This Morning in London shares opened higher, with Wolseley (WOS.L) leading the gainers after its Q3 results and miners providing support. Wolseley was 30p higher at 1,165p, after the building materials company said trading profits were up by 9% in the three months to 31st October. Sage Group (SGE.L) also rose, up 6p at 247p, after the UK accounting software supplier reported a 14% rise in full-year pretax profit, in line with forecasts, and said it was confident about its prospects for future growth. The mining sector provided further support, fuelled by commodity price gains, with Antofagasta (ANTO.L) 10.75p up at 473.25p, BHP Billiton (BLT.L) 14p higher at 951p and Xstrata (XTA.L) up 34p at 2,237. At 08:42 the FTSE-100 was up 32.40 at 6058.30.
Castro misses birthday ceremony
Frail Cuban leader Fidel Castro has stayed away from the opening ceremony of his 80th birthday celebrations in Havana on doctors' orders. A message apparently written by Mr Castro was read out saying he was not yet strong enough to attend the event. President Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery at the end of July and has not been seen in public since. He then temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul, and was last seen in a video on 28 October. Since falling ill, he has only been seen in officially-sanctioned photographs and videos. Reports in the US suggest that officials in Washington now believe Mr Castro is suffering from terminal cancer and may never recover.
Illegal net sport faces crackdown
Sports authorities are taking action to stop illegal live coverage of football and other events over the internet. Almost all English Premiership matches are available to watch live and for free, as are other leagues and sports. The coverage, mainly from Chinese sport channels, is put on peer-to-peer applications and can be watched anywhere in the world. As well as football, some sites are also claiming to offer live cricket action from The Ashes in Australia. The FA Premier League, Cricket Australia and other sport bodies have employed a company called NetResult to police the internet for unauthorised video. Some websites provide direct links to each match, only requiring the user to download a free peer-to-peer programme.
Citigroup reiterates buy for Daily Mail (DMGO.L), has a hold for Arriva (ARI.L), raising target to 685p from 564p, has a buy for Homeserve (HSV.L), a sell for Kelda (KEL.L), a buy for Kensington (KGN.L), cutting target to 950p, a buy for Nokia (NOK.L), a hold for Old Mutual (OML.L), a buy for Restaurant Group (RTN.L), raising target to 330p from 250p and a hold for Scottish Power (SPW.L), raising target to 760p from 700p.
Credit Suisse reiterates outperform for Barclays (BARC.L), raising target to 750p from 740p.
Deutsche Bank has a buy for William Morrison (MRW.L) and a hold for Nokia (NOK.L).
Goldman Sachs reiterates neutral for Nokia (NOK.L) and has neutrals for EMI (EMI.L) and Shire (SHP.L).
HSBC upgrades Shire (SHP.L) to overweight from neutral, raising target to £11.80 from £10.15 and has an underweight and 650p target for Barclays (BARC.L).
ING upgrades LogicaCMG (LOG.L) to buy from hold, raising target to 202p from 195p.
Merrill Lynch downgrades De La Rue (DLAR.L) to neutral from buy, has a neutral for Kelda (KEL.L), a sell for GCap Media (GCAP.L), a sell for Homeserve (HSV.L), a buy for Qinetiq (QQ.L), a neutral for Old Mutual (OML.L) and a buy for Barclays (BARC.L), cutting target to 903p from 908p.
The broker reiterates neutral for Compass Group (CPG.L).
Morgan Stanley reiterates overweight for Man Group (EMG.L), raising target to 560p from 530p.
The broker downgrades Amvescap (AVZ.L) and ICAP (IAP.L) to equal-weight from overweight.
SG Securities reiterates hold Barclays (BARC.L) with a 670p fair value, cutting estimates.
Last Night in New York stocks rebounded from early losses and settled modestly firmer, as investors digested weak economic data, a further rise in oil prices and remarks by Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke. In his first public comments upon the economy since July, Mr Bernanke said activity is moderating, but that core inflation is still “uncomfortably high.” The Dow gained 14.66 points to 12,136.37. The Nasdaq rose 6.52 points to 2,412.44, above an earlier decline to 2,390.10. Whilst the S&P settled 5.02 points firmer at 1,386.92, after reaching a low of 1,378.03.
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.
