Wall street sold off to finish down just over 2 points on the session at 11100.43 having traded as high as 11245. The NASDAQ composite finished lower by some 15 points with the S&P off 5.
Wall street sold off to finish down just over 2 points on the session at 11100.43 having traded as high as 11245. The NASDAQ composite finished lower by some 15 points with the S&P off 5.2 points.
Asian markets have taken all this in their stride with the Nikkei and Hang Seng up 163 & 113 respectively – Australian markets have sold off slightly however. The Early call for London is down 20 points.
Market talk Press & early Indications
BSKYB Q4 subscribers up 77k at 8.18 mlm – revenues up 8% to £ 4.15bln – net debt up to £ 761 mln.
Prudential first half net profit rose 48% to £450 mln raises costs savings target to £150 mln from £110 mln company confident on outlook.
Alliance & Leicester h1 pretax profit £257mln vs £272 mln underlying Eps 41.9p vs 43.2p
Hays Group says has visit from OFT as part of competition probe into construction recruitment.
RAB Capital assets under management up 77% to $4bln pretax profit up 193% to £ 14.2 mln eps up 171% to 1.87p
DSGI sells link stores to O2 for GBP 30 millions.
BSY + 1% HAS -1% PRU -1.5% AL U/C DSGI U/C
Broker Upgrades Downgrades
DRESDNER KLEINWORT
Upgrade Hold from sell Alcatel
ABN AMRO
Initiate Buy Vedanta, target 1,850 pence; Initiate Buy Antofagasta, target 470 pence
LEHMAN
Reiterate Underweight Bradford & Bingley, target 430 pence — Equal-weight Carphone Warehouse, target 360 pence, ups estimates — Equal-weight Groupe Metropole TV, target 27.5 eur, ups estimates — Equal-weight Liberty international, target 1,237 pence — Overweight Reed Elsevier, targets 600 pence/13.5 eur — Overweight Repsol, target 26 eur — Overweight Royal Dutch Shell, targets 2,030 pence/30 eur, sees better value in ENI and Total
Equal-weight Santander, target 12.0 eur, prefer BBVA — Underweight Teleconco, target 19 eur — Underweight Telefonica, target 14 eur — Overweight UCB, ups target to 49 eur from 45
UBS
Reiterate Neutral France Telecom, cuts target to 17.60 from 18.7 — Neutral DaimlerChrysler, cuts target to 43 eur from 47 — Buy Pernod Ricard, ups target to 188 eur from 180 — Buy Alcatel, cuts target to 12.5 eur from 14.0 — Neutral ACS, ups target to 35.8 eur from 35.1 — Buy Capgemini, ups target to 52 eur from 50 — Buy Bradford & Bingley, cuts target to 550 pence from 570 — Neutral Vedior, cuts target to 17.5 eur from 18.5 — Neutral Chemring, ups target to 1,300 pence from 1,200 — Buy M-Real, cuts target to 5.0 eur from 5.5 — Buy Acambis, cuts target to 254 pence from 300
ING
Upgrade Hold from sell Kingfisher, ups target to 220 pence from 180 — Reiterate Buy Allianz, target 150 eur — Buy Pernod Ricard, cuts target to 180 eur from 173 — Buy PPR, target 112 eur — Buy Reed Elsevier, targets 615 pence/13.75 eur — Buy Smith & Nephew, target 540 pence — Buy Capgemini, target 52 eur — Hold BT Group, target 230 pence — Hold Legal & General, target 146 pence – Hold Cofinimmo, target 135 eur — Hold Dassault Systemes, target 45 eur — Hold Deceuninck, ups target to 22.5 eur from 22.5 — Buy DSM, target 47 eur — Hold Exact, cuts target to 24.5 from 28.0 Buy ICOS Vision System, cuts target to 38 eur from 44 — Hold Stork, target 40 eur, cuts estimates — Hold UCB, target 44 eur — Buy Vedior, cuts target to 19 eur from 22
SG SECURITIES
Reiterate Buy DaimlerChrysler, fair value 53 eur, ups estimates — Hold Volkswagen, fair value 54 eur, cuts estimates — Buy Sanofi-aventis, fair value 95 eur — Hold france Telecom, fair value 20 eur, cuts estimates — Buy Dassault Systemes, fair value 52 eur, ups estimates
NOMURA
Reiterate Buy Renault
EVOLUTION
Reiterate Buy Redstone, target 8 pence — Add VASTox, target 193 pence
DEUTSCHE BANK
Downgrade Hold from buy DSM, cuts target to 35 eur from 40 — Downgrade Hold from buy PPR, ups target to 112 eur from 107 — Reiterate Hold ACS, ups target to 34.5 eur from 33.5 — Buy Amvescap, ups target to 630 pence from 580 — Buy BAT, ups target to 1,500 pence from 1,450 — Buy Buhrmann, ups target to 12.0 eur from 14.7 — Buy Bank of Cyprus — Hold Bradford & Bingley, cuts target to 430 pence from 450 — Buy Banco Santander, ups target to 13.9 eur from 13.5 — Hold EADS, cuts target to 24.5 eur from 26.0 — Hold Legal & General, ups target to 135 pence from 134 — Hold Reed Elsevier, ups target to 550 pence from 545 — Buy Fresenius, target 158 eur
Buy St Gobain, target 65 eur — Buy AstraZeneca, target 68 usd, prefer to GlaxoSmithKline (Hold, target 1,560 pence) Upgrade Buy from sell Aixtron, ups target to 3.5 eur from 2.0 — Initiate Buy EGL, price target 1,300 sfr — Reiterate Buy Banca Popolare di Milano, ups target to 12 eur from 11.70 — Buy Ubisoft — Buy Alten — Buy Suss Microtec, preview — Buy Vinci — Buy DaimlerChrysler, target 55 eur — Hold Thomson — Buy Lagardere
MERRILL LYNCH
Downgrade Neutral from Buy Technip — Reiterate Buy Lagardere — Neutral Clarins — Neutral Pernod Ricard — Neutral Reed Elsevier — Buy Big Yellow, ups price target to 480p from 430 — Neutral Bradford & Bingley — Neutral Amvescap — Buy Renault — Neutral Astrazeneca — Buy Mitchells & Butler — Neutral HSBC, preview — Neutral Flamel Technologies
JP MORGAN
Upgrade Overweight from neutral AXA — Reiterate Neutral Siemens — Overweight Telefonica — Overweight DaimlerChrysler — Neutral UCB — Overweight Volkswagen — Overweight Vinci — Neutral Renault — Overweight Royal Dutch Shell — Neutral Reed Elsevier — Neutral EADS — Neutral Pernod Ricard — Overweight Cap Gemini — Overweight Dassault Systèmes — Overweight Saint-Gobain — Overweight Centrica — Overweight EDP — Underweight Bradford & Bingley
GOLDMAN SACHS
Upgrade Buy from neutral Michells & Butlers — Reiterate Neutral Amvescap, ups target to 21.45 usd from 21.11 — Buy Publicis — Neutral Renault — Hold Alcatel — Buy Lagardere — Sell TF1 — Neutral M6, ups target to 25.70 eur from 25.50 — Neutral Technip — Sell Bradford & Bingley — Neutral Elisa Corp — Sell BT Group
HSBC
Initiate Neutral London Clubs International, target 107pence — Reiterate underweight Clarins
MORGAN STANLEY
Reiterate Underweight Renault — Overweight Option NV, ups price target to 23 eur from 22 — Equal-weight DaimlerChrysler — Equal-weight Inmarsat, cuts target to 350 pence from 370 — Overweight Siemens, cuts target to 76 eur from 80 — Equal-weight Reed Elsevier — Overweight Sanofi-Aventis — Underweight Centrica, ups target to 265 pence from 240 — Overweight Royal Caribbean
CITIGROUP
Reiterate Buy Publicis — Buy Santander — Buy Alcatel — Hold France Telecom — Hold Royal Dutch Shell
CREDIT SUISSE
Reiterate Outperform Ericsson
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