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Good Morning ShareCrazies
This Morning in London major stocks were higher in early deals, off opening highs, with Sainsbury (SBRY) up on its trading update. Everyone is holding their breath ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision at midday today. The Bank of England is expected by a majority of analysts to keep borrowing costs on hold at its monthly rate-setting meeting, but the decision whether or not to cut interest rates will be finely balanced. A growing minority of economists think the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee will cut its benchmark Bank rate for the second month running to 5.25%, but all think rates will be lower by February. By 9:45 markets had dipped slightly with the FTSE-100 down 12.1 points at 6,260.6 and the FTSE-250 down 13.2 points at 9,950.8.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Bear Sterns has outperform on Carphone Warehouse (CPW), ahead of the trading statement.
Citigroup has downgraded Dunelm (DNLM) and Ultra Electronics (ULE) to hold from buy and Lookers (LOOK), Greggs (GRG), Luminar (LMR) and Paddy Power (PAP) to sell from hold.
The broker has upgraded Babcock (BAB) and Spectris (SXS) to buy from hold.
Credit Suisse has downgraded Marks & Spencer (MKS) to underperform from outperform (350p target price).
Deutsche says buy Taylor Nelson (TNN) (ahead of the trading statement), Marks & Spencer (MKS) (cutting the target price to 650p from 795p) and Drax (DRX) (cutting the price target to 790p from 950p).
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks closed higher as the Nasdaq roared back to its first positive day in nine, as bargain hunters stepped back into a market blindsided by economic fears that knocked more than 500 points off the Dow so far this year. After tallying double-digit declines much of the day, the Dow gained 146.2 points to end at 12,735.3, with 24 of its 30 components closing ahead. The S&P rose 18.94 points to 1,409.13, while the Nasdaq climbed 34.04 points to 2,474.55, breaking a string of losses that lasted eight days.
On this day in:-
1996 - King Hussein of Jordan made his first public visit to Israel.
1991 - United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar set off for Baghdad in a final diplomatic effort to avoid war with Iraq.
1989 - As part of an arrangement to decrease Cold War tensions and end a brutal war in Angola, Cuban troops began their withdrawal from the African nation.
1979 - As Great Britain was being crippled by industrial action, Prime Minister James Callaghan flew back into the country, denying that the country is in chaos. His comments were later to be widely misquoted as ‘crisis; what crisis?’
1957 - Harold Macmillan accepted the offer from the Queen to form a new Government following the resignation of Sir Anthony Eden.
1954 - A British Overseas Airways Corporation jet (BOAC), on its way from Singapore to London, crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. Thirty-five people were missing and feared dead.
1946 - In London, the first General Assembly of the United Nations met at Westminster Central Hall.
1941 - President Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease programme, a loan scheme created to aid Great Britain in its fight against Germany, was brought before the U.S. Congress for consideration.
1929 - The popular cartoon strip character 'Tin-Tin' appeared for the first time.
1927 - The film ‘Metropolis’, by German director Fritz Lang, premiered.
1923 - Warren G. Harding, the American President, ordered U.S. occupation troops stationed in Germany since the end of the First World War to return home.
1922 - Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein and one of the architects of the 1921 peace treaty with Great Britain, was elected president of the newly established Irish Free State.
1920 - The League of Nations came into being, when the Covenant of the League of Nations, ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. Beneath the relief at the end of World War I lay the fear that another Great War might occur. Thus, the League of Nations was established to resolve international crises and prevent such a recurrence. Although U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had proposed the organisation, the U.S. Senate refused to approve American participation, citing fears that the League would reduce U.S. authority. This fundamentally weakened the organisation. In November 1920, the League of Nations held its first meeting in Geneva. During the 1920’s, it incorporated new members and mediated minor international disputes, but was often disregarded by the major world powers. The organisation's authority, however, was not seriously challenged until the early 1930’s, when a series of events exposed it as ineffectual. Japan quit the organisation after its invasion of Manchuria was condemned, and the League was likewise powerless to prevent the rearmament of Germany and the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. The declaration of World War II was not even mentioned by the then virtually-defunct League.
1863 - The first section of London's Underground Railway, the 'Metropolitan' Line was opened, running from Paddington to Farringdon Street.
1776 - American writer and human rights advocate Thomas Paine published a radical pamphlet, 'Common Sense'. The pamphlet was the most coherent statement to date of American independence views and was a pivotal opinion former during the American Revolution.
49BC - On this day, Julius Caesar was thought to have crossed the Rubicon, signalling the start of the Civil War.
WEEKLY DIARY
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Compiled in association with HB PLC and WH Ireland Ltd
