This Morning in London the FTSE-100 eventually turned a weak opening (off 17-points) around, following yet another "record-breaking" performance on Wall Street last night, and climbed 15.7-points. The Office of National Statistics released Retail Sales figures showing a rise greater than had been expected in October, increasing at their fastest pace in almost a year. Sales jumped 0.9%, three times more than had been forecast by economists and the biggest monthly gain since November 2005. The figures suggest consumers are still spending despite higher interest rates. Better than expected figures from National Grid (NG.L) saw an electric rise of 45p to 744p. Vedanta (VED.L) however, were a different story. Although releasing figures deemed to be in-line with expectations, concerns were raised about earnings dilution from its planned investment in a power plant in India. The shares fell 114p to 1272p. At 11:16 the FTSE-100 was up 3.7 at 6233.5.
I don’t know! Kids nowadays... Little darlings
Florida police are looking for a little girl, aged about 7-years old. Not because she has been kidnapped (thankfully), or has runaway... But, who tried to steal Lego at knife-point. The girl pulled a knife on a cashier at a Wal-Mart store in Largo as she tried to walk out with 2 boxes of Lego. The girl, aged about seven or eight, hid the toys under her coat and tried to walk out. A member of staff approached the child, asking her to turn over the Lego blocks, police say that the little girl then calmly opened her jacket and pulled out a 10-ins long carving knife. The employee talked the girl into putting down the knife and the toys. The girl then made her away on her bicycle.
I bet he felt a right Dic... er... Idiot
A kidnapper, or perhaps I should say "would-be" kidnapper tucked his gun into the waistband of his trousers and shot his own testicles. Apparently, 3 men were attempting to kidnap a teenager in a dispute over stereo speakers in Wichita, Kansas, when one of the 3 pulled out a gun, fired it at the teenager... and missed. The gunman then jammed the pistol back into the waistband and... well, it went off, hitting him in the left thingy. The 23-year-old gunman was naturally hurt, shocked and astonished... the result of the man's surprise was knee-jerk, in fact calf-jerk, because he jumped and shot himself again. This time in the left calf. The man was arrested after he walked, hobbled, limped... crawled into a medical centre seeking help. Later his companions, aged 18 and 20, were also arrested.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN has upgraded Aga Foodservice (AGA.L) to hold from reduce.
Altium raises target for Mouchel Parkman (MCHL.L) to 420p from 415p.
Bridgewell reiterates overweight for Mouchel Parkman (MCHL.L).
Citigroup has downgraded Babcock International (BAB.L) and Schroders (SDR.L) to hold from buy and has initiated coverage of Chloride (CHLD.L) appending a buy recommendation and a 170p price target.
The broker says buy Bank of Ireland (BKIR.L) and sell Sainsbury (SBRY.L).
Citigroup says buy Lonmin (LMI.L) and hold for PayPoint (PAY.L).
The broker says buy Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE.L) (raising the target to 1525p from 1350p).
Credit Suisse has upgraded Northern Foods (NFDS.L) and Inmarsat (ISAT.L) to outperform from neutral.
Deutsche has downgraded Alliance Boots (AB.L) to hold from buy.
Dresdner Kleinwort has issued a note on the UK Banks, in which they reiterate buy Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) (raising the price target to 2275p from 2250), they say buy HBOS (HBOS.L) (raising the target price to 1225p from 1200p), add Northern Rock (NRK.L), hold Alliance & Leicester (AL.L), Barclays (BARC.L) (raising the target to 700p from 675p) and Bradford & Bingley (BB.L) (raising the price target to 460p from 450p) and reduce Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L) (raising target to 510p from 490p).
Goldman has neutral on Legal & General (LGEN.L) and EMI Group (EMI.L).
KBC Peel Hunt says buy Young and Co (YNGA.L) and says reduce Premier Oil (PMO.L).
The broker says hold Tullow Oil (TLW.L) and add Mothercare (MTC.L).
Kepler Teather & Greenwood said buy Aveva Group (AVV.L) and hold EMI (EMI.L).
Lehman has overweight on Land Securities (LAND.L) (raising the target to 2487p from 2185p, raising estimates) and equal-weight on Lonmin (LMI.L) (3000p target).
The broker has overweight on M&S (MKS.L) (raising the price target to 750p from 681p).
JP Morgan has upgraded Sainsbury (SBRY.L) to neutral from underweight.
Morgan Stanley has initiated coverage of HMV (HMV.L) appending an overweight recommendation with a 185p target price.
Panmure Gordon reiterates buy Genus (GNS.L) (raising the price target to 570p from 540p) and has raised forecasts at Alpha Airports (AAP.L).
The broker says buy Mitchell and Butlers (MAB.L), Greene King (GNK.L), Luminar (LMR.L), Whitbread (WTB.L), Restaurant Group (RTN.L) and Regent Inns (REG.L) and has upgraded forecasts and target the target price for Rotork (ROR.L) to 935p from 700p.
Panmure reiterates sell Ladbrokes (LAD.L).
Seymour Pierce says buy Bulgarian Land Development (BLD.L) and has outperform on Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGO.L), Mothercare (MTC.L) and Reed Elsevier (REL.L).
The broker says hold Victory Corporation (VRY.L) and neutral on the Food Retailers.
Seymour Pierce has outperform on Group 4 Securicor (GFS.L) and Mouchel Parkman (MCHL.L).
UBS has downgraded Standard Chartered (STAN.L) to neutral from buy.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York the Dow Jones hit a fresh record close boosted by surprising strength in a regional survey eased economic worries. The index was further lifted by rises in Altria Group and Boeing and news of a possible merger in the airline sector. The minutes from the last latest Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates showed that central bankers were less worried about the housing market's impact on the economy, whilst continuing to have concerns about inflation. The Dow closed up 33.70-points at 1251.71 (during the day the index hit a record high of 12291), the Nasdaq added 12.09-points to 2442.75, while the S&P put on 3.35-points to 1396.57.
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.
