Evening Euro Markets Bulletin

ADVFN III Evening Euro Markets Bulletin Daily world financial news Monday, 30 April 2018 17:36:24 Monitor Quote Charts News CFD's Compare Brokers Free BB   Q2's Top 10 Stock Picks What trading opportunities do the next 3 months hold? Our latest quarterly stocks report unveils our Top 10 Stock Picks for Q2 as well as a review of the key Q1 stories & preview of the coming quarter's pivotal events, and analysis of the best, and worst, FTSE share price performances year to date. Losses can exceed deposits. Download Report London close: Stocks end off highs as pound claws back some ground; Sainsbury's surges FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts London stocks ended just in the black on Monday, off earlier highs as the pound reversed its earlier drop against the euro and clawed back some ground versus the greenback, with deal news underpinning sentiment after Sainsbury's announced plans to merge with Walmart's UK unit, Asda. The FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 7,509.30 as sterling regained some poise, trading up 0.2% versus the euro at 1.1390 and down 0.2% against the dollar at 1.3754, halving its earlier losses. The currency has been under pressure since last week's weak UK GDP data dashed any remaining hopes of an interest rate hike in May. Sainsbury's closed up 15% after confirming that it has agreed terms with Walmart over a merger with UK supermarket chain Asda to create a £51bn-revenue giant in exchange for a £3bn cash payment. The agreed deal will see Sainsbury's, which also reported its final results on Monday, hold 58% of combined business and retain its chairman, chief executive and chief financial officer, as well as its listing in London. Tesco shares ended down but Morrisons reversed earlier losses to close up. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Obviously regulators are going to have a LOT to say about such a landscape-shifting deal, meaning there's a long way to go before this bonkers but potentially brilliant marriage becomes a reality." "Investors are already signalling how they feel about the merger, however; Sainsbury's rocketed as much as 20% higher after the bell, sitting between £3.15 and £3.20 for the first time in a few months shy of four years." In its 52-week fiscal year, Sainsbury's reported a return to profit growth, with underlying profit before tax up 1.4% to £589m, with profits up 11% in the second half after cutting £185m of costs. Looking to the current year, chief executive Mike Coupe said he was "comfortable" with the current City forecast for underlying pre-tax profit of 7% to £629m. Elsewhere, advertising giant WPP racked up impressive gains after it posted a 0.8% increase in first-quarter like-for-like revenue and reiterated its guidance for 2018, as it said it would take a "fresh look" at business in light of Martin Sorrell's exit, amid talk that it could spin off assets. Aviva edged higher after saying it will make goodwill payments to shareholders who sold preference shares in the period from 8 to 22 March, while gambling company Rank Group ticked higher after appointing former Ladbrokes executive John O'Reilly as chief executive. On the downside, Glencore retreated after saying late on Friday that two of its subsidiaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo had been served freezing orders for $3bn of damages for alleged unpaid royalty agreements, news which prompted RBC Capital Markets to downgrade the stock to 'outperform' from 'top pick'. Randgold Resources slipped saying that industrial disputes at its Tongon gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire would hit 2018 production guidance of 290,000 ounces although it was making efforts to recover lost output. Mike Ashley's Sports Direct was in the red after disclosing stakes in US companies Finish Line and Iconic Brand Group, while Old Mutual declined as the Anglo-South African financial services group said that its businesses continue to trade in line with the expectations outlined in its results back in March. On the broker note front, Barclays downgraded Victrex to 'underweight' and reinstated Elementis at 'equalweight', while Thomas Cook was boosted by an initiation at 'buy' by Jefferies. Daily cryptocurrency Tracker 30.4.18: Bitcoin holding above $9,300 Relatively lower volatility was seen in the crypto market over the weekend, as Bitcoin held above $9,300. All top 8 cryptos registered losses over the past 24 hours, with EOS... Read More.. Market Status   FTSE 100   change pct +0.23%   cur price 7,519.26   change +17.05   FTSE 250   change pct +0.26%   cur price 20,324.23   change +52.60   FTSE TechMARK   change pct +0.27%   cur price 3,456.60   change +9.43 Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers #   Name Change Pct Change Cur Price 1 Sainsbury +14.90% +40.20 310.00 2 WPP Plc +8.45% +97.00 1,245.50 3 Rentokil Initial +1.73% +5.30 311.80 4 Old Mutual +1.45% +3.70 258.40 5 Vodafone Group +1.23% +2.60 213.15 6 Pearson Plc +1.19% +9.80 832.00 7 HSBC Holdings +1.14% +8.20 727.80 8 Standard Chartered +1.02% +7.80 769.50 9 Convatec +0.98% +2.10 217.10 10 BT Group +0.95% +2.35 250.35 Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers #   Name Change Pct Change Cur Price 1 Glencore -2.98% -11.00 358.00 2 Tesco -1.30% -3.10 235.00 3 Babcock International Group -0.78% -5.80 735.20 4 Marks & Spencer -0.66% -1.90 284.70 5 British American Tobacco -0.57% -23.00 4,007.50 6 Royal Dutch Shell A -0.55% -14.00 2,517.50 7 British Petroleum -0.48% -2.60 534.80 8 Royal Dutch Shell B -0.46% -12.00 2,584.00 9 G4S -0.46% -1.20 260.40 10 Sage Group -0.44% -2.80 638.20 Atlantic Advisory - Share Tips of the Year 2018 Download Our Latest Report Here Losses can exceed deposits Crypto Currencies #1 Bitcoin (BTC) change -1.66% mktcap 157.22B volume 54014.63T price 9,245.02 #2 Ethereum (ETH) change -0.92% mktcap 67.44B volume 20581.23T price 680.79 #3 Ripple (XRP) change -3.55% mktcap 33.21B volume 11439.34T price 0.84 #4 Bitcoin Cash / BCC (BCH) change -3.63% mktcap 23.87B volume 5851.34T price 1,390.08 #5 EOS (EOS) change -11.78% mktcap 15.27B volume 31797.65T price 18.35 Paradigm Capital are introducing structured real estate assets comprising of fixed income opportunities and managed fund positions It is increasingly clear the time for tangible assets is looming. Head for portfolio consolidation as opposed to market speculation. Click to register US open: Strong earnings from McDonald's boost Dow Wall Street trading opened on a positive note Monday, as a profit beat at fast food giant McDonald's helped boost sentiment ahead of a slew of data releases. At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.31%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had gained 0.26% and 0.46%, respectively. SpeadEx analyst Connor Campbell said: "The index's 100 point climb did all ow the Dow to cross 24400; if it maintains those gains until closing time then it will close April around 300 points higher than where it started." Deal news was in focus as T-Mobile and Sprint agreed a $26bn merger that would reduce the major US wireless providers to three from four. However, RBC Capital Markets said regulatory approval for the deal was likely to be challenging. "We believe Department of Justice staff feel vindicated in blocking the AT&T/T-Mobile merger several years ago and would want to maintain a four-player market to preserve competitive behaviour, whereas a three-player market may be susceptible to coordinated effects," RBC said. Elsewhere, refiner Marathon Petroleum agreed to buy rival Andeavor for more than $23bn in a deal that is expected to produce synergies of $1bn. Walmart was up 2.51% as its UK unit, Asda, agreed to merge with London-listed supermarket retailer Sainsbury's. David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said that while the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has already stated that the merger will "likely be subject to review", it appears unlikely that the deal will be blocked. "A market share in the low 30-percents is a long way from monopolistic and given the intense competition in the sector, aptly highlighted by the emergence of Lidl and Aldi, as well as the fact that the new market share will not be that much more than the one currently enjoyed by the market leader Tesco, the CMA are unlikely to stand in the way and scupper the arrangement." McDonald's gained 4.910% in early trading after menu price increases fueled higher first-quarter earnings. Arconic tanked 12.43% after cutting its full-year profit forecast and AK Steel Holding lost 5.89% despite posting better than expected earnings. On the data front, economic activity in the Chicago area improved a touch less than expected in April, according to figures released on Monday. The MNI Chicago business barometer rose to 57.6 from 57.4 in March, snapping a three-month downward trend but still coming in below expectations for a reading of 57.9. Elsewhere, a key measure of US inflation rose to the Federal Reserve's target for the first time in a year, lifting market expectations for future US interest rate rises. Growth in March's personal consumption expenditures index picked up to 2% compared to a year ago, from a 1.7% pace in February, as economists expected. This was despite no change movement month-on-month between the headline PCE index. Core PCE inflation, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, reached 1.9% from 1.6%, in line with the market forecast, as the core PCE deflator rose 0.2% on the month. Lastly, contracts to buy previously owned homes rose less than expected in March as a lack of properties for sale held back activity for another month, according to the National Association of Realtors. The pending home sales index nudged higher to a reading of 107.6, up 0.4% from February and the second consecutive monthly rise. January's index was slightly downwardly revised to 107.2. Broker tips: Thomas Cook, DFS, Glencore The chance to regain lost demand for its Eastern Mediterranean and North African offerings makes package holiday provider Thomas Cook a "compelling recovery play", said Jefferies. Jefferies analysts signalled that Thomas Cook's 10% increase to its airline capacity throughout the first quarter, helping it tap into ancillary sales and regain some of its lost customers in the Eastern Med market, should drive a step change in organic growth. The broker believes that Thomas Cook's self-help programme is beginning to bear fruit, with the potential for job rationalization to come through recent innovative partnerships with the likes of Expedia. Jefferies initiated coverage on Thomas Cook with a 'buy' rating and a price target of 180p on Monday, noting that capacity gaps left in the wake of Air Berlin and Monarch's recent collapses would introduce new angles for revenue improvement. "We conclude that a consumer downturn is not necessarily a material risk to the package holiday and that Thomas Cook stands to benefit from the structural growth of an ageing population," the analysts wrote. Elsewhere, analysts at Jefferies upgraded their rating of furniture retailer DFS from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ on Monday, citing the company’s acquisition of Sofology and its "resilience" in the face of a challenging market. The UK upholstery market is expected to decline by 2-3% over the next 12 months but Jefferies analysts noted that the first-half results for DFS showed that with "better visibility of market growth, flexibility in operating expenses and marketing cost deflation, it is able to limit operating deleverage.” The retailer’s like-for-like sales fell 4.6% over the period but EBITDA margins fell by just 20 basis points and DFS also managed to expand its market share to over 30% through the acquisition of Sofology and eight Multi York stores. The Sofology deal from August is viewed as particularly crucial by Jefferies, which expects it to result in the addition of 28% more stores, 25% more sales, 10% more EBITDA and 5% more EPS by the end of 2020. Risks that the company may face in the near future include potential difficulties with the integration of Sofology, rising interest rates, IFC legislation changes and manufacturing issues. However, as Jefferies analysts see further market deterioration as unlikely they have raised DFS’s target price to 255p from 210p. "We like DFS's sofa market leadership and ability to flex its operating costs (more than 85% variable) to deliver growth in profits. Increased visibility over DFS's cash flows and limited downside risk to the market declining further leads us to increase our target multiple for DFS.” Complications at mining giant Glencore continue to mount following the freezing of its assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of a $3.0bn claim from an Israeli businessman, leading analysts at RBC Capital Markets to reassess their stance. Late last week, the Swiss commodities group announced that Katanga Copper and Mutanda Mining, Glencore's Congolese majority-owned businesses, had been served freezing orders via a claim from tycoon Dan Gertler, the company's former partner in Congo, who said he had not received due royalties following his inclusion on the recent US sanctions lists. Gertler's Ventora issued freezing orders against Katanga and Mutanda for roughly $2.28bn and $695m respectively, which it said would be the damages relating to future royalties due to it. Katanga disputes that Ventora has any claim against it. The contracts between Mutanda and Ventora are subject to English Law and arbitration in Hong Kong, while the agreement between Katanga and Ventora is subject the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts, Glencore said. Although the situation remains unclear and Glencore denies any breach of its agreements with Gertler, RBC still saw cause to downgrade its stance on the group from 'top pick' to 'outperform'. "Assuming Glencore's DRC assets halt production, the impact on the copper market is likely to be large," the Monday note from RBC said. "Our analysis suggests the lost 360kt of copper will shift the copper market into deficit for 2018," it added. However, RBC still likes the look of Glencore, as its forecasts still managed to place the FTSE 100 group in line with its sector peers and even went as far to say that if the miners marketing business was capable of providing lower earnings volatility, a premium rating would be expected to be reissued in just a short time. "Owing to the nature of the challenges facing Glencore's presence in the DRC, it will be nearly impossible to provide definitive forecasts for the DRC assets until further developments occur," RBC said. "For now, we think it prudent to remove these operations from our forecasts and shift to a risked value for the assets," RBC's analysts added. RBC also dropped Glencore's target price from 460p to 410p.   To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact advertise@advfn.com     ADVFN Disclaimer Although we have sent you this email, ADVFN does not endorse any product or company nor is it responsible for the content of this news bulletin. 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ADVFN Weekly Cryptocurrency News

Cryptocurrency Weekly News 30 April 2018 The Deal Coin - Pre-Sale Now Open Our aim is to become the platform of choice for millions of investors looking for a better deal and connecting them with businesses wanting quicker and fairer access to finance, regardless of location in the world. OVER 30% RAISED IN THE FIRST WEEK:15% Bonus only available during week 2 Buy Now   I need to check my thesaurus for alternative words I can use for ‘rollercoaster’, because the Bitcoin price this week did its usual thing of going up-up-up then down-down-down then back up again. It rose steadily on Tuesday before peaking at $9,750 early on Wednesday, then plunged down again to reach a low on Thursday of $8,667 before recovering somewhat. At the time of writing the price is $9,304. Here’s the chart for the last week:     ADVFN’s Cryptocurrency page gives you prices for Bitcoin and altcoins   BLOCKCHAIN SUMMIT Join the pioneers, innovators and thought leaders of the blockchain industry at our one day conference. Speaking on the main stage: Zeeshan Feroz, CEO of Coinbase UK Obi Nwosu, CEO of Coinfloor Cassie Craddock, Global Payments and Marketplace Expert at Ripple Ruth Wandhöfer,  Managing Director / Global Head of Regulatory & Market Strategy at Citi 13th of June 2018, Old Billingsgate, London Gold Sponsor BP Prime Exclusive after show networking event, sponsored by Laneaxis, which will be open to all delegates.  Book now for earlybird discount   Bitcoin Predictions Time to polish the old crystal ball and look at the future of the cryptocurrency market. The founder of hedge fund Pantera is enthusiastic: Dan Morehead says a market cap of $40 trillion is “definitely possible” one day. Given that the current market cap is $400 billion, that would be quite an increase – approximately 10,000% and it would mean the Bitcoin price would reach nearly $1 million. Here’s hoping! Read what he said on Coin Journal   Many institutional investors are also bullish, although not to quite such a degree… an informal survey carried out by Wall Street strategist Fundstrat Global Advisors found that 82% of investors believe the Bitcoin price has bottomed and 53% think it will end the year between $10,000 and $20,000. 41% think it will trade at $20,000-$30,000 by the end of the year, and a super- enthusiastic 6% predict it will reach $30,000. Read all the stats on ccn.com   Exchange and Bank News Goldman Sachs has hired a veteran securities trader to help the firm develop a digital asset strategy, leading to speculation that the company plans to launch an OTC cryptocurrency trading desk. Goldman denies that this is the case, for now at least. Read the story on ccn.com   The CEO of NASDAQ, the world’s second-largest exchange (by market cap), has said that it would consider becoming a crypto exchange over time." In an interview with CNBC, Adena Friedman presented a bullish stance on cryptocurrencies, although she stressed that a clear regulatory framework would need to be put in place first. Read what she said on Crypto Globe   Binance, currently the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has announced a new feature that will allow its users to consolidate their coin fragments, or dust. Dust refers to the coin values of less than one, that remain in users’ accounts after they trade. The exchange doesn’t allow users to trade with less than one whole coin. The value of these fragments of small change can be less than the transaction fee, making it infeasible to withdraw the dust. Binance has now made it easier to convert the dust to Binance Coin, the exchange’s native token. Read the story on Finance Magnates   Before it was hacked in January, the cryptocurrency exchange made a profit of 53.7 billion yen ($491 million) for the financial year ending in march, proving once again that the way to make money in cryptoland is to be an exchange! Get the details on ccn.com Similarly, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, recorded a profit of $200 million for the first quarter of 2018 – more than Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, which recorded a profit of $146 million. Read more about this on ccn.com   Cryptocurrency Crime The alleged mastermind of Iceland’s Bit Bitcoin Heist, who fled from a low-security prison and flew to Sweden last week, has been found. But in a twist he claims that he should never have been detained, and his rights were violated because there was no evidence he did anything wrong, he didn’t have a trial and that the international arrest warrant used to grab him had expired when he absconded. Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Read the story on ccn.com   Chinese police have seized 600 Bitcoin mining computers in an alleged case of electricity theft. This was after the local power grid operator reported an abnormally high spike in electricity consumption of up to 28% at peak consumption. An investigation showed that a junction box had been tampered with by Bitcoin miners, short-circuiting the mains to get free power. Read the story on The Register   The Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB) says that over half of the $300 million raised by ICOs in Russia during 2017 went to pyramid schemes. To counter this it intends to develop guidelines for initial coin offerings, to make it easier to distinguish between legitimate projects and scams. Get the details from Finance Magnates   Speaking on pyramid schemes… two people have been arrested in India accused of operation a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme that swindled around 300 Bitcoin, worth about $23.6 million, from 5,000 victims. They are alleged to have run a multi-level marketing scheme that encouraged investors to lure others into the scheme and promised high returns on Bitcoin investments. Get the details from ccn.com   Governments and Crypto 16 licensed Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges have banded together to form a regulatory body, in an attempt to “restore confidence” in the sector following the recent $350 Coincheck theft. The exchanges are all currently regulated and licensed by the Financial Services Agency, and the new self-regulating body will be called the ‘Japanese Cryptocurrency exchange Association’. Read the story on ccn.com   France has halved the cryptocurrency income tax rate on capital gains, which will encourage its citizens to invest. The tax has been lowered from 45% to 19%. Get the details from ccn.com   Blockchain News China wants to use blockchain technology to improve government auditing functions. In an article called “Some Ideas on Applying ‘Blockchain’ Technology in Big Data”, the National Audit of the People’s Republic of China notes that the technology can improve data storage, management, transmission and other work modes. Read the story on ccn.com   Sony has filed a patent for a digital rights storage system using the blockchain. It wants to use digital ledger technology to manage and store users’ digital entitlement data on the blockchain. Get the details from ccn.com   Mining News There are only four million Bitcoin left to be mined. The total supply of the cryptocurrency is capped at 21 million – and 17 million have already been mined. Read why there is a limit on ccn.com   Samsung branched out earlier this year, and started to manufacture ASIC chips, the very powerful processors optimised for Bitcoin mining. Their first quarter results show this move has paid off, as you can see in this story on ccn.com   Other News Warren Buffett is still not a fan of Bitcoin. In a recent article with Yahoo Finance he says cryptocurrencies are not investing, they are gambling. Read what he said, and watch a video of the interview, on Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warren-buffett-buying-bitcoin-not-investing-110702015.html?guccounter=1   PayPal’s former chief executive Bill Harris is another crypto-naysayer. The founder of the payments company says Bitcoin is a “colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen.” Read his comments on Recode   MIT Technology Review published a controversial article titles “Let’s Destroy Bitcoin” which details three scenarios that could lead to the cryptocurrency’s eventual demise. But it didn’t take long for people to rebut the article’s premise, pointing out why the three scenarios wouldn’t take down Bitcoin. Read the original article here and a response on ccn.com   Coinbase, the top cryptocurrency exchange, has suspended the Bitcoin account used by WikiLeaks for being in violation of its terms of service. WikiLeaks had been using the account so people can buy t-shirts, posters and other merchandise, and pay with Bitcoin. In response to the suspension, WikiLeaks tweeted that it would “call for a global blockade of Coinbase” because it is “an unfit member of the crypto community.” Get the details on CNBC   Wikipedia has released its list of the top 50 subjects its readers read about in 2017, and Bitcoin is in at number 9. Donald Trump, Elizabeth II, Meghan Markle and Game of Thrones were some of the other search terms in the top 10. See the full list on Wikipedia   A Danish ice hockey stadium has rebranded by changing its name to ‘Bitcoin Arena’. The two owners of the stadium formerly known as the Runsted Seier Capital ice rink said they wanted to spread awareness of Bitcoin, especially in a country like Denmark where the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector is not as far advanced as in other regions. Read the story on ccn.com     Trade PlusOneCoin on Cryptobridge Click here     The Crypto Trader News, information, tips and opinions on all things to do with cryptocurrency. Purchase a subscription with Bitcoin, LiteCoin, Ethereum or PlusOneCoin. Click here for more information     New Book on Cryptocurrencies out now from Clem Chambers The CEO of ADVFN, Clem Chambers, has a new book on cryptocurrencies out now in paperback and for the Kindle. Click here to buy the book from Amazon   Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin is an invaluable guide to making money in cryptocurrencies: how they work, how to invest in them, trading cryptocoins, mining, and the technical details behind them.   Click here to buy the book from Amazon   CME Bitcoin Futures ADVFN (LSE:AFN) is now offering free CME Bitcoin Futures data to its four million registered users. Anyone visiting the ADVFN site can obtain quotes, view charts and access real-time news for CME Bitcoin Futures here. Users can add these contracts to their portfolios and see bid, offer, highs, lows and current prices along with traded volumes. They can also view them on their monitor pages alongside their other investments. Please note to unsubscribe from this email click here