This Morning in London major shares were lower in early deals, with Sainsbury (SBRY) slumping as Delta Two pulled out of takeover talks. At 10:00 the FTSE-100 was down 53.2 points at 6,477.4 with the FTSE-250 off 77.1 points at 11,365.6.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Deutsche reiterates hold British Airways (BAY) (raising the price target to 468p from 464p).
Exane BNP Paribas has outperform on GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (1600p target price).
Lehman has upgraded Carphone Warehouse (CPW) to overweight from equal-weight.
Merrill has initiated coverage of WS Atkins (ATK), appending a sell recommendation and a 1075p price target, and has downgraded BSkyB (BSY) to neutral from buy.
JP Morgan has overweight on Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGO) (cutting the price target to 840p from 941p) and has neutral on Shire (SHP) (1345p target) and British Airways (BAY).
Panmure Gordon says sell Games Workshop (GAW) (150p target) and buy Harvey Nash (HVN) (96p target) and LogicaCMG (LOG) (shaving the price target to 173p from 178p).
The broker says hold Sainsbury (SBRY) (500p target) and buy Southern Cross (SCHE) (725p target) and Spirent (SPT) (84p target).
UBS has downgraded Burberry (BRBY) to neutral from buy.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Friday in New York shares finished a volatile trading day with modest gains, after investors took on board surprisingly strong October jobs data and an unexpected rise in factory orders, while weighing this against the more negative ongoing situation relating to the credit-related upheaval in the financial sector. The Dow Jones closed up 27.23-points at 13595.10, the Nasdaq added 15.55-points to 2810.38, while the S&P put on 1.21-points to close at 1509.65. On the week the Dow lost 1.5%, the Nasdaq was virtually unchanged, while the S&P fell 1.6%.
On this day in:-
1605 - Roman Catholic Guy Fawkes and several of his co-conspirators were arrested in London when guards discovered them planting 30-barrels of gunpowder in a cellar underneath the Houses of Parliament. All were later executed for treason. The 'Gunpowder Plot' is commemorated each year in Great Britain on 'Guy Fawkes' Night'.
1854 - In the Crimean War: Combined Great British and French forces defeated the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman.
1859 - The repeal of the law compelling people to celebrate 'Guy Fawkes' Night.' The ritual of recognising Guy Fawkes night has continued to this day.
1872 - The ship, the 'Marie Celeste' set sail. It was found floating but completely deserted on 5th December.
1872 - In America, Republican Ulysses Grant was re-elected U.S. President.
1883 - In Sudan, the Madhi defeated an Egyptian force commanded by Great British General William Hicks, before attacking the capital, Khartoum.
1909 - Woolworths opened its first Great British store in Liverpool.
1912 - The appointment of the British Board of Film Censors, to classify films as either a 'U' for 'Universal' or 'Not Suitable for Children'.
1914 - Great Britain annexed the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
1914 - World War I: Great Britain and France declareds war on Turkey.
1917 - World War I: U.S. troops commanded by General Pershing went into action for the first time on the Western Front.
1919 - Italian-born American actor Rudolph Valentino, the cinema's first male sex symbol, married actress Jean Acker. The marriage lasted less than 6-hours.
1927 - Great Britain introduced its first automatic traffic lights in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
1950 - American General Douglas McArthur reported Chinese Communist troops were massing in North Korea.
1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower won the U.S. Presidential Election with Richard Nixon as his Vice President.
1956 - A popular uprising in Hungary was crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. An estimated 20,000 Hungarians were killed. Many more flee the country.
1968 - Republican candidate, Richard Nixon, became the 37th U.S. President.
1972 - In Sweden, 4 young musicians form themselves into a group called 'ABBA'
1990 - In New York, Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the militant Jewish Defence League and Israel's anti-Arab Kach Party, was assassinated.
1991 - Millionaire publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell was found dead at sea, several hours after mysteriously disappearing from his yacht off the Canary Islands.
1997 - U.S. President Bill Clinton defeated Bob Dole to win a second term in office.
