News

Footsie has given up some of its early gains to sit back below 4,000 points but remains firmly in the blue.

Insurers are recovering on comments from the Pru and Legal and General that they do not need any extra funding. Old Mutual is the best performer this morning, even after JP Morgan lowered its target price on the insurer to 90p from 130p.

Oil stocks are rising despite the fall in the crude price to under $70 yesterday. OPEC's decison to pull forward a meeting on the falling price points to an early output cut say analysts. Cairn and Tullow are going well, as is Shell.

Retailers such as Home Retail, the owner of the Argos catalogue chain, and department store Debenhams are on the back foot.

Shares in electrical retailer Kesa Electricals moved higher after the company was moved to Goldman Sachs' 'conviction buy' list, but then fell into the red.

JP Morgan has cut its target price on the Holiday Inn chain owner Intercontinental Hotels to 900p from 1,000p in expectation that the recent plunge in financial markets will feed through to wider business and consumer sentiment.

The broker said it was upgrading its recommendation on the Comet owner in light of recent share price declines.

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl said despite the tough economic conditions, particularly in the UK and eurozone, revenue in the third quarter rose 15%.

Packaging supplier DS Smith is trading broadly in line with expectations, with lower demand and rising raw material costs inhibiting profitability as expected. Market demand in the second quarter of its financial year has been weaker and more volatile than in the first, the company said.

Car dealer Inchcape said it expects underlying results for 2008 to be below consensus and 2009 to be "significantly" below expectations. The group expects trading conditions to remain difficult through to the end of 2009. Group sales for the nine months were up 6.7% in sterling terms and in line with the same period last year in constant currency. Like for like group sales were down 1%.

Bingo hall to casino owner Rank saw revenues fall further over the past nine months though sales have been much better in recent weeks despite the tough economic background. "On a like-for-like basis, group revenue declined by 8% for the 41-week period to 12 October 2008. During the last six weeks, the group has delivered a much stronger relative performance, with like-for-like revenue up by 5%," it said.

Advertising giant WPP Group is to buy a 33% stake in South African field marketing agency Smollan Holdings.

UK Coal said overall results for the year will be "significantly" below previous expectations due to changes in the production outlook for the year, coupled with the lower market price for coal.