This Morning in London the market opened in fine fettle, following on from yesterday's gains and last nights performance on Wall Street. Top of the Footsie climbers is Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), after they said that its full-year results would top analyst expectations, primarily due to good organic growth, rising productivity and tight cost control. The shares climbed 74p to 1914p. Following publication of the Industrial Output data, it seems unlikely that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will raise rates in the near future, as we saw a very sharp drop of 0.8% in industrial output in October. At 10:46 the FTSE-100 was up 13.7 at 6100.1.
Attic girl falls to earth
A 9-year-old girl called Jasmine Clark, from Scarborough, went sleepwalking and fell 30ft from her bedroom window. Fortunately she suffered only minor injuries, after landing on an old carpet that her dad had dumped on the driveway. Jasmine was sleeping in her newly-converted loft bedroom for the first time when the incident happened. Her dad, Dave Clark, says it’s a miracle she wasn't seriously injured or even killed. He added, "I think the angels must have been looking over her that night."
'Leaves' her alone!
Sandra Pote of Torquay has been accused of littering... after sweeping leaves into a pile. Road sweepers refused to remove the leaves at the end of her drive because some were in her garden. Sixty-one year old Sandra, thought she was doing the cleaning truck crew a favour as they drove down the road, but she was accused of “fly-tipping” by the local council. Torbay council insisted that she should have taken the leaves to a tip. A council jobsworth spokesperson said, "Householders have a responsibility to deal with leaves on their property." That is the attitude that made this country great... isn’t it????
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN has issued a note on UK Housebuilders, in which they reiterate overweight on the Sector in general, but they have downgraded Wilson Bowden (WLB.L) to hold from buy, preferring Barratt Developments (BDEV.L), Persimmon (PSN.L), George Wimpey (WMPY.L), Redrow (RDW.L) and Bovis Homes (BVS.L).
The broker says buy International Power (IPR.L) (raising the price target to 430p from 480p).
Altium reiterates hold Umeco (UMC.L) (450p target).
Citigroup has upgraded Electrocomponents (ECM.L) to buy from sell (raising the target to 310p from 260p) and downgraded HSBC (HSBA.L) to hold from buy (cutting the price target to 1000p from 1200p).
The broker reiterates sell BBA Aviation (BBA.L) (raising the price target to 260p from 240p) and sell BSkyB (BSY.L).
Citigroup says hold European Motor Holdings (EMH.L), Halma (HLMA.L) (raising the price target to 220p from 200p), Tesco (TSCO.L) and hold United Utilities (UU.L) (raising the price target to 740p from 655p) and buy Victrex (VCT.L) (800p target).
Credit Suisse has outperform on Central African Mining (CFM.L).
Daniel Stewart says buy AT Communications (ATCG.L), Tanfield (TAN.L) and Hardide (HDD.L).
Deutsche has upgraded Legal & General (LGEN.L) to buy from hold (raising the price target to 168p from 157p) and reiterates buy Greene King (GNK.L) (1212p target).
The broker says buy Xstrata (XTA.L) (raising target to 2900p from 2880p).
Goldman has issued a note on the UK Banks, in which they reiterate sell Alliance & Leicester (AL.L) (raising the price target to 759p from 749p), sell Bradford & Bingley (BB.L), HBOS (HBOS.L) (raising the price target to 1060p from 1041p) and Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L) (cutting the price target to 500p from 518p) and neutral on Northern Rock (NRK.L) (raising the price target to 1252p from 1200p).
Lehman has equal-weight on HSBC (HSBA.L) (1034p target) and Tesco (TSCO.L) (382p target).
Merrill has initiated coverage of Inchape (INCH.L) appending a neutral recommendation and has neutral on Grainger Trust (GRI.L).
The broker says buy Persimmon (PSN.L) (raising the price target to 1600p) and has neutral on London Merchant Securities (LMSO.L) and Helical Bar (HLCL.L).
Merrill says buy BAE (BA.L).
JP Morgan reiterates overweight on BAT’s (BATS.L) (cutting the price estimates) and has overweight on Vedanta Resources (VED.L).
Morgan Stanley has overweight on Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L) (raising the price target to 215p from 210p) and underweight on United Utilities (UU.L) (cutting the price target to 625p from 645p).
The broker has British Energy (BGY.L) as its least favourite stock in the nuclear power sector.
Panmure Gordon has initiated coverage of Inspired Gaming (INGG.L) appending a buy recommendation and a 300p target price and says hold Stagecoach (SGC.L), ITV (ITV.L) (105p target) and United Business Media (UBM.L).
Seymour Pierce says buys Ath Resources (ATH.L) and Egdon Resources (EDR.L) and has outperform on Biffa (BIFF.L) (295p target).
UBS has issued a note on the UK Insurance shares, in which they have downgraded Hiscox (HSX.L) to neutral from buy, they have initiated coverage of Beazley (BEZ.L) appending a buy recommendation and says buy Chaucer (CHU.L), Kiln (KIN.L), Novae (NVA.L) and Amlin (AML.L) and reduce Brit Insurance (BRE.L).
The broker has downgraded JJB Sports (JJB.L) to neutral from buy and says buy British Land (BLND.L) (raising the price target to 1740p from 1640p), Henderson (HGI.L) (raising the price target to 145p from 130p) and Xstrata (XTA.L).
UBS is neutral on Woolworths (WLW.L) (cutting the price target to 34p from 36p) and buy HSBC (HSBA.L).
The broker is neutral on Aggreko (AGK.L) (raising the price target to 400p from 350p) and buy Tesco (TSCO.L).
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last night in New York shares closed higher after data showed that the service-sector growth had improved in November, while inflation was weaker than expected in the third quarter, once again suggesting to the American people that it would in fact be a soft landing. The Dow Jones closed up 47.75-points at 12331.60, the Nasdaq added 3.99-points to 2452.38, while the S&P added 5.64-points to 1414.76.
On this day in:-
1993 - An American court ordered actress Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband to pay $1.3-million damages for libelling German film star Elke Sommer.
1982 - An IRA bomb killed 16 and injured a further 60 at the Droppin Well disco, in Ballykelly.
1963 - Call-girl Christine Keeler, one of the models named in the scandal involving Secretary of State for War John Profumo, was jailed for 9-months for perjury, arising from the trial of an ex-boyfriend.
1958 - Japan launched the world's largest oil tanker.
1936 - Characters Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat made their first appearance in the comic 'Dandy'.
1921 - Irish Independence was granted to the 26 states in southern Ireland which become known as the Irish Free State. The 6 counties of Ulster, in Northern Ireland, remained part of the United Kingdom.
1917 - Finland gained its independence.
1916 - David Lloyd George became Prime Minister.
1907 - At least 360 miners were killed in a pit disaster in West Virginia, USA.
1906 - Great Britain granted self-government to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colonies in southern Africa.
1897 - The world's first fleet of motorised taxi cabs started operating in London.
1877 - The world's first recording of the human voice was heard, when the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison, recited 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' and played it back.
1857 - During the Indian Mutiny, Great British troops recaptured the town of Cawnpore.
1492 - Explorer Christopher Columbus discovered Haiti.
