FTSE100 Recovers Led By Tesco
The FTSE100 turned higher in midday trade, with strong performances from the likes of supermarket giant Tesco and Thomas Cook outstripping weakness in banks and miners, and with Wall Street seeming set to rally later this afternoon.
At 1pm GMT, the FTSE100, having briefly dipped under 4,000 in early deals, was up 29.26 points at 4,094.75.
Tesco was a major blue chip gainer, up 27.7p at 315.7p after the UK's biggest retailer hit its forecasts with a 2% rise in Q3 underlying UK sales and said its new discount range is helping to boost sales volumes and customer numbers. The news from Tesco surprised many analysts who had predicted flat to lower sales.
The news helped promote Morrisons, up 7p at 244.75p, but Sainsbury fell 8475p at 274.5p.
Holiday operator Thomas Cook gained 7.9p at 170.1p after revealing a strong profit performance and giving an upbeat assessment on current trading.
FTSE100 Opens Lower
BHP Billiton's decision to drop its bid for Rio Tinto has sent the Footise tumbling this morning with miners giving back big chunks of yesterday's supercharged gains for the sector.
BHP Billiton said a bid for Rio is no longer in the best interests of shareholders, although the company remains convinced of the industrial logic of a merger between the BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, the continued deterioration of global economic conditions has prompted a rethink on whether now is the right time to execute a huge acquisition.
Its shares are higher, up 7.65%, but Rio is down over 37% and other miners are down in sympathy.
Just after 9am GMT the FTSE100 was down 71.37, or 1.72%, at 4081.58. The French CAC40 was also lower, down 1.65% and Germany's DAX down 1.88%.
European Stocks Higher
Shares in Europe are higher Monday morning as investors have their first opportunity to react to the news of a new US Treasury Secretary and the US government rescue of Citigroup.
The FTSE100 is up 4.38%, the French CAC40 up 4.57% and Germany's DAX 3.64% higher.
US stocks surged late on Friday after a report President-elect Barack Obama would nominate New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary.
The US government also agreed to bailout troubled Citigroup to the tune of $20 billion as well as guaranteeing up to $306 billion of Citi's troubled assets.
EU Stocks Open Sharply lower
EU stocks have started the day sharply lower Thursday, taking their lead from Asia and the US.
The Nikkei 225 Average dropped as much as 10.4% in mid-morning Tokyo trading, before recovering slightly, as shares across the board were slammed after Wall Street stocks dived overnight.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index dropped 7.6% to 14,787.35, whilst Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index lost 6.9% to 4,004.80.
At 8.15am the U.K. FTSE 100 index was down 5.25% at 3,865.35, the German DAX 30 index down 4.9% at 4,623.57 and the French CAC-40 index down 5.0% at 3,210.91.
As is becoming the norm, banks were amongst the biggest losers. In Germany Deutsche Bank down 8.3%, whilst in France Credit Suisse sank 6.4 percent to 42.96 francs after reporting a loss of 1.3 billion francs in the three months ending Sept. 30.
FTSE Retreats As Reality Kicks In
World stock markets have lost ground following two days of dramatic rises.
Investors fear that government action to strengthen the financial system will not prevent a worldwide recession.
The UK's FTSE 100 index was down 2.7% and France's Cac 40 fell 2.1% in early trade. Hong Kong, Indian and Australian stocks all fell.
Asian countries joined the global rescue effort, agreeing to set up a multi-billion dollar fund to buy banks' bad debt and support banks.
The FTSE 100 index of the UK's top shares was down 122 points at 4,271.55. France's Cac 40 lost 76.77 points to 3,551.75 points.
Australian stocks ended 0.8% lower and Indian shares were down 4.3%, falling below 11,000 points shortly after noon in Mumbai.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down almost 3%.
However, Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended the day up 1.1% at 9,547.47 points despite falling in earlier trade. On Tuesday, it recorded its biggest ever gain.
"The rebound is over and the risk of recession as high as ever," said Patrick Shum, strategist with Karl Thomson Securities in Hong Kong.
"Governments across the world are cutting welfare spending and issuing more debt to help the financial system. But these measures will create a bigger problem of an economic slowdown."
FTSE100 Up 6 Pct
Leading shares were sharply higher by midday with the FTSE 100 clocking up gains of almost 6% in the wake of the momentous day's trading Stateside.
Having seen the Dow Jones Industrial Average climb by a record amount yesterday, UK blue chips were up 252.2 points at 4,509.8 by noon, while the FTSE 250 was also storming higher, up 4.3% at 7,328.92.
Meanwhile, over in Europe the Dax rose 5.3% to 5,330.67, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 5.5% to 989 points.
Shares shrugged off soaring inflation, which has climbed to 5.2% according to the latest reading, as well as the lowest housing transaction figures for 30 years, to make gains as the global banking rescue plans continued to boost sentiment.
Investors appeared particularly optimistic about the US, which is to announce details of its bailout plan today, while rising oil - which jumped almost $3 a barrel for Brent crude futures to $80.4 - also helped energy companies.
One big riser was Barclays, the top performing bank, which was up 12.5% as it rebounded from recent sharp falls having revealed it will not need to borrow capital from the government to secure its capital ratios.
There were few fallers, among them Lloyds TSB and HBOS, down 4.9% and 2.8% respectively.
Asian Stocks Surge Following Wall St
Financial markets in Asia have risen sharply overnight Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei index gaining a record 14%. The gains came after Wall Street shares rocketed 11% on Monday as investors welcomed fresh moves to deal with the worldwide financial crisis.
Investors were encouraged by news the US government wanted to put in place its $700bn (£400m) bank bail-out quickly.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has also announced a A$10.4bn ($7.3bn) economic stimulus package. It will allow for one-off payments to the country's low-wage earners and pensioners and follows earlier announcements of guarantees of bank deposits for three years.
According to Mr Rudd, the strategy "will strengthen the national economy and support Australian households".
Australia's main share index ended the day up 3.7%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average soared 1,171.14 points, or 14.15% at 9,447.57 - its biggest ever percentage gain. The Japanese stock exchange was closed on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 715.67 points, or 4.4%, at 17,027.83 by the mid-session break. South Korea's index finished the day 6.14% higher.
In the US, President George W Bush is due to make a statement shortly before markets open there later on Tuesday.
Stocks Rally In Early Trade
Most Far Eastern markets have reacted positively to efforts by world leaders to end the recent financial turmoil.
Shares in Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and India were up in morning trading but the main markets in Shanghai and Taiwan lost ground.
Major central banks also made extra funds available and said they would take "whatever measures necessary".
World governments had been racing to throw financial institutions a lifeline before the major markets re-opened.
Japan's stock market is closed for a public holiday.
At the weekend, finance ministers from the main industrial nations - the G7 - approved a five-point plan to unfreeze credit markets, and a number of countries announced individual rescue packages.
Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said his government would guarantee all bank deposits, however large, for the next three years.
Correspondents say that type of move raised confidence as markets opened, and Australia's central bank on Monday pumped $2bn into the banking system to facilitate improve lending between banks.
Australia's benchmark index ended 5.6% higher and South Korea's main Kospi index finished up 3.8%.
At 8.30am BST the FTSE100 was 5% higher at 4137.22 points, with Barclays one of the biggest gainers after it announced plans to raise £6.5bn without government help. HBOS and RBS were amongst the main losers.
The British government has said it is to inject up to £37bn of new capital into Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to raise £20bn, with chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin quitting the firm. A further £17bn of taxpayer cash will be injected into HBOS and Lloyds TSB. The plans mean taxpayers will own about 60% of RBS and 40% of the merged Lloyds TSB and HBOS.
Whats AIG, XL Leisure, Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley Got In Common?
Apart from an unwanted association with the term financial crisis?
The answer is that all have sponsorship agreements with English football clubs, though in the case of West Ham United the name of XL is no longer featuring on the club shirts.
I am not saying there is anything significant in the connection, but were I Wigan Athletic FC I would be slightly perturbed that its sponsor, JJB Sports, had to refute claims last Friday that it had breached a bank covenant on a £15m banking facility with Bank of Scotland.
News Monday that credit insurer Coface has refused to cover the company's suppliers against the risk of the sports retailer being unable to pay them sent shares in JJB down by 25% yesterday.
This comes a week after JJB reported a £9.7m six-month loss, with its auditors casting "significant doubt" on its ability to continue as a going concern.
EU Stocks Tumble On Financial Fears
Asian and European stocks fell Monday as crude oil fell below $90 for the first time since February, on growing fears that the financial crisis is spreading to the world economy.
European markets slid at the opening, a day after governments in the region were left scrambling to prevent the collapse of two lenders, Hypo Real Estate in Germany, and the Belgian operations of Fortis. The German government also said Sunday that it would guarantee all private bank deposits as it sought to avert the spread of the financial malaise.
In morning trade, the FTSE 100 index was down 5.5%, or 276.9 points, at 4,703.35. Banks led the fallers, with HBOS down 14.9%, Royal Bank of Scotland falling 13.3% and Lloyds TSB down 6.8%.
London Stocks Plunge On Lehman News
News that US investment Lehman Bros are to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy sent shock waves around global stock markets Monday, with the FTSE100 down 4221 points, or 4.09%, to 5195.30 at 11.30am London time.
Banks and builders led the way with HBOS, Barclays, Taylor Wimpey, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barratt Developments and the Bradford & Bingley amongst the worst affected. HBOS was down over 100 points, or 36%, to 180.10, it was more than 730 pence at the start of the year.
Meanwhile, troubled US insurer American International Group has asked the Fed for a financial lifeline, according to news reports. In addition Merrill Lynch was sold "on the cheap" to Bank of America as the world's largest retail brokerage company sought refuge from fears it could be the next victim.
Corn price warning drives Tate & Lyle to four-year low
(Daily Telegraph) -- Tate & Lyle, the struggling sugar and sweeteners group, slumped to a four-year low Wednesday after Citigroup warned about the impact of soaring corn prices.
Tate & Lyle's corn starch is used to sweeten a wide variety of products from cereals to fizzy drinks but Citi believes it will struggle to pass on higher costs over the next couple of years. Corn prices have jumped by 25pc in the last six weeks alone because of the recent floods in the US and Citi analyst Eamonn Ferry predicts Tate & Lyle's corn costs are set to double by 2010. Tate & Lyle shares fell 22¼ to 402¼p.
