This Morning in London blue-chip shares were lower in opening deals, following heavy falls on Wall Street overnight. Northern Rock (NRK) will be in focus with today being the deadline for proposals regarding the future of the ailing mortgage bank. At 9:30 the FTSE-100 was down 30.9 points at 6,328.7 with the FTSE-250 off 51.9 points at 10,849.7.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN Amro lowers target for Ladbrokes (LAD) to 400p from 450p.
Citigroup raises price target for Arriva (ARI) to 810p from 745p, raises target for Stagecoach (SGC) to 245p from 180p, raises target for Chloride (CHLD) to 230p from 195p and lowers target for Bank of Ireland (BKIR) to €10.50 from €11.
CSFB downgrades Amlin (AML) to neutral from outperform, downgrades Premier Farnell (PFL) to underperform from neutral and upgrades Beazley (BEZ) to outperform from neutral.
Deutsche Bank has a buy for BP (BP.) raising target to 725p from 690p, a buy for Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), raising target to £24.50 from £23.75, upgrades Venture Production (VPC) to buy from hold, raising target to 825p from 750p, has a buy for Tullow Oil (TLW), raising target to 725p from 665p, a buy for Premier Oil (PMO), raising target to £16.20 from £14.20, a buy for Cairn Energy (CNE) raising target to £26 from £24 and a buy for JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) raising target to 450p from 415p.
The broker has a hold stance for Friends Provident (FP.) while lowering target to 185p from 207p.
Landsbanki upgrades Ladbrokes (LAD) to buy from hold.
Lehman Bros downgrades British Land (BLND) to equal-weight from overweight.
Merrill Lynch has an equal-weight for Burren Energy (BUR), raising target to £12 from 950p, an overweight for Dana Petroleum (DNX) raising target to £14.60 from £13 and an equal-weight for Cairn Energy (CNE), raising target to £25.70 from £21.60.
The broker lowers target for Ladbrokes (LAD) to 365p from 400p and lowers target for William Hill (WMH) to 630p from 675p.
JP Morgan lifts target for Scottish & Newcastle (SCTN) to 775p from 770p.
UBS raises target for Amlin (AML) to 380p from 360p, lowers target for SABMiller (SAB) to £14 from £15 and lowers target for Experian (EXPN) to 660p from 730p.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks intensified losses to close a third day of declines this week as investors found dark spots in economic data and credit-related anxieties lingered. The Dow Jones fell 121 points to 13,110. Financial stocks were among the largest decliners among the blue chips, with Citigroup off 4.1%. The S&P 500 fell 19.43 points to 1,451.15, while the Nasdaq dropped 25.81 points to 2,618.51.
On this day in:-
1995 - The Queen mother, aged 95, had hip replacement surgery in London.
1965 - The USSR launched its spacecraft Venus III, an unmanned craft which successfully landed on the planet Venus.
1959 - The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'The Sound of Music' opened on Broadway.
1920 - The Bolsheviks defeated the White Russians in the Crimea, ending Russia's Civil War.
1907 - Oklahoma became the 46th state of the United States of America.
1905 - Count Sergei Witte was appointed Prime Minister of Russia.
1828 - Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams to become the President of the United States.
1824 - Explorers Hamilton Hume and William H Hovell discovered Australia's Murray River, the longest river in the country.
1724 - Notorious English highwayman Jack Sheppard was hanged in front of a crowd of 200,000 at Tyburn.
42BC - Tiberius, whose legendary rule as Roman Emperor was marked by cruelty and debauchery, was born in Rome.
