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London Market Reports
More gains for Footsie

Market Movers
FTSE 100 5,384.36 +0.25%
techMARK 1,679.94 +0.43%
FTSE 250 10,127.04 -0.14%

Blue chips made progress early on for a sixth consecutive day, though all eyes will be on the US non-farm payrolls number at 1.30pm. US and Asian stocks made posted modest gains overnight.

Autonomy is higher for a second day. Gossip doing the rounds yesterday was acquisition-hungry US software giants Microsoft and Oracle are in the frame as likely bidders at a price north of 2500p per share.

BP’s bill for cleaning up after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has hit $8bn (£5.2bn), up over £1bn in less than a month, and the relief well is not expected to intercept the broken MC252 well for a couple of weeks.

Soco has plugged and abandoned its first wildcat exploration drilling well at Nganga 1 (NGA-1) in the Nganzi Block, onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo, after hitting water.

HSBC has joined other banks in warning it could leave the UK if the Commission on Banking recommends the break-up of the country's major banks.

It’s been a tough six months for banana importer Fyffes but conditions have “normalised” over the summer months and the group remains on target to meet forecasts, though profits are well down on last year.

Sports and leisure equipment firm Tandem said it expects full year results to be well ahead of market expectations and will pay an interim dividend. Revenue from its Dawes cycle business showed exceptional growth, well ahead of market performance, it added.




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UK Event Calendar for today
INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Invesco English & International Trust, Invista Real Estate Investment Management Holdings, RAB Capital

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Retail Sales (GER) (07:00)
PMI Services (GER) (08:55)
PMI Composite (GER) (08:55)
PMI Composite (EU) (09:00)
PMI Services (EU) (09:00)
PMI Services (FRA) (09:00)
Retail Sales (EU) (10:00)
Unemployment Rate (US) (13:30)
Non-Farm Payrolls (US) (13:30)
ISM Non-Manufacturing (US) (15:00)
ISM Services (US) (15:00)

GMS
Firestone Diamonds, Randall & Quilter Investment

AGMS
MDM Engineering Group, Prosperity Minerals Holdings

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Official Reserves (09:30)
PMI Composite (09:30)
PMI Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Cranswick, RPC Group


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Forex Market Reports
Dollar weakens as jobs data looms

The dollar edged lower against the euro and the yen as traders await Friday’s all important monthly job numbers.

The euro found support early on after an auction of €3.3bn of Spanish government debt, easing concern about euro-zone sovereign issues.

However there was little reaction to the European Central Bank’s decision to keep interest rates at 1%. The ECB also upped its growth forecast but remained cautious. President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested that recovery would occur "at a moderate pace with uncertainty still prevailing."

The yen continued to firm against the greenback despite ongoing talk about intervention to halt the surging Japanese currency.

Sterling fell against the dollar and euro after weaker than expected UK housing data. House prices fell for the second month in a row in August, new data showed, suggesting that recent declines in the market might be more than just a seasonal dip.

Meanwhile UK construction sector growth slowed for the third month in a row in August, to its lowest in half a year, exacerbating fears of a “double-dip” recession.

Commodities Markeks

Crude cruises past $75

Crude oil futures rose above $75 a barrel on Thursday, recouping earlier losses, after decent economic data and as the Dow recovered from a slow start to the session.

Crude for October delivery settled $1.11 higher at $75.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil prices were supported by increased risk appetite following solid economic figures. Initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 472,000 in the week to 28 August in line with expectations.

July factory orders also rose slightly while pending sales of existing homes up by 5.2% in July after a 2.8% fall the previous month. A 1% drop was expected.

However trading volumes were low ahead of Friday’s widely watched monthly non-farm payrolls report. Economists expect 120,000 jobs cuts in August from a 131,000 fall in July. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise slightly to 9.6%.

Oil prices were also supported by reports of an explosion at a Gulf of Mexico oil platform. The fire, around 100 miles south off the coast of Louisiana, comes after the US government’s ban on offshore drilling.

Gold continued to forge ahead, inching closer to its record high, as Friday’s big job numbers loom.

Gold for December delivery climbed $5.30 to $1,253.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.


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US Market Reports
Late boost for Dow

US stocks shrugged off their early torpor to register decent gains by the close though tomorrow's non-farm payroll numbers overshadowed much of the trading.

The Dow Jones finished up 50 at 10,320. The S&P 500 gained 9 at 1,090, while the Nasdaq was 23 higher at 2,200.

In economic news, initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 472,000 in the week to 28 August in line with expectations.

Tomorrow is the key monthly non-farm payrolls report. Economists expect the report to show that employers cut 120,000 jobs in August from a 131,000 fall in July. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise slightly to 9.6%.

Today, pending sales of existing homes rose by 5.2% in July after a 2.8% fall the previous month. A 1% drop was anticipated. This news pushed housebuilder DR Horton and DIY retailer Home Depot higher.

Burger King rose sharply for the second day in a row after the world’s second largest fast food chain accepted a $4bn offer from investment group 3G Capital. Smaller rival Wendy’s also rose.

Dell has admitted defeat in its attempt to acquire data storage supplier 3Par. However, Dell is entitled to a termination payment of $72m. Hewlett-Packard’s $33 a share offer was too high for Dell to trump.

Strong August sales figures from department stores JC Penney, Kohl’s and Nordstrom sent the stocks higher. However, Abercrombie & Fitch fell because analysts’ believe that its sales growth has been boosted by promotions.

Footwear retailer Collective Brands’ second quarter profits missed expectations due to weak sales and strong discounting.

S&P 500 - Risers
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $32.76 +8.05%
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) $10.13 +6.30%
Limited Brands Inc. (LTD) $25.75 +6.10%
Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) $4.00 +5.82%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $35.16 -3.88%
Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) $16.04 -3.32%
Total System Services Inc. (TSS) $14.34 -3.30%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $12.57 -2.86%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $10.82 +2.85%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $29.41 +2.58%
Boeing Co. (BA) $63.39 +1.77%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.55 +1.43%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $35.35 -0.76%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $125.07 -0.56%
American Express Co. (AXP) $40.85 -0.54%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $30.11 -0.50%


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Friday newspaper round-up:
Bank of England, Food prices, HSBC...

A senior Bank of England official reignited the debate over levies on financial transactions yesterday, saying that policymakers needed to address the “myopia and volatility” in the markets.

Andrew Haldane, executive director for financial stability at the Bank, said that disincentives may be needed to tackle endemic short-termism. They could include levies on investments to promote longer-term behaviour and discourage high-frequency churning, Mr Haldane said in a paper to be delivered at a Beijing conference, reports the Times.

Another oil rig has exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, reportedly causing a mile-long slick – just over four months since BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe triggered the worst offshore spill in history. All 13 men working on the site, owned by US company Mariner Energy, have been rescued, after a helicopter spotted a blazing structure 100 miles from the Louisiana coastline. “Thirteen people were seen huddled together in the water wearing gumby suits or immersion suits, water protection suits, so we were able to confirm that all people were accounted for,” said John Edwards, a Coast Guard spokesman, the Telegraph reports.

Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban on Thursday, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports. The announcement by Vladimir Putin came as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation called an emergency meeting to discuss the wheat shortage, and riots in Mozambique left seven dead, the FT reports.

Freakish weather conditions and soaring demand from China, Brazil and other fast-emerging economies have pushed meat prices around the world to a 20-year high. International food prices have risen to their highest in two years, shooting up five per cent between July and August. Wheat is up by more than 50% since May. Meat prices are at their highest since 1990 on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's index, up 16% on last year and almost a third higher than at the beginning of last year, the Independent reports.

HSBC may move its headquarters from Britain if the Government’s new Banking Commission calls for a break-up of lenders. Stuart Gulliver, who runs HSBC’s global banking business, warned that the bank could leave London if it is ordered to split its investment bank from its retail lending operations. Should the commission recommend a split, “we would have to see how we responded. There could be significant implications for where we may choose to headquarter our institution,” Mr Gulliver told a banking conference in London, the Times reports.

America's wave of new financial regulation is likely to prompt the country's biggest financial institutions to break themselves up, according to the chairman of the Federal Reserve. “My belief is that a combination of tougher oversight and tighter capital requirements will take away the attractiveness [of being big],” Ben Bernanke told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) in Washington DC yesterday, the Telegraph reports.

The Federal Reserve was powerless to stop the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the central bank's chairman also said yesterday, but he was too scared to say so in public at the time. Ben Bernanke admitted that he had been less than straightforward in his testimony to Congress in the days after the investment bank went bankrupt as he thought that admitting the limits of the Fed's power would only make the market panic worse, the Independent adds.

Leading UK and continental European companies are increasingly shunning banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide stress testing of banks gave a true picture of their financial health. Corporate treasurers from groups with revenues of more than $240bn told the Financial Times they were conducting their own tests to gauge for themselves banks’ robustness.

Canadian officials may try to block a Chinese bid for Potash Corporation amid concerns about a potential conflict of interest. China is the world’s largest consumer of potash and would have an incentive to keep prices low if it was successful in bidding for PotashCorp, the world’s largest producer of the fertiliser. Bill Boyd, energy minister of Saskatchewan, the Canadian province where PotashCorp is based, said: “It would seem to us at first glance that their interest and the interest of taxpayers of Saskatchewan may not be aligned,” the Times reports.

Carluccio’s gave rival restaurant groups a fillip yesterday when it announced a £90m bid from a Dubai hospitality conglomerate. Landmark Group, which already has a 4% stake in the chain founded by the television chef Anthony Carluccio — as well as its Middle Eastern franchise — has made a recommended offer worth 142p a share, a premium of about 48% to the share price at Wednesday’s close, the Times reports.

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul owner of The Times, The Sun and the News of The World, took a 6% pay cut to $16.8m (£10.9m) last year, his smallest pay packet since 2003. Although his salary was unchanged at $8.1m, his bonus dropped 20% to $4.4m. The 79-year-old billionaire chairman and chief executive of News Corporation was also granted $4.1m of stock and share options, to take his total shareholding to 317m shares, worth $4.5bn, the Telegraph reports.