throughout February, as employers added 235,000 staff, beating economists' expectations for an increase of 205,000, making February the fourth month in a row of job gains topping 200,000 or higher. Separately, the Commerce Department reported that the US trade deficit increased to a near decade high in January, with the country's shortfall with China widening sharply, indicating that Trump's "America First" trade policies were unlikely to have any real impact on the deficit, with the President continuing to claim the United States was being taken advantage of by its trading partners. Commerce revealed that the trade gap had jumped a further 5% to $56.6bn in January, the highest level since October 2008, exceeding economists' expectations of an increase to $55.1bn, partly due to commodity price increases. Lastly, productivity — a measure of the goods and services Americans had produced on an hourly basis - was flat in the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the Labour Department, replacing the agency's prior estimate of a 0.1% decline for non-farm business productivity. In corporate news, shares of H&R Block were up 11.56% after the company posted a bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss on Tuesday, while Urban Outfitters advanced 3.37% on the back of its fourth-quarter earnings a day earlier. Elsewhere, technology company Inovalon was up just 1.21% as it announced the acquisition of Ability Network for $1.2bn. Looking for early access to investment opportunities? Make your own informed investment decisions. Get the right tools and information at Master Investor Show 2018. Register for free today Cryptocurrencies Report Top Cryptocurrencies # Name Market Cap($) Price(%) Change Price Graph(3m) 1 Plus One Coin (PLUS1) 182,918 0.025671 -7.04% 2 Bitcoin (BTC) 166,842,855,761 9,909.4 -7.47% 3 Ethereum (ETH) 72,738,919,424 743.6 -8.71% 4 Ripple (XRP) 33,366,783,279 0.85227 -5.17% 5 Bitcoin Cash / BCC (BCH) 18,316,050,086 1,081.56 -9.81% 6 Litecoin (LTC) 10,107,015,569 183.92 -6.33% Atlantic Advisory - Share Tips of the Year 2018 Download Our Latest Report Here Losses can exceed deposits Broker tips: Card Factory, Synthomer, Rolls Royce Card Factory got a boost on Wednesday as Liberum upgraded its recommendation on the stock to 'buy' from 'hold' in a note on the general retail sector. The brokerage said it was bumping up its rating on Card Factory following share price weakness after the stock dropped more than 30% since the company's last update in January. "Whilst it was disappointing to downgrade numbers in January, this needs to be set in the context of cost headwinds (FX, wages) and ongoing investment into the group's systems and infrastructure. "Card Factory’s deep vertical integration, established over many years, has created sustainable, long-term competitive advantages. It supports a disruptive value proposition, best-in-class margins, high returns on investment and prolific cash generation, which allows for both disciplined reinvestment and a sector leading sustainable dividend yield." The brokerage has a 240p target on Card Factory and noted that opportunities still existed in a tough market. "Sector news flow, data points, and recent inclement weather suggest Q1 is proving tough. This is not overly surprising and while being consistent with the cautious outlook statements from Christmas reporting, the divergence between ‘old and new’ retail is widening. "It is not all doom and gloom, however, and there are resilient performances from some high-quality companies. Recent share price moves also present opportunities." Credit Suisse upgraded its view of Synthomer and increased the speciality chemical company's target price as it sees negative risks surrounding oversupply and raw material pricing have started to abate. The Swiss bank upped Synthomer's target price to 460p from 390p as it upgraded the maker of nitrile rubber for surgical gloves to 'neutral' from 'underperform'. "We credit management for successfully limiting the negative profitability impact of nitrile oversupply and significant raw material price inflation in 2017 – we believe the business is now well positioned for further cost saves in 2018, organic growth in 2019 and potential large-scale M&A," analyst Matthew Hampshire-Waugh said in a research note on Wednesday. He pointed to Synthomer's more resilient cost base, growth pipeline and integration of bolt-on acquisitions, which increased confidence that the company was "much better positioned to secure and execute on a large deal in the near term". The FTSE 250 group excess of £200m on the balance sheet may lead it to search for "transformational M&A in adjacent chemistries/specialty chemicals", the analyst predicted, though further M&A was seen as both the biggest positive and negative risk. "We believe Synthomer is fairly valued at ~10x EBITDA given the more limited downside risks on earning." Credit Suisse also had some positive things to say about Rolls Royce after the British jet turbine manufacturer showed strong underlying cash generation at its earnings presentation. After Rolls-Royce delivered a better than expected free cash-flow in 2017, despite absorbing £170m of outflow related to in-service issues with the Trent 1000/Trent 900 engines, analysts at Credit Suisse said the firm was continuing to "improve the transparency about its earnings and cash", with the group not expecting any further issues with the Trent XWB, with good in-service performance and a stronger design process. However, given the scale of the XWB programme, any material issue would likely have "an oversized impact". On the downside, Credit Suisse did find Rolls' dividend of 11.7p for 2017 "slightly disappointing", noting that as the group was making a "big strategic push" in electrification and digitalisation, it could lead to some of the cash generated being allocated to mergers and acquisitions rather than shareholder return. Credit Suisse stood behind its earlier target price of 720p and 'underperform' rating on Rolls Royce. "The jump in the stock price appears logical if one assumes that the underlying cash generation is £100-150m better than expected structurally (i.e. excluding the “exceptional” in-service issues) and that the market is willing to pay a 6.5% FCF yield for the stock on 2020E," the analysts concluded.   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