Stocks and Shares - Stock Market News Today
The
stock market today has taken a bit of a battering. The FTSE ended the day down 142 points - the DOW is currently down 226 the Nasdaq is down 77 and the S&P is down 28.
The miners saw the worst of the selling after the Australian government said it plans to introduce a resource rent tax of 40% on resource projects from July 2012.
But ENRC and Antofagasta who have no exposure to Australia were hit harder by worries about the global economy, in particular the debt situation in Greece and elsewhere.
BP continued its fall as the oil leak shows no sign of being fixed any time soon. BP denies but expects to meet the clean-up costs - estimated to amount to tens of billions. Other oil groups also fell.
On the positive side, security group G4S rose after saying revenues grew 4% at constant exchange rates in the Q1 compared with Q1 2009.
Inmarsat rose sharply on rumours of a bid from Harbinger, the New York hedge fund with a 28% stake in Inmarsat.
Standard Chartered has made a very strong start to 2010, with income and profit sharply higher.
Fincnail Times publisher Pearson will get $2bn from selling its 61% stake in Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) which it has been looking to sell since January.
AstraZeneca said the US FDA has approved VIMOVO, the arthritis pain relief pill.
Balfour Beatty has won contracts with Network Rail worth £248m.
Oil India Limited and Indian Oil Corporation have stopped their attempt to take over Gulfsands Petroleum.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Inmarsat +2.16%
British American Tobacco +1.92%
Capita Group +1.38%
G4S +1.35%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Eurasian Natural Resources 1,087.00p -11.34%
Antofagasta 912.50p -8.66%
BHP Billiton 1,865.00p -7.92%
Xstrata 1,001.00p -7.87%
Kazakhmys 1,300.00p -7.41%
Lloyds Banking Group 61.24p -7.39%
Anglo American 2,615.00p -6.79%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group 50.75p -6.62%
FTSE 250 - Risers
St. Modwen Properties 182.10p +5.08%
Aberdeen Asset Management 143.40p +3.91%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Talvivaara Mining Company 413.20p -9.51%
Ferrexpo 319.80p -9.15%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. 401.40p -7.81%
Cookson Group 525.50p -7.07%
Senior 108.90p -6.12%
Game Group 89.50p -5.89%
Petropavlovsk 1,108.00p -5.70%
US Market
Stocks are sharply down but off their lows at -235 on the DOW.
Weakness is due to - oil spills/volcanoes/Greece debt/car bombs/profit taking/all of the above (delete as appropriate)
Airline stocks are very weak with the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 5.6%. Housing, semiconductor, and networking stocks are also sharply down.
Some Broker Stock Picks
WPP, Standard Chartered
Panmure Gordon raises target for advertiser WPP Group although it rated Q1 showing as “reasonable”. Target increased from 600p to 800p.
Nomura Securities also likes WPP. althogh target remains unchanged at 750p.
Standard Chartered is liked by Charles Stanley - a view reinforced by an upbeat trading statement. “This was another positive trading update from Standard Chartered who, despite margin pressure, has enjoyed a strong start to the year with a record quarter in terms of both profit and income,” said Charles Stanley analyst Nic Clarke, adding that the bad debt position also seems to have improved in the first quarter of 2010.
“The performance of the Wholesale Bank remains strong but, as in the Q1 2010 [first quarter 2010], we would like to see an improved share of group profits from Consumer Banking in 2010 as it represents better quality earnings,” Clarke said.
The broker has retained its “accumulate” recommendation.
