This Morning in London house prices in the UK recorded their biggest fall in 12-years during November, according to mortgage lender Nationwide. The firm's data shows that the cost of an average home slid by 0.8% from the previous month, the first drop in price seen since February last year. On an annual basis, house prices rose by 6.9% from the same month in 2006, down from October's figure of 9.7%. Nationwide's chief economist Fionnuala Earley said that the data confirms that the housing market is indeed cooling. At 9:33 the FTSE-100 was up 31.4-points at 6337.6.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN Amro has downgraded HSBC (HSBA) to sell from hold (cutting the price target to 700p from 920p) and reiterates buy Cable & Wireless (CW.).
The broker says buy WS Atkins (ATK).
Cazenove reiterates outperform Alliance & Leicester (AL.) and has in-line for Bradford & Bingley (BB.).
Daniel Stewart reiterates sell Brewin Dolphin (BRW).
Deutsche reiterates buy Hays (HAS) (155p price target) and says buy Michael Page (MPI) (555p target).
KBC Peel Hunt says buy AssetCo (ASTO), Chaucer (CHU), Findel (FDL), Paragon (PAG) and VT Group (VTG) and has neutral on Halma (HLMA).
The broker is positive on Expro International (EXR).
Panmure reiterates buy Communisis (CMS) (90p target price), Dolphin Capital (DCI) (revising the target price to 200p) and Finsbury Foods (FIF) (145p target) and reiterates hold GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (1375p target).
The broker has upgraded Holidaybreak (HBR) to buy from hold (870p target price) and reiterates hold Kingfisher (KGF) (reducing the target price to 175p from 190p and trimming forecasts).
Panmure has downgraded Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) to sell from hold (cutting the price target to 550p from 650p) and reiterates buy Prudential (PRU) (810p target), Sage (SGE) (reducing the target to 266.4p from 284p), Shed Media (SHDP) (115p target), VT Group (VTG) (701 target), White Young Green (WHY) (493p target) and Wolseley (WOS) (cutting the price target to 750p from 1150p).
Seymour Pierce reiterates outperform on Findel (FDL) and says hold Kingfisher (KGF).
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks climbed for a second day, with the Dow scoring its largest percentage leap so far this year, and a revived financial sector paving the way after a Federal Reserve official bolstered hopes for additional interest-rate cuts ahead. The Dow Jones gained 331 points to 13,289.5, with all of the blue-chip index's 30 components ahead, led by the recently battered financial sector. The Dow's gains marked the index's second largest point advance since September 18th, when it climbed 335.97 points. The broader indexes climbed as well, with the S&P up 40.79 points at 1,469.02, and the Nasdaq gaining 82.11 points to 2,662.91.
On this day in:-
1864 - US Cavalry troops, commanded by Colonel Chivington, massacred 150 unarmed Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians at Sand Creek in Colorado.
1907 - British nurse Florence Nightingale, 'the lady of the lamp', was presented with the Order of Merit by Edward VII, for her work tending the wounded during the Crimean War.
1929 - American explorer Richard E. Byrd and 3 companions mae the first ever flight over the South Pole. Byrd first won international attention in 1926, when he flew within 150-miles of the North Pole. In 1929, he led a large and well-equipped expedition to Antarctica, setting up a base camp called Little America on the face of the Ross Ice Shelf. From there, flights were made across the Antarctic continent. After his successful flight over the Pole, he led 4 more expeditions to the remote continent and mapped close to one million square miles with his flights.
1932 - The first performance of Cole Porter's 'The Gay Divorce' opened in New York, starring Fred Astaire and featuring the song 'Night and Day'.
1934 - In Great Britain, the first live radio broadcast of a royal wedding, the marriage of the Duke of Kent to Princess Marina at Westminster Abbey in London.
1945 - In the Balkans, Yugoslavia was proclaimed a Federal People's Republic under the leadership of Marshal Tito.
1962 - Great Britain and France announced a joint agreement to design and build 'Concorde', the world's first supersonic airliner.
1965 - Housewife Mary Whitehouse began her 'Clean Up TV Campaign' by setting up the National Viewers and Listeners' Association to tackle 'bad taste and irresponsibility'.
1995 - On his historic visit to Great Britain, US President Bill Clinton praised Prime Minister John Major and Irish Prime Minister John Bruton for their joint efforts to bring peace in Northern Ireland.
