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EUROPEAN EQUITY OPENING HEADLINES INCLUDING: Royal Dutch Shell may sell Swedish Gas stations to Finland's ST1
ASIA
Nikkei crawled up 0.6% as more encouraging data reassured investors about the state of the global economic recovery and sparked short covering. But gains were capped by wariness ahead of closely-watched US August non-farm payrolls data later on Friday, as well as investor concern about whether the recent rush of upbeat indicators signals a true recovery or not. (RTRS)
US
Decent macro-economic data lifted equity markets for the second day in a row. However, despite the optimistic economic data, investors remained cautious and likely have sidelined them levels from further commitment until they are able to digest the NFP report tomorrow. Home builders have shown decent gains post stronger housing data, while consumer services sector benefited from better than expected retail sales data. Worth noting that oil & gas sector came under pressure today following an explosion on one of its rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The latter half of the session saw equities settle into a range-bound trade and at the closing bell DJIA closed up 0.49% at 10320.10, S&P 500 closed up 0.91% at 1090.10 and NASDAQ 100 closed up 1.13% at 1840.58.
Apple – Samsung is challenging co. in the emerging market for tablet computers with a handheld device called Galaxy Tab that is smaller and lighter than the iPad. (The Times)
Google – Co. is in talks with music labels on plans for a download store and a digital song locker that would allow its mobile users to play songs wherever they are as it steps up its rivalry with Apple. (RTRS)
UK
BP – Co. says cost of oil spill response so far is USD 8bln, and no new oil flowed into Gulf since 15 July (Sources)
Royal Dutch Shell - Co. may sell Swedish Gas stations to Finland's ST1. (SVT)
HSBC – Co. may move its headquarters from Britain if the Government’s new Banking Commission calls for a break up of lenders. (The Times)
BAE Systems - Airgas and co. sign a five year supply pact. (Sources)
United Utilities – Co. was yesterday the subject of bid rumours, according to an analyst at Nomura Securities. (FT)
FRANCE
France Telecom - Co.’s CEO expects to conclude deal to combine TV Orange, TPS Star in coming weeks, says co. to hold up to 50% share. In addition, co’s CEO says Meditel stake talks are going well, sees deal in several weeks and says will seek to persuade government to abandon triple-play VAT plans. (RTRS)
Air France – Co. considers setting up a no-frills carrier in France to compete with other low-cost airlines in the country. Co. says the new unit will be called Air France Express and should be operating from airports in Marseilles, Nice and Toulouse starting next year if an agreement can be reached with unions. (Sources)
Dexia – Co. aims to cut an additional 700-800 jobs in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, according to De Standaard. The paper says this is part of a cost cutting plan which aims to free up EUR 200-300mln until the end of next year. (De Standaard)
OTHER FRENCH COMPANIES
Theolia – Co.’s H1 net loss EUR 24.2mln vs. Prev. loss EUR 14.1mln. (Sources)
GERMANY
German Utilities – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government plans to levy a tax of EUR 220 per gram on uranium or plutonium in nuclear reactors. (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
Deutsche Bank – Co. may move ahead with a takeover of listed rival Postbank in the coming week. (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
Bayer – A US judge has rejected co.’s request to extend a stay that prevents Watson Pharmaceuticals from pursuing regulatory approval of a generic version of the co.’s birth control pill Yasmin. (Sources)
RWE – Co. is of interest to Deutsche Bank’s infrastructure fund and to the Australian investment bank, Macquarie. (Handelsblatt)
Merck – Co. shareholder BlackRock has reduced its stake in the listed German drug company, co. also dropped below the reporting threshold of 10% holding 8.86% of BlackRock. (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)
PAN - EUROPEAN
Lenders shunned on stress tests doubts. (FT)
Leading UK and continental European companies are increasingly shunning banks from Spain, Italy and even Germany because they do not believe the Europe-wide stress testing of banks gave a true picture of their financial health. Corporate treasurers from groups with revenues of more than USD 240bln told the Financial Times they were conducting their own tests to gauge for themselves banks’ robustness.
ENI - Co. says presents plan to boost gas storage by 4bln cubic metres to industry ministry – Ministry. (RTRS)
Aegon - Co. gets mandate for GBP 2bln pension scheme for asset allocation for Leicestershire county. (Sources)
SMI
Roche – Co. confirms its full year outlook for 2010, they have also said over months ahead to review all parts of business structures. Co. has a new initiative to be implemented in 2011 and 2012. (RTRS)
BROKER MOVES
CENTRICA: EXANE UPGRADES TO OUTPERFORM FROM NEUTRAL
LONMIN: CITI DOWNGRADES TO HOLD FROM BUY
MAN SE: HSBC DOWNGRADES TO NEUTRAL FROM OVERWEIGHT
