Markets continue to rally

With Janet Yellen’s confirmation hearing taking place on Capitol Hill the markets continue to rally after her statements regarding QE. Stating there is no set time at which tapering will occur, her belief that the US economy is performing far below where it should be, has led to bulls pushing the markets up. Yellen went on to state that until the economy shows more substantial signs of recovery she won’t risk the fragile recovery so far by tapering. The vigorous defence of QE by Janet Yellen should see equities finish strongly especially in the US as investors who may have been cautious about getting into equities just before tapering occurred, get the encouragement they need. 

President Obama is scheduled to speak this evening concerning plans to potentially amend his health-care law. This comes after hundreds of thousands of Americans have had their health care policies cancelled. Expect volatility and a lot of partisan policies being pushed with Obamacare being one of the major sore points with the Republicans and a major contributor to the US government shutdown.

Risers:

Sainsburys

Shares in Sainsbury’s led the FTSE 100 gainers this morning after receiving a number of rating upgrades. BNP Paribas raised the stock to Neutral from Underperform, HSBC to Neutral from Underweight and Citigroup raised the stock to buy from Neutral. The ratings come after UKs second largest supermarket reported a 7% profit rise yesterday.

 

Prudential

Prudential PLC Thursday reported a 12% rise in new business profit for the first nine months of the year, led by strong gains in its Asian division. The U.K.'s biggest insurer by market value said new business profit rose to £1.95 billion across the group in the nine months to Sept. 30, up from £1.74 billion in the same period a year earlier. New business profit from Asia rose 20%, compared with 11% growth in the U.S. and a 10% decline in the U.K. The company attributed the decline in the U.K. to lower sales of annuities.

 

Ophir Energy

Ophir Energy PLC has sold a share of a giant natural-gas discovery off the coast of Tanzania to Singapore state-owned firm Pavilion Energy for $1.3 billion, Ophir said today. The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions by energy-hungry Asian nations in East Africa. Giant gas discoveries in Tanzania and neighbouring Mozambique have sparked intense interest from Chinese, Indian and Thai state-run companies, eager to secure long-term natural-gas supplies for their fast-growing economies.

 

Taylor Wimpey

U.K. house builder Taylor Wimpey PLC said Thursday it has already met its target for completed sales for the year and has sold over 30% of its target for 2014 in advance, adding that it expects an improvement of 200 to 300 basis points in operating margin in 2014. In an interim statement issued today, they stated they are confident of meeting full year expectations after reporting continued strong trading as the sector continues to benefit from government help.

 

Ted Baker

Designer clothing brand Ted Baker have reported third quarter revenue jumped as strong sales at home and abroad as store expansion boosted its performance. Retail sales rose 19.8 percent to £58.1 million on 11.4 percent more space. The group overall has seen a good reaction across all of its markets to its Autumn/Winter collections.

Fallers:

Centrica

Centrica PLC expects to deliver 2013 adjusted earnings per share at similar levels to 2012 and said Thursday that market conditions remain challenging, particularly in business energy supply in both the U.K and U.S. Shares traded down nearly 4 percent on the open after reacting to the news as it struggles to make money in their gas-fired power stations,.

 

Rexam

Rexam PLC today announced earnings to date are in line with expectations and it expects an improved full year performance on last year, without giving any further information. The global consumer packaging company which makes beverage cans and rigid plastic packaging for healthcare applications, added that its ROCE [Return on Capital Employed], target remains at 15%. ROCE measures a company's profitability and the efficiency with which its capital is employed.

 

Serco Group

Troubled outsourcing firm Serco Group PLC has warned that adjusted operating profit for 2013 will be below market expectations due to a number of issues. The firm added that October's U.S. Federal Government shutdown, as well as the general on-going effect of sequestration, will impact on its 2014 outlook.

 

Perform Group

Digital sports media firm, Perform Group said Thursday that year-on-year revenue growth for the third quarter was up 31% to £51.8 million. However, despite the revenue growth, the stock has dropped to the bottom of the FTSE 250. The company said its advertising and Sponsorship is on track to deliver strong growth over the full-year.

 

Devro

Devro PLC, the manufacturer of collagen products for the food industry, said Thursday that it now expects 2013 results to be at the lower end of market expectations, and added that devaluation of the Japanese yen will adversely impact 2014 profits.