The Lex Column:
*Round the rugged rock - Investing in Northern Rock (NRK) is now a game for hardened gamblers only. The muddy confluence of desperate politics, financial greed and spin has reduced transparency to nothing.
*Saving subprime - The White House wants its “Hope Now Alliance” initiative ready by year-end. It will apparently focus on delaying rate increases for some loans. But how to make it work?
*New York/London IPO’s - Reports of New York’s decline are greatly exaggerated. For the first time in 3-years, it is set to surpass London in the amount of money raised through IPO’s.
The Lombard Column:
*How Burren’s (BUR) brinkmanship nearly took it over the edge.
*Boots on the other foot – Alliance Boots’ regulatory announcement yesterday is a forerunner of transparency and guidelines for private equity disclosure.
*Unsafe savings rates – The savings rate bonanza holds more dangers for the financial institutions themselves than their lucky customers.
Feature:
*Contrasting characters battle on Rock (NRK) face (Luqman Arnold and Sir Richard Branson).
The Weekend Share Watch:
*Smurfit Kappa (SKG) – Threatened by too much cardboard. With the growth in box demand fairly flat, any additional capacity will have a huge impact on demand and thus on price, and ultimately on Smurfit Kappa's share price.
*Intec Telecom Systems (ITL) – Signs of change at billings specialist. Investors might want to take a lead from three directors: they snapped up a combined 175,000 shares this week.
*Nautical Petroleum (NPE) – New well makes shares interesting. Unrisked, the field could be worth up to 15p a share to Nautical. Even for those without an appetite for the swings and roundabouts of oil exploration, the quality of Nautical's assets make the shares look interesting at current prices.
The Neil Hume ‘On London’ Column:
*Play a waiting game with banks, for now.
David Schwartz’s Traders Diary Column:
*Data no longer up to the job.
*One “potential” sell is FirstGroup (FGP), but will wait for underlying trend to tip its hand.
*Tesco (TSCO) doesn’t look overbought.
*A proven tonic for market ills – Pharmaceutical shares.
Further news:
*Elisabeth Murdoch links ‘Spooks’ to 'Ugly Betty’ in $200-million takeover she is poised to make a significant step up in her media business career with the $200-million (£97-million) purchase of the largest independent production company in the US.
*Consumer stocks lead demotion from main index.
*Creston (CRE) postpones ‘buy-and-build’ plans.
*Merger rumours are just the job for recruitment sector.
*Gcap (GCAP) sinks after UBS note.
The Robert Cole Personal Investor Column:
*Google spreads its net too wide - Unless it proves that it can effectively make a transition into a mature and sustainable business, Google shares are riding for a big fall. And the next move is to sell.
Further news:
*Standard Chartered (STAN) lifted by China talk.
*Civica (CIV) has a new broker and word is that its full-year figures on Tuesday will be in line with forecasts of 16% profit growth and good growth in orders.
Business Profile:
*Judith Hackitt, new Health & Safety Commission chief.
Feature (in the Market Report Column):
*RPC (RPC) – Making a packet on snacks.
The Questor Column:
*De La Rue (DLAR) - Buy.
*Diploma (DPLM) – The shares are trading at a slight discount to the sector, so are worth holding on to.
The Citywire Column:
*Redemptions put pressure on property funds.
Further news:
*Frustrated JC Flowers threatens to quit battle for Northern Rock (NRK).
*Deadlock as Kazakhs hold out for £3.4-billion compensation.
*Rate cut hopes lift both sides of the pond.
The Derek Pain, ‘No Pain, No Gain' Column:
*Prezzo’s (PRZ) off the menu as diners tighten their belts. Derek regards Prezzo as a well-run operation, and if the shares continue to decline he may well be tempted back into them.
A Day in the Life:
*Howard Trinder - Rail entrepreneur on track for a romantic venture.
David Prosser's Outlook Column:
*A nail-biting advent on the high street.
*Why it's time to call lenders' bluff – The bank of England’s belief at the start of the credit-crunch debacle that bailing out stricken financial institutions would encourage further undue risk-taking in the future, it rightly argued. That argument applies as much to interest rate cuts as it does to injections of liquidity into the money markets.
*Bargains on the stock market - Here's a radical explanation for the seeming mismatch between stock market movements and the never-ending drip-feed of gloomy financial news: shares are cheap.
Further news:
*More takeover chatter boosts mining stocks.
Feature:
*No mushy peas for Tesco’s (TSCO) US shoppers.
At a Glance:
*Striding Standard (Standard Chartered (STAN)).
The Investment Extra Column:
*Don’t bank on the mutuals for highs. Those who were carpetbaggers at the flotation made an initial killing, keeping faith with former building societies and customer-owned insurers in some cases have seriously damaged your new-found wealth.
*Antrim Energy (AEY) is well worth a look, despite some nervy times.
Further news:
*Dark December ends hard year for struggling banks.
*Meldex (MDX) scores with Ronaldo, who says his flowing hair is due to hair product Crescina (part of Meldex’s stable).
*Keep an eye on Secora (SECO).
*JC Flowers makes new ‘flexible’ Rock (NRK) bid.
*Burren (BUR) accepts revised Eni offer.
*Legal setback for Tesco’s (TSCO) plans to roll out 50 US stores by year-end, after a California court ruled that its main warehouse did not comply with environmental planning law.
*SMG’s (SMG) fast-sinking share price worries its underwriters.
*Goldman considers investment to rescue International Securities Trading Corporation (ISTC).
*Namakwa to list on LSE (diamond group to raise up to $200-million).
*Buyout group JC Flowers threatens to walk away from Northern Rock (NRK) bid plans, claiming that the Treasury has snubbed it.
*Rio (RIO) tells shareholders to hold out for improved offer from BHP (BLT).
*Race is on to find EMI (EMI) chief as Terra Firma considers outsider.
*Shanghai in free fall as oil giant plummets.
*Marston’s (MARS) profits bogged down by floods.
*Sub-prime exposure may cost RBS (RBS) £2-billion.
*Lenders demand rate cut as credit markets deteriorate.
*Lord Black is still fighting despite the threat of prison.
*Stock Exchange (LSE) lined up for promotion to the FTSE-100.
*Rock (NRK) bidder in public clash with Treasury.
*Takeover talk boosts Colt Telecom (COLT).
SOME ITEMS THAT COULD INFLUENCE SHARE PRICES
*The Dow Jones closed up 59.99-points at 13371.72, the Nasdaq slipped 7.17-points to 2660.96 and the S&P recorded its best 4-day rally since March 2003 and on the day it added 11.42-points to 1481.14.
*Oil slides below $90 in spite of attack plot.
*US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is said to be close to a deal with banks to stave off sub-prime rate rise threat.
*Police have visited London rubbish tips in their hunt for missing computer discs containing personal details of 25 million people. New fraud fear over tax data sent in post. A report in the Daily Telegraph says that details of 9-million people's investments worth a total of £60-billion are being sent insecurely through the post, despite recent data scandals, because HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) requires these discs to be unencrypted. Now the trade body representing individual savings account (Isa) and personal equity plan (Pep) managers has written to HMRC, calling for tighter security as a matter of urgency.
*Higher interest on deposits helps savers gain from credit squeeze, as banks jostle to reduce wholesale exposure.
*The morale of Great British shoppers has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, a gloomy pre-Christmas survey of consumer confidence warned yesterday. The GfK/NOP consumer confidence barometer fell for a 5th-consecutive month in November, as the effect of interest rate rises filtered through to borrowers and financial crises continued.
*Shoppers in the UK will spend £200-million a day on the internet in the run up to Christmas, with the total holiday spend likely to hit £4-billion, a survey suggests. The bumper Christmas online spend - set to be about 50% more than last year, will be followed by big internet sales in 2008, Deloitte's report forecasts. But rising online spending may cut high street sales, another report suggests.
*Iran has defended its right to develop nuclear power following the failure of the latest talks to break the deadlock over its nuclear enrichment programme. Chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran was not to blame after the EU envoy, Javier Solana, said the London talks had been disappointing.
*Four members of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, have been killed and four more injured in two Israeli air strikes on the southern Gaza Strip. Israel's military said it carried out the raid, east of Khan Younis, after armed men were seen near the border.
*Evel Knievel, the motorcycle stunt-man who cheated death countless times with jumps over buses, live sharks and even Snake River Canyon in Idaho, died last night at the age of 69.
Compiled in association with HB PLC and WH Ireland Ltd
