Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

	ADVFN III	Morning Euro Markets Bulletin
	Daily world financial news

Wednesday, 01 August 2012

London Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts

Stormy times for Cape Market Movers techMARK 2,071.21 +0.10% FTSE 100 5,653.76 +0.33% FTSE 250 11,142.72 +0.05% London has got off to a quiet start, with investors adopting a wait-and-see attitude ahead of today's completion of the meeting of the US Federal Reserve's policy making committee. "It seems hope and sentiment for further stimulus from the US Fed Chairman and the ECB [European Central Bank] President have been key ideals supporting losses as well as enhancing gains over the last few days within the markets," suggests Shavaz Dhalla, a trader at spread betting firm Spreadex. "However, over the next few days investors are hoping that such sentiment will lead to a stimulus announcement from policy makers. A failure to do so, could result in a marathon of volatility within the global markets," Dhalla speculated. Cape plunges on profits warning The response to trading updates from FTSE 100 heavyweights Standard Chartered and Next has been positive, but it is in the FTSE 250 space where the drama is, as energy support services firm Cape issued a profit warning. The group is unlikely to meet previous expectations for 2012, with problems likely to continue into 2013, despite a restructure of this part of its business. Looking at the hammering Cape is getting in the market, the assertion from Peter Sands, the Chief Executive Officer of banking giant Standard Chartered, that there is "some virtue in being boring" is carrying extra weight. The emerging markets focused bank saw profit before tax for the six months to the end of June was up 9% to $3,636m from $3,139m the year before, in line with operating income, which improved to $9,511m from $8.764m in the first half of 2011. Fashion firm Next continues to march to a different drum in the retail sector, with its online and catalogue sales coming to the rescue in a period when umbrellas were the must-have accessory to any outfit. Total sales for the first half of 2012 were up 4.5% against last year, the firm said, topping its prediction of growth between 1% and 4%. Like-for-like sales came in at 2%, beating some analysts' expectations of a rise of just 1%. Sales at its online and catalogue Next Directory arm were up 13.3% on last year making up for high street retail sales which crept up just 0.2%. Can maker Rexam is getting a bit of a kicking and must be looking forward to getting shot of its loss-making Personal Care unit, which ensured that the packaging giant's bottom line was written in red at the halfway point of the year. Gilts steady, oil little changed The benchmark 10-year gilt is little changed in early trading. The yield has edged up from 1.47% to 1.48%. The most widely traded contract for Brent Crude is down 12 cents at $104.80 a barrel.  FTSE 100 - Risers Next (NXT) 3,344.00p +3.88% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,495.50p +2.12% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,088.00p +1.49% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 863.00p +1.47% Admiral Group (ADM) 1,108.00p +1.47% Aviva (AV.) 295.50p +1.34% HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 540.10p +1.16% ARM Holdings (ARM) 557.50p +1.09% Reed Elsevier (REL) 543.50p +1.02% Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,762.00p +1.02% FTSE 100 - Fallers Rexam (REX) 420.30p -3.27% Whitbread (WTB) 2,103.00p -1.54% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,632.00p -1.39% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,151.00p -1.33% Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 389.10p -0.99% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,442.00p -0.96% Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,750.00p -0.86% Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,480.00p -0.74% BT Group (BT.A) 215.80p -0.69% GKN (GKN) 209.20p -0.57% FTSE 250 - Risers Rightmove (RMV) 1,545.00p +3.55% Avocet Mining (AVM) 77.20p +2.93% Laird (LRD) 222.10p +2.35% Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 475.80p +2.32% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 221.30p +1.98% RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,215.00p +1.67% New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 300.00p +1.63% UBM (UBM) 650.50p +1.56% Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 795.00p +1.53% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 67.50p +1.35% FTSE 250 - Fallers Cape (CIU) 174.90p -39.67% Ruspetro (RPO) 140.78p -2.91% African Barrick Gold (ABG) 368.00p -2.13% Restaurant Group (RTN) 319.60p -1.99% Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 379.74p -1.82% Home Retail Group (HOME) 76.15p -1.74% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 677.00p -1.60% Beazley (BEZ) 156.30p -1.51% Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (ASL) 586.00p -1.51% F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 86.70p -1.48% FX round-up FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Dollar slips ahead of policy meetings Hopes have been high that both the US and the European Central Bank will hint of further stimulus measures the bolster growth and help contain the Eurozone crisis. However by Tuesday traders had a change of heart and concern that action would not be taken by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank kept buyers at bay. The euro gained against the greenback and the yen on Tuesday however any advance is expected to be short-lived on concern that policy makers will not take aggressive enough action to tackle the global economic slowdown. The euro traded at $1.2311 from $1.2256 on Monday and rose 0.3% against the Japanese yen to ¥96.08. The dollar index, which measures the US currency against a basket of six other currencies, fell to 82.619 from 82.829 on Monday. Against the yen, the dollar traded at ¥78.18 from ¥78.19 before. The British pound bought $1.5682 compared to $1.5704 on Monday as traders prepare for Bank of England's policy meeting on Thursday. UK Event Calendar INTERIMS Avocet Mining, F&C Asset Management, Fiberweb, Filtrona PLC, First Quantum Minerals Ltd., International Power, Jupiter Fund Management , Rexam, Rightmove, Shire Plc, Smurfit Kappa Group, Standard Chartered, StatPro Group, Taylor Wimpey, Vernalis, Xchanging INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Electronic Data Processing INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE BG Group, Brunner Inv Trust, Domino's Pizza Group, Impellam Group, Mecom Group, Microgen, Nichols, Porvair QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Mercantile Investment Trust (The), Torchmark Corp., Verizon Communications INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Auto Sales (US) (15:00) Construction Spending (US) (15:00) Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30) FOMC Interest Rate (US) (17:15) ISM Manufacturing (US) (15:00) ISM Prices Paid (US) (15:00) MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00) PMI Manufacturing (EU) (09:00) PMI Manufacturing (GER) (08:55) Q2 Avocet Mining, First Quantum Minerals Ltd., Shire Plc, Smurfit Kappa Group EGMS Transense Technologies AGMS Atkins (WS), CML Microsystems, Cranswick, Cropper (James) TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Next UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS BRC Shop Price Index (00:01) PMI Manufacturing  (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Homeserve, Next, Phoenix IT Group, Record, Shanks Group, TR Property Inv Trust, TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares, Vodafone Group FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE Aberdeen New Dawn Inv Trust, Creston, Heath (Samuel) & Sons, Johnson Matthey, JPMorgan Euro Small Co. Trust, Latham (James), ProVen Growth & Income VCT PRODUCTION UPDATE Antofagasta, ENRC US Market Report Eurozone doubts rattle equities Dow Jones Industrial: -64 at 13,009 S&P 500: -6 at 1,379 NASDAQ Composite: -6 at 2,940 US equities followed Europe lower as doubts grew that Europe might not be able to deliver the whole-hearted commitment to saving the Eurozone that the region's leaders have recently been promising. Closer to home, pundits were in two minds over whether the Federal Reserve would announce another round of quantitative easing when its policy-making committee finishes its monthly meeting tomorrow. Consumers keep their purses closed Disappointing US consumer spending data also depressed sentiment. Personal spending fell for the second month in succession in June. On a similar theme, retailer Coach moved sharply into reverse as like-for-like sales growth declined to 1.7%, down from 10% year-on-year growth a year earlier. Sector peers Lowe's and Abercrombie & Fitch fell in sympathy. Humana was another stock heading south as the provider of Medicare benefits cut its 2012 profit forecast. Archer Daniels's quarterly results failed to hit the target, as the corn processor's fiscal fourth quarter numbers were hit by falling ethanol prices and higher production costs as a result of the recent drought across large parts of the country. Amongst those companies on the rise were heavyweights such as Pfizer and Apple. Pfizer is set to spin off up to one-fifth of its animal health unit through a stock market flotation. Apple, meanwhile, is expected to launch a new version of its ubiquitous iPhone as early as this September, according to various media reports. Also gaining traction was Goodyear Tire & Rubber, the US's largest maker of tyres, after second quarter earnings came in ahead of expectations, though the group did lower its full year sales guidance for the second time this year. Cummins, which makes engines for lorries, was another company which beat analyst forecasts with its earnings, as was steel-maker US Steel. Financial information provider Dun & Bradstreet was the top performing blue-chip on reports that the group is contemplating putting itself up for sale. Oil refiner Valero Energy was wanted after reporting a rise in second quarter profits on the back of improved margins. The group unveiled plans to spin off its retail operations. Manufacturing orders rise, according to the Chicago NAPM Personal incomes grew by 0.5% month-on-month in June, slightly ahead of the 0.4% expected by the consensus. Worth noting however, personal income and savings data for all three of the past three years have been revised downwards. In monthly terms consumption figures, on the other hand, came in weaker than forecast. The Chicago NAPM´s purchasing managers index (PMI) for the month of July has come in ahead of expectations, at 53.7, after 52.9 in the month before. Gains in new orders and order backlogs contributed to the rise. Economists at Barclays had this to say of the PMI data: "the broader picture mirrors the modest increases that we saw in the Empire State and Philly Fed indices for July, and is consistent with our forecast of a modest rebound in the ISM tomorrow to 50.5. While below the levels seen during Q1, such a print would reaffirm that the pace of growth in manufacturing activity has slowed rather than contracted in recent months." The Conference Board´s consumer confidence index for the month of July showed an improvement, rising to 65.9 after 63.7 in June (Consensus: 61.8). The expectations sub-index improved to 79.1 from 73.4 in June.  Oil inventories in the week ended July 27th fell by 11.6m barrels. Oil slides to two-week low West Texas crude for September delivery fell $1.72 to $88.06 a barrel on the NYMEX.  10-year US Treasuries rose by 10/32 dollars, with yields easing to 1.47%. S&P 500 - Risers Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB) $80.19 +13.42% Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $11.45 +10.41% Supervalu Inc. (SVU) $2.47 +10.27% First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $15.54 +9.36% United States Steel Corp. (X) $20.65 +9.14% Cummins Inc. (CMI) $95.90 +5.99% AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) $5.32 +5.56% MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $1.92 +5.49% Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $27.50 +5.44% S&P 500 - Fallers Coach Inc. (COH) $49.33 -18.57% Humana Inc. (HUM) $61.60 -12.69% Masco Corp. (MAS) $12.03 -8.31% Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) $25.37 -5.55% Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) $26.09 -5.09% Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $13.84 -5.08% Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $33.80 -4.49% Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $51.09 -4.07% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.04 +1.39% AT&T Inc. (T) $37.92 +1.31% Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $7.34 +0.82% Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $15.95 +0.50% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Home Depot Inc. (HD) $52.18 -2.01% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $84.21 -1.73% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $49.14 -1.33% Boeing Co. (BA) $73.91 -1.27% American Express Co. (AXP) $57.71 -1.00% Nasdaq 100 - Risers First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $15.54 +9.36% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $610.76 +2.64% Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $15.75 +1.81% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $13.54 +1.58% Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $56.99 +1.55% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $45.28 -3.41% Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $661.74 -3.05% Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $70.13 -2.93% Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $48.51 -2.90% eBay Inc. (EBAY) $44.30 -2.85% Patterson Companies Inc. (PDCO) $34.10 -2.79% Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $60.95 -2.67% Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $74.81 -2.59% Newspaper Round Up BoE, Euro break-up, Tesco Four leading economists have called on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to cut interest rates from their already historic low in an attempt to kickstart growth. The members of The Times' Shadow MPC — Michael Saunders, UK economist at Citigroup; Sushil Wadhwani, of Wadhwani Asset Management; Sir Steve Robson, the former second permanent secretary to the Treasury; and Charles Goodhart, of the London School of Economics — urged the Bank to cut rates by a quarter point to 0.25 per cent. "The economic outlook has worsened since the July meeting and inflation prospects have improved further. More stimulus is needed to prevent inflation falling below target over time," Mr Saunders said before the MPC's two-day meeting, which begins today. Wadhwani and Mr Saunders also voted for more money to be pumped into the flagging economy through quantitative easing. Britain's heavily indebted economy would suffer a deeper slump than Germany's in the immediate aftermath of a break-up of the euro, a leading consultancy has predicted. Fathom Financial Consulting estimates that the UK's economic output would drop by 5.2% in 2013 in the case of an implosion of the single currency and a full-blown banking collapse. That compares with a 5% decline in gross domestic product in Germany and a 4.3% drop in the United States. The UK would suffer disproportionately in part because of its large financial sector and overvalued housing market. A flood of cash into sterling would also drive up the pound and crush exports, Danny Gabay, a director at Fathom, said. Speaking at the consultancy's Monetary Policy Forum, he said that the Bank of England would have to print £1tn in its quantitative easing programme to stop the pound from skyrocketing, The Times reports. The Serious Fraud Office vowed to press on with its controversial fraud investigation into property entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz despite suffering a damning High Court judgment on the case. The SFO said the inquiry would continue with "renewed focus and vigour", just hours after a High Court judge found it had illegally obtained search warrants used in dawn raids against Mr Tchenguiz and his brother Vincent. The decision means the multi-million pound investigation into Mr Tchenguiz's links with failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing could run into a fourth year. Work carried out by the SFO in relation to the Tchenguiz investigation had already been labelled incompetent by the judge presiding over the judicial review into their arrests and the searches of their properties, The Telegraph says. Apple was "literally betting the company" when it introduced the iPhone, a US court heard on the first full day of a patent trial in which the US company is squaring up against Korean rival Samsung. The keenly-anticipated clash has been called the 'patent battle of the century' in which the competitors are suing each other for billions of dollars in damages for alleged infringements of patents used in their phones. Apple "were about to enter a field dominated by giants," Harold McElhinny, a lawyer for Apple, told jurors at the court in San Jose, California. But its designers created a "phone the world had never seen before." In Apple's opening statement, jurors were shown an internal review that Samsung did of the iPhone in late 2007 in which it is described as "beautiful" and "easy to copy." Apple is seeking more than $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in damages from Samsung, which has in turned sued Apple, according to The Telegraph. Switzerland is facing the consequences of a vow to keep the franc weak. Figures released by the Swiss National Bank on Tuesday show that its euro holdings have ballooned in the second quarter of the year, as the bank battles haven demand from investors and struggles to maintain a ceiling of SFr1.20 against the single currency. But that strategy carries risks. One of these is that they'll be holding an asset that's viewed as being very poor quality says Steven Englander, foreign exchange strategist at Citigroup. Furthermore, The SNB is also creating a headache for other central banks, faced with rising demand for their currencies as Switzerland embarks on its rebalancing act. "Sweden will need to set monetary policy now with the SNB in mind," says Mr Yu. As well, Geoffrey Kendrick, foreign currency analyst at Nomura, estimates that, even if the central bank bought no more euros, it still needs to sell SFr20bn of euros to return to the same proportion of holdings it had in the first quarter. Offloading that could push the single currency sharply lower against other big currencies such as the dollar, The Financial Times writes. Tesco was dealt a blow yesterday after ratings agency Standard & Poor's said it was considering cutting its credit rating and suggested that the retailer sell off businesses to cut its debt. S&P did not alter its "A-/A-2" rating – a grade that denotes an "excellent" business risk profile – but changed its outlook from "stable" to "negative" due to concerns about "weakening" profits at the supermarket giant. In January Tesco issued its first profit warning in 20 years, a shock that was blamed on UK shoppers turning their backs on its stores. "We believe that in light of currently difficult industry conditions, a trend of weakening profitability and low top-line growth will continue," said S&P. Its analysts said Tesco boss Philip Clarke's plans to revitalise the business by hiring more staff and revamping stores would "negatively affect its trading margins", and added: "In our opinion, market conditions will continue to be extremely competitive, particularly in the UK, with high pricing pressure throughout the industry," The Guardian reports.

Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

	ADVFN III	Morning Euro Markets Bulletin
	Daily world financial news

Friday, 27 July 2012

London Market Report

FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Please click on the images to view our interactive charts

Stocks edge higher, Barclays in demand Market Movers techMARK 2,060.55 +0.05% FTSE 100 5,575.23 +0.04% FTSE 250 11,090.74 +0.46% Peripheral bond yields ease Markets still digesting Draghi comments Barclays up after first-half beat The Footsie edged higher in early trading on Friday with Barclays providing a lift after its interim results. Markets were still reacting to yesterday's comments by Mario Draghi, who said that he will do 'whatever it takes' to save the euro. Bond yields in Spain and Italy continued to fall today after the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said the bank would do “whatever it takes to preserve the euro...and believe me, it will be big enough”. This is the clearest indication yet the ECB may be prepared to buy the debt of under pressure Eurozone countries in order to drive down yields. The yield on a Spanish 10-year bond was 12 basis points (bp) lower at 6.808% this morning, while the Italian equivalent was down 4.4bp at 6.012%. However, Gerhard Schwarz, the head of equity strategy from Baadar Bank, issued a word of caution in an e-mailed note to clients this morning: "Investors should remember that there is no quick fix to the crisis. The ECB going alone will probably act not as decisive as sky-high expectations now suggest. Current fiscal policy tools are not near a level that would shield Italy and Spain on a lasting basis from market pressures. Expect the ECB meeting next week to underwhelm." FTSE 100: Repentent Barclays beats expectations A contrite Marcus Agius, Chairman of under-fire bank Barclays, apologised for the company's involvement in the LIBOR fixing scandal as he unveiled half-year profits ahead of market expectations, causing shares to jump high early on. Adjusted profit before tax in the first half of 2012 rose 13% to £4,227m from £3,725m in the first half of 2011, versus market expectations of £3,958m. Banking peer HSBC was also in demand after saying that it will offload its 44% stake in card-processing joint venture Global Payments Asia-Pacific for $242m in cash. Commodities giant Glencore rose as it came closer to completing the £3.9bn takeover of Canadian agricultural grain handler Viterra after being given the all-clear by Australian authorities. Heading the other way was mining colossus Anglo American after first-half profits plunged from $6,571m to just $2,942m on the back of weaker commodity prices and input cost pressures. Publishing group Pearson also fell after operating profits came in a little sky of expectations as it admitted that the first half has been a little tougher than expected for some parts of the business. FTSE 100 - Risers Barclays (BARC) 160.45p +4.46% Carnival (CCL) 2,136.00p +2.54% Evraz (EVR) 223.50p +1.27% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,620.00p +1.25% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 327.30p +1.17% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,567.00p +1.10% Glencore International (GLEN) 311.55p +1.04% Kingfisher (KGF) 264.20p +0.99% Sage Group (SGE) 290.90p +0.97% Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 379.40p +0.90% FTSE 100 - Fallers Pearson (PSON) 1,242.00p -4.02% Anglo American (AAL) 1,918.00p -2.34% CRH (CRH) 1,144.00p -2.14% Polymetal International (POLY) 865.00p -0.97% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 566.50p -0.87% Unilever (ULVR) 2,241.00p -0.66% Severn Trent (SVT) 1,702.00p -0.64% United Utilities Group (UU.) 697.50p -0.57% SSE (SSE) 1,303.00p -0.53% Wolseley (WOS) 2,319.00p -0.47% FTSE 250 - Risers UBM (UBM) 624.50p +2.88% William Hill (WMH) 298.20p +2.69% Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 135.50p +2.65% Dixons Retail (DXNS) 15.39p +2.46% Ruspetro (RPO) 140.50p +2.26% 3i Group (III) 204.70p +2.04% Ocado Group (OCDO) 76.50p +2.00% NMC Health (NMC) 199.90p +1.99% Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,890.00p +1.98% FirstGroup (FGP) 218.10p +1.87% FTSE 250 - Fallers New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 301.60p -3.24% Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 417.90p -2.97% Invensys (ISYS) 241.40p -1.87% KCOM Group (KCOM) 75.55p -1.56% Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 491.20p -1.46% Petropavlovsk (POG) 415.80p -1.40% Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 728.50p -1.15% Cape (CIU) 279.30p -1.06% Cranswick (CWK) 829.50p -1.01% TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 174.80p -0.91% Europe Market Report FTSE 100 Euronext Dax perf CAC 40 Euro rises on Draghi's comments The euro leapt on Thursday following comments by the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, who said that he was 'prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro'. The single currency at one point rose to $1.2329, although settled around $1.2284, against $1.2152 the previous evening. Draghi said: “Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. Believe me it will be enough.” The currency also rose 1.3% against the Japanese yen to ¥96.04, while the British pound traded at 1.2769 euro, from 1.2750 the previous day. The ICE dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other major currencies, declined from 83.573 on Wednesday to 82.834 yesterday. The pound bought $1.5685, compared to $1.5501 on Wednesday, while the Australian dollar also climbed higher to fetch $1.0396, against $1.0313 the day UK Event Calendar INTERIMS Anglo American, Barclays, Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd (Singapore), Pearson, Travis Perkins INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Character Group, Dunedin Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Gooch & Housego, Jupiter Green Inv Trust, Octopus Titan VCT 1, Octopus Titan VCT 2, Octopus Titan VCT 3, Paragon Group Of Companies, Zytronic QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Real Estate Credit Investments PCC Ltd INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Payments (GER) (07:00) GDP (Advance) (US) (13:30) U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US) (15:00) Q2 Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (ATT) GDR (Reg S) IMSS United Utilities Group SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Severn Trent EGMS Vietnam Infrastructure Ltd. AGMS Bellzone Mining, Camco International LTd., Clontarf Energy , Coms, Ormonde Mining, PayPoint, PayPoint, Plastics Capital, Richland Resources Ltd, TalkTalk Telecom Group , United Utilities Group FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Aberdeen All Asia Inv Trust, Acal, Anpario, Aveva Group, Brown (N.) Group, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 2 'D' Shares , Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'C' Shares, Downing Planned Exit VCT 3 'D' Shares , KCOM Group, Lombard Risk Management, Montanaro European Smaller Companies Trust, Phaunos Timber Fund Ltd., Printing.com, Severn Trent, UK Mail Group , Vertu Motors, Walker Crips Group US Market Report Draghi's comments push stocks higher Dow Jones +212 at 12,888 Nasdaq +39 at 2,893 S&P 500 +22 at 1,360 US stocks closed firmly higher on Thursday following comments by the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, who said that he was 'prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro'. The implication is that the ECB could step directly into the markets to support the bonds of under pressure nations like Italy and Spain. Meanwhile back in the US, jobless claims and durable goods orders data provided a further boost to equities. Initial weekly unemployment claims fell by 35,000 to 353,000 (consensus: 380,000) in the week to the 21st of July, according to the latest data from the Department of Labour. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) pending home sales index fell by -1.4% month-on-month in June, well below the consensus estimate for a gain of 0.3%, and after the previous month´s drop of 5.4% (revised down from 5.9%). Companies Moody's Corp., the credit ratings agency, rose after its profits and sales during the second quarter came in ahead of market expectations. New York Times was another strong riser, up after the newspaper publisher posted better-than-expected second quarter income. Pioneer Drilling climbed higher following an upgrade by Goldman Sacks, which raised its rating from neutral to buy. Heading in the opposite direction was online video-streamer Netflix, following the firm's warning on Wednesday that it may not reach its domestic subscriber growth targets for the year. Amazon shares fell in after hours trading after the online retailer predicted a loss from operations during its third fiscal quarter. Social networking site Facebook posted a second-quarter loss in what was its first quarter since listing as a public company. The internet giant said its revenues were offset by huge costs, mostly resulting from share-based compensation expenses. Other markets The September West Texas Intermediate crude futures contract rose by 0.47% to $89.39 a barrel in NYMEX trading. 10-year US treasuries fell by 11/32 dollars, with yields at 1.43%. S&P 500 - Risers Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $8.59 +36.78% Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $35.04 +24.04% Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $4.05 +20.18% PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $11.86 +18.36% LSI Logic Corp. (LSI) $7.04 +16.36% Supervalu Inc. (SVU) $1.94 +12.14% Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $94.10 +11.32% Cameron International Corp. (CAM) $49.91 +11.31% Moody's Corp. (MCO) $40.09 +11.21% Teradyne Inc. (TER) $14.85 +10.41% S&P 500 - Fallers Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $37.83 -10.31% Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $9.90 -9.92% Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $4.97 -6.75% Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $38.57 -6.27% Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR) $53.73 -6.25% Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $17.58 -5.59% Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $57.01 -5.42% International Game Technology (IGT) $11.14 -5.27% Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $10.94 -4.91% C.R. Bard Inc. (BCR) $98.46 -4.69% Dow Jones I.A - Risers Home Depot Inc. (HD) $52.91 +3.60% American Express Co. (AXP) $57.76 +3.05% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $49.71 +2.92% General Electric Co. (GE) $20.56 +2.80% AT&T Inc. (T) $36.30 +2.75% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $78.85 +2.38% Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $73.67 +2.21% Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.19 +2.12% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $108.27 +2.08% 3M Co. (MMM) $90.59 +2.07% Dow Jones I.A - Fallers Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $15.38 -0.26% Nasdaq 100 - Risers Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $30.06 +14.25% Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $94.10 +11.32% FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $20.77 +7.81% Mylan Inc. (MYL) $22.75 +4.89% Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $33.49 +4.85% Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $11.40 +4.68% Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $17.32 +4.59% Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $41.51 +4.47% Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $52.40 +3.96% Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $17.70 +3.87% Nasdaq 100 - Fallers Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $10.94 -4.91% O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $86.93 -3.52% Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $8.76 -2.23% Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $17.98 -2.04% Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $27.51 -1.86% Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $41.10 -1.44% Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $6.91 -1.29% First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $14.00 -1.27% Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $74.22 -1.18% Warner Chilcott Plc (WCRX) $17.06 -0.70% Friday newspaper round-up: Greece, Facebook, Oil companies Greek leaders struggled to agree on required budget cuts yesterday as Citigroup raised the probability of the country’s exit from the euro to 90 per cent. The leaders of the three parties in the new coalition Government met for three hours in a session at which they were meant to sign off on a plan for €11.7bn (£8.5bn) in budget cuts demanded by Europe and the International Monetary Fund. The meeting ended shortly before talks began between Antonis Samaras, the Prime Minister, and José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President. However, the party leaders were unable to reach a consensus, The Times reports. Facebook shares dropped 10% in after-hours trading following its latest results. The Californian company had been under intense pressure to deliver strong figures given the almost 30% drop in its share price since the $104bn (£66bn) flotation in May. Although revenues climbed 32% to $1.18bn in the second quarter, beating analysts' estimates, it failed to convince investors who had seen saw revenues climb 45% in the first quarter. At the same time its spending on sales and marketing more than tripled to $392m in the period. As had been forecast, the cost of share-based pay plan for employees saw Facebook report an overall loss of $157m for the quarter. But as founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance on the company's conference call with Wall Street analysts on Thursday night, the focus was squarely on how quickly the social network site will be able to drive revenues, The Telegraph reports. It was obvious for the past few weeks that the April-June period would be tough for oil companies. So thank you, Shell, BG Group, Statoil, ExxonMobil and a handful of others for confirming as much on Thursday in your differing but inimitable ways. There is a pattern to the oil sector’s second-quarter numbers: production and operating cash flow mostly up, underlying profit mostly down. The latter was partly due to things such as maintenance costs (at Shell in particular) and partly to the volatile oil price. That will not change for the next few quarters. Oil stocks look cheap relative to the wider market, trading on a price to earnings multiple in many cases of under 10 times. That is well below the historic average. For now, however, given pricing pressures, it looks about right, The Financial Times´s Lex column writes. NatWest has become the second financial institution to report technical problems with its systems today after up to 2m Nationwide transactions were duplicated. NatWest said on its Twitter feed: "Some customers may have issues with their online banking and using their debit cards at the moment. Working as hard as we can to resolve. We'll post updates as soon as we have more information." Cash machine withdrawals using debit cards are also affected, the bank added. Earlier in the summer the bank suffered a major systems collapse when millions of customers were unable to check their balances, withdraw cash or make payments. NatWest promised that no customers would be left out of pocket as a result of the technology problems, The Telegraph says. George Osborne was yesterday urged to stick to his faltering economic strategy as the longest double-dip recession in modern history threatened to blow a gaping hole in his budget. Angel Gurria, the head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD), told the Chancellor to ‘stay the course’ despite the 0.7% slump in gross domestic product in the second quarter of the year. It came as analysts warned that the government will borrow £162bn more than planned over the next five years as the economic malaise takes its toll on the creaking public finances. Fears are also mounting that Britain will be stripped of the coveted AAA credit rating it has held since 1978 and on which Osborne has staked his political reputation, The Daily Mail reports. Lloyds Banking revealed on Thursday that it had received subpoenas from government agencies investigating the Libor rate-rigging scandal. The bank, which is among a number being investigated, said: “Certain members of the group have received subpoenas and requests for information from certain government agencies and are co-operating with their investigations”. Chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said he was prevented from giving further details while the investigations continued but he felt there would be greater clarity on the issue over the next six months. His comments came as the bank took an extra £700m hit to deal with compensation claims for mis-selling payment protection insurance, The Scotsman says.