FTSE 100	4252.57, -27.41	Dow	8472.40, +172.54
FTSE 250	7343.31, +22.46	Nasdaq	1829.54, +37.20
FTSE All Share	2170.40, -11.24	S&P 500	920.26, +19.32
Nikkei	9877.39, +81.31	Hang Seng	18638.75, +363.72
Oil (Crude)	$70.23	Gold	$939.50
Base Rate	0.5%	10 Yr Gilt	3.75%
£/$	1.647	£/€	1.1737
1 month LIBOR	0.655	3 month LIBOR	1.214

 

Markets

London - The FTSE 100 is currently 38.59 points higher at 4,291.16. Mining stocks help lift the market with Eurasian Natural Resources, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Kazakhmys all gaining between 2% and 4%. Oil companies also benefit after the price of the commodity rose. Royal Dutch Shell gains 1.5%. There was bad news however for BSkyB after Ofcom said the pay TV group should make its premium channels available to other content providers on a wholesale basis. Shares are currently 0.8% lower.

New York - US stocks rebounded yesterday ending a three day losing streak for the Dow. Investors were buoyed by the prospect of Ben Bernanke remaining as Federal Reserve Chairman, following a congressional hearing. His term expires in January and investors will see it as a big negative if he is not reappointed due to his prominent position in healing the world’s economic crisis.

The Dow Jones jumped 172.54 points to close at 8,472.40 while the S&P 500 gained 19.32 points end at 920.26. The Nasdaq rose 37.20 points to finish at 1,829.54.

In corporate news, Bed Bath & Beyond reported higher quarterly earnings that beat expectations. The company said cost cutting countered the impact of slowing demand. Shares of the company jumped 9.5%. Homebuilder Lennar rallied 17.5% after reporting a larger than expected quarterly loss against a year ago. However, the company reported a rise in new home sales and orders versus the first quarter.

US light crude oil for August delivery added $1.56 to $70.23 a barrel. COMEX gold for August delivery gained $5.10 to $939.50 an ounce. Treasury prices surged higher, lowering the yield on the 10 year note to 3.54% from 3.68%.

Tokyo - The Nikkei gained 81.31 points to close at 9,877.39 this morning. Nippon Electric, the world’s No 3 maker of glass for flat panel televisions, jumped 6.3% after saying it would beat its profit target. Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre maker, rallied 8.5% after narrowing its first half loss forecast.

Hong Kong - The Hang Seng is currently 363.72 points higher at 18,638.75. Shipping companies thrilled investors after projecting higher prices while energy stocks were boosted after Goldman Sachs upgraded China Shenhua Energy. China Cosco Holdings, the world’s largest operator of dry bulk ships, jumped 7.6% after the company’s chairman said freight rates are set to rise.

Economics

US Personal income & spending (May) 13:30 BST/ 08:30 EDT

Analysts expect May personal income to rise by 0.2%. Aggregate hours worked fell 0.7% while hourly earnings only rose 0.1%, suggesting that the change in employee compensation will return to negative territory after rising 0.1% in April. In April, personal income was boosted by an increase in weekly unemployment payments, while disposable income was boosted by the USD400 tax credit for individuals (USD800 for married taxpayers). These factors will probably have less of an impact in May. Meanwhile, we expect personal spending to rise 0.5%. Assuming a 0.1% rise in the PCE deflator (based on CPI results), real PCE could rise 0.4% in May, boosted by stronger auto sales (9.9 million from 9.3 million in April) and stable exautos retail sales. Based on the CPI data, we also expect the core PCE deflator to rise 0.16%, which would keep the year-on-year rate stable at 1.9%. US University of Michigan confidence (Jun, final) 14:55 BST/ 09:55 EDT

The preliminary June reading was almost unchanged at 69, but the underlying components were more mixed. The buying conditions index rose 10pts and has climbed 35pts since November, while the 12-month business expectations series fell 14pts after having risen 44pts over the previous three months. Gasoline prices have continued to rise steadily, reaching USD2.72/gallon in mid-June, while the weekly ABC News consumer index has now dropped by 7pts since the middle of May. Analysts look for the final Michigan reading for June to stay at 69. Meanwhile, five-year median inflation expectations climbed to 3.1% in the preliminary survey (from 2.8% in May), while the one-year median rose to 3.1% from 2.9%.

Corporate

Filtrona said today its year to date trading was in line with its view and that it was confident this trend would continue. "Trading cash flow has been strong in the year to date as a result of continued focus on working capital and lower levels of capital expenditure", the company said in a statement. Filtrona said the relative resilience of the global tobacco industry had continued to benefit its coated and security products and filter products division.

Cohort posted a 16 percent rise in full year pre-tax profit as it generated strong revenue growth cross all its businesses, and raised its final dividend by 20 percent. Cohort said overall it was positive about the outlook. At May 1, Cohort’s order book was down 19 percent from a year ago at £47.2m, £39.4m of which is for delivery in the current fiscal year. The order book was down as the company has a number of long term contracts that only renew once in every five or 10 year, Chief Executive Andy Thomis said. The company generated about 85 percent of its revenue from defence sector and the rest of from space, transport and other commercial businesses in the year ended April 30.

Thomis said the company has got strong defence prospects and added that he was optimistic about Cohort’s unit SEA’s bid to provide communication system for the UK submarines. SEA is a software company operating in the defence, space, transport and offshore markets.

Cohort said it continued to seek complementary acquisitions while organically growing the existing businesses. For the year ended April 30, pre-tax profit was £6.5m, compared with £5.6m in the year ago period. Revenue jumped 38 percent to £78.6m. It said it continued to maintain a progressive dividend policy and recommended a final dividend of 1.2 pence per share, up from last year’s 1 pence.

Berkeley Group reported its 2009 profit had dropped over a third on challenging market conditions. It added that its longstanding managing director Tony Pidgley is to become Chairman, with his successor named as Rob Perrins. The company said pre-tax profit fell to £120.4m for the year to end April, from £194.2m in the previous year. Revenues dropped to £702.2m from £991.5m. Berkeley said the value of sales reservations are 52 percent below the historic average, and cash held on forward sales stood at £619.8m on April 30 compared to £1.2bn last year. The company said it had net cash of £284.8m at the end of the year, after it raised £50m to boost its cash pile for land acquisitions earlier this year.

Saudia Arabian investor Saad Group, formerly Berkeley’s largest shareholder with a 30 percent stake, announced on Thursday it had sold a further 4.5m shares in Berkeley taking its stake to just 2.73 percent.

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The above details are provided for information only and are not intended to be construed a solicitation for the sale or purchase of any particular investment nor as specific investment advice.

Posted: June 26th, 2009 under Asset Management.
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