This Morning in London blue-chip shares opened lower, despite Scottish & Newcastle (SCTN) moving northwards after a trading statement. Scottish & Newcastle was 10p higher at 748.5p. The company said it has agreed to sell a large proportion of its French on-trade distribution businesses for about £85m to independent wholesaler Centrale Europeenne de Distribution, and expects the sale to benefit its profits and cash flow. At 9:40 the FTSE-100 was down 40.9 points at 6,079.9 with the FTSE-250 down 110.9 points at 10,293.6.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Goldman has issued a note on UK Utilities, in which they have upgraded Kelda (KEL) to neutral from sell (raising the price target to 853p from 790p), United Utilities (UU.) to neutral from sell (raising the price target to 621p from 582p), reiterated neutral on Severn Trent (SVT) (raising the target price to 1478p from 1396p), they have neutral on Northumbrian (NWG) (raising the target price to 321p from 307p) and Pennon (PNN) (raising the price target to 584p from 573p).
The broker has a neutral on Lavendon (LVD) (cutting the price target to 790p from 862p) and Luminar (LMR) (cutting the target price to 705p from 756p).
WH Ireland has outperform on White Young Green (WHY).
KBC Peel Hunt has downgraded Paragon (PAG) to sell from speculative buy and reiterates hold Northern Petroleum (NOP).
JP Morgan has downgraded Gyrus (GYG) to neutral from overweight and has overweight on William Morrison (MRW) (330p target) and BAT’s (BAT) (raising the price target to 2000p from 1850p).
Morgan Stanley has resumed coverage of London Stock Exchange (LSE) appending an equal-weight recommendation.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks accelerated their losses to trade at three-month lows with investors disheartened by Goldman Sachs' downgrade of Citigroup and the broker's projection of more credit-related hits ahead at the banking powerhouse. The Dow Jones fell 218.3 points to 12,958.4, with just three of its 30 components ending in positive territory. Last week, the Dow fell below the key psychological level of 13,000 in intraday trade in two out of five trading sessions, yet still closed above 13,000. The Dow last closed below 13,000. The S&P was down 25.47 points to 1,433.27, while the Nasdaq declined 43.86 points to 2,593.38.
On this day in:-
1995 - In a controversial TV interview, Diana, Princess of Wales, wife of Prince Charles, admitted to having had an affair with Captain James Hewitt, while her husband was having an affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles.
1992 - Windsor Castle was badly damaged by fire.
1979 - Anthony Blunt, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, was stripped of his knighthood, after being exposed as the Fourth Man in the Burgess, Maclean and Philby spy scandal.
1974 - In Australia, British Labour MP John Stonehouse faked his own death, disappearing after leaving a pile of his clothes by the sea.
1951 - Snowdonia in Wales was designated Great Britain's first National Park.
1947 - Princess Elizabeth married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
1945 - The beginning of the Nuremburg War Crimes Trial of 20 senior Nazi officials including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Von Ribbentrop. The Trial lasted 218 days.
1944 - World War II: The end of the 'blackout' in London. After 5-years in the dark, the lights were switched back on in Piccadilly Circus, the Strand and in Fleet Street.
1906 - Automotive pioneers Charles Rolls and Henry Royce collaborated to form a new car company, Rolls Royce Ltd. On the same day, in 1931, the company bought Bentley Motors.
1818 - South American revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar declared Venezuela to be independant of Spain.
1759 - A Great British fleet, commanded by Admiral Hawke, defeated a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay.
868 - St Edmund Saxon king of East Anglia, was martyred by the Vikings, who tied him to a tree, shot at him with arrows, then behead him. His body is now enshrined at Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk.
