Breaking News in association with Money AM

Wednesday, 18th November 2009

The Press Roundup

7:02am
A brief summary of Thursday's main business news.......... Extensive coverage of appointments at M&S and ITV, as well as the battle for Cadbury, with tips for Close Bros and Melrose

Financial Times

JPMorgan unveils £1bn Cazenove deal - US bank to retain David Mayhew as chairman

Forex bankers alarmed by clearing plans

Fears of China property bubble - Developer’s concerns over stimulus package

Former head of Deutsche Bank faces charges

Gold retreats...

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FTSE tipped to open flat to higher ahead of retail sales data

7:02am
PRE-OPEN REPORT: Headline shares are tipped to open five to ten points higher today, according to financial websites, ahead of PSB data and retail sales figures, with Wm Morrison a likely focus as it publishes interim numbers.

US & ASIA

In the US last night, the Dow lost 11 points at 10,426, the Nasdaq Composite fell 11 points at 2,193 and the S&P500 dropped a point at 1,110.

In Asia today, the Nikkei down 163.39 points at 9,513.41, while the Hang Seng ended the morning off 121.18 points at 22,719.15.
...

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Mining strength just fails to save FTSE closing in the red

5:02pm
END-OF-DAY REPORT: Headline shares ended the day marginally lower, with miners restricting losses as metal prices rose on dollar weakness, with M&S surging to the top of the leaderboard on news of a new CEO.

At the close of play, the FTSE100 was down just 3.8 points at 5,342.13 with the FTSE250 ahead 29.9 points at 9,431.05 and the FTSE Smallcaps fractionally better at 2,834.81.

NEW YORK

US stocks moved lower after disappointing housing construction data for October.

Approaching the close...

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Capita trading robustly

3:32pm
Business process outsourcing firm Capita has performed well in the second half and is trading robustly.

Capita said it was making excellent progress and meeting its key financial targets for the year.

It said it had maintained strong cash generation, contained capital expenditure and retained an efficient capital structure with relatively low gearing.

It said: "Trading across the group remains strong and we are confident we will deliver underlying profit growth for 2009 in line with market expectations.

"We are encouraged by prospects across the Group,...

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FTSE adds to gains midday, with M&S a major gainer

1:02pm
MIDDAY REPORT: Headline shares were modestly higher midday, with commodities underpinning gains as metals and crude rose on dollar weakness and falling US inventories, with M&S surging on news of a new CEO.

At high noon, the FTSE100 was up 21.71 points at 5,367.64 with the FTSE250 ahead 73.89 points at 9,475.04 and the FTSE Smallcaps 1.36 points better at 2,835.58.

NEW YORK

US stock futures were treading water ahead of data on consumer prices and housing starts.

Dow Jones Industrial...

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Broker News

12:02pm
Burberry was today downgraded to neutral from buy at Nomura, with the target price raised to 623p from 562p. However, the shares were raised to buy from hold at Investec.

Bovis Homes upgraded to buy from hold at Panmure Gordon, target price stays 539p.

British Land upgraded to buy from hold at KBC Peel Hunt and to hold from reduce at Oriel.

Britvic started at Credit Suisse with outperform rating, 450p target price.

Bodycote cut to sell from reduce at Numis.

Cable & Wireless downgraded...

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