Share News: Volkswagen Aims to Overtake Toyota as Leading Car Maker

UK Shares News

US Shares News

European Shares News

Share Trading - 10 Jan 2011

UK Share Trading News

• UK Banks - The Government is to demand that Britain’s five biggest high street banks sign up to a detailed commitment to increase lending and disclose compensation levels in return for being allowed the GBP 7bn bonus round expected to sweep across the City. (Sunday Telegraph) Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister David Cameron has revealed he is against transaction taxes for the banking sector despite the furor over bonuses. (Sunday Telegraph)
  
  
• UK Retailers - The arctic weather that swept the UK in December barely dented high street sales, raising serious questions over retail chiefs’ claims that the snow was to blame for lackluster performances. Experts believe that bad performances could be more to do with deeper-rooted structural issues at some of these chains rather than the weather. (Sunday Times) Also, major retailers are expected to embark on a round of savage job cuts in the coming months to combat rising costs and the threat of commodity price increases. (Mail on Sunday)
  
  
• BP – Co. is set to face criminal charges over last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, US legal experts say, after the National Commission concluded this week that it was caused by “a failure of management”. Criminal charges could greatly increase the penalties facing co. and threaten staff with jail over the disaster. (Weekend FT More)
  
  In other news, co. has been forced to suspend 95% of production from the North Slope area due to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which was shut on January 8th due to a leak. (Sources)
  
  
• Xstrata - Co. is seen as a favourite to takeover Columbia’s Drummond for USD 8bn. (Sunday Times)
  
  
• RBS – Advent Capital has secured financing for a bid for the Co’s Priory unit. (Telegraph)
  
  
• Lloyds Banking Group – Co. has pumped an additional EUR 3.5bn into its Irish unit to meet capital standards. (Sunday Times)
  
  
• BAE Systems - Three bidders including a team led by co. are vying for a GBP 1bn contract to provide elementary aircraft training equipment and services for the MoD. The contract is part of the UK’s Military Flying Training System (MFTS). (Sunday Express)
  
  
• Marks and Spencer – Co. could have lost up to about GBP 70m of sales due to the snow that swept the UK in the run-up to Christmas, analysts at Deutsche Bank have estimated. (Weekend FT)
  
  
• WM Morrison - Xmas like-for-like sales ex-fuel/VAT up 1.0%. (RTRS poll mean; up 0.6%), expectations for the FY remain unchanged. (RTRS)
  
  
• Tullow Oil – Co. were successful Cormmon-1 exploration well offshore Mauritania, the well encountered was generally thin but good quality, gas-bearing, and sands. (RTRS)
  
  
• Capital Shopping Centres – Simon Property Group could be forced to walk away from its GBP 2.9bn bid to take over co. this week in the face of the co.’s increasingly strident defense of its position. Simon has until Wednesday to make a firm offer for the co. (Weekend FT More)
  
  
• Smith & Nephew – Co. rejected December’s GBP 7bn approach from Johnson & Johnson because it undervalued the Co. (Sky News)
  
  

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US Share Trading News

• Equity markets gave back some of the gains seen earlier in the week, and closed in negative territory, weighed upon after a weaker than expected US jobs report.
  
  Technology stocks which have been some of the strongest all week underperformed today, alongside the financial sector which was dragged lower after US Bancorp (-0.76%) and Wells Fargo (-2.02%) lost a foreclosure court case in Massachusetts.
  
  Oil & Gas stocks were the strongest in the S&P500, led higher by Marathon Oil (+2.74%) after Goldman Sachs upgraded the company’s shares to Buy from Neutral.
  
  Finally, at the closing bell DJIA closed down 0.19% at 11674.76, S&P 500 closed down -0.18% at 1271.50 and NASDAQ100 closed 0.04% at 2276.70 (RANsquawk)
  
  
• US Banks – Large US financial groups are bracing for a new battery of stress tests that will determine which institutions are now healthy enough to raise dividends and buy back shares. The Federal Reserve is expected this week to begin examining data provided by 19 groups, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, to gauge how their balance sheets would withstand a variety of new economic and financial shocks. (FT - More)
  
  
• Apple – Verizon Wireless will sell 9-12m iPhones this year, which would boost the Co’s overall sales by 5% (WSJ)
  
  
• Goldman Sachs - Co. is poised to stoke the row over bankers’ bonuses by revealing that it has paid its staff more than USD 13bn. (Sunday Times) In other news, co.’s large proprietary trading team is planning to leave the bank in order to start an independent hedge fund. (FT More)
  
  
• Boeing - Co. is poised to announce yet another lengthy delay in production of its futuristic 787 Dreamliner, which is already nearly three years late. When co. unveils results on January 26, the aviation giant will admit that the aircraft will be delayed by another 3-6 months as further technical problems continue to create havoc. (Mail on Sunday)
  
  
• Verizon Wireless – Co. plans on Tuesday to unveil a version of the Apple Inc iPhone for its service and will kick off sales of the device a few weeks later. (RTRS)
  
  
• Kraft - Co. could be liable for 'millions of Pounds' in unpaid tax following last year's GBP 11.5bn takeover of British chocolate maker Cadbury. The Indian government has launched an investigation after an Indian law firm filed a public interest petition against the US food giant, claiming it should have paid tax on the takeover because of the size of Cadbury's operations in the country. (Mail on Sunday)
  
  
• Duke Energy/Progress Energy - Duke Energy is in advanced talks to buy Progress Energy, in a deal worth more than USD 13bn that would create the largest power utility in the US. The agreed deal could be announced on Monday, although it will still need to secure approval from state regulators, who have blocked several attempted utility mergers in the past. (Weekend FT More)
  
  
• DuPont – Co. said on Sunday it will buy Danish food ingredients and enzymes firm Danisco for USD 5.8bn. (RTRS)
  
  

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European Share Trading News

• Sanofi Aventis – Co. is in talks with Genzyme to create a deal which would value Genzyme at USD 80 / share, including a contingent value right. (WSJ) Also, co. said it was in discussions with U.S. bid target Genzyme Corp over ways to value a key Genzyme drug, in a sign the two sides are moving closer to a deal. (RTRS)
  
  
• STMicroelectronics – Co.’s future COO Lamouche said the co. is leaving the financial crisis stronger than before, and stronger than most of its rivals. (La Tribune)
  
  
• EADS – Co. plans restructuring at Cassidian defence unit. (FTD)
  
  
• Air France-KLM – Co unveils December traffic figures with an increase in passenger traffic of 2.0% and a 0.9 points rise in passenger loan factor. (Sources)
  
  
• Dexia – Co. has started the sale of its Turkish Insurance division. 10 groups have already shown interest. (Les Echos)
  
  
• Deutsche Telecom – The former CEO of Telstra, Sol Trujillo is working on a potential acquisition of the Co’s T-Mobile USA unit. (WSJ)
  
  
• Bayer – Pfizer may be interested in the Co. (Rheinische Post) Commerzbank – Co. will avoid paying interest on the EUR 16bn bailout by the German government this year, according to sources. (Die Welt)
  
  
• Deutsche Boerse – Co. is interested in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. (Salzburger Nachrichten)
  
  
• Daimler - The top executive of Daimler said he is "totally aiming at topping" 2010 sales in 2011 -- though he acknowledged that repeating the 15.3 percent sales growth rate the automaker enjoyed last year was "unrealistic." In other news, Co. is ready to consider the idea of a golden share which would give the French and German governments veto powers over changes in the ownership structure of EADS. (RTRS/ La Tribune)
  
  
• Volkswagen – Co. will take a key step on Monday towards its goal of becoming the world’s biggest carmaker and overtaking Japanese rival Toyota by lifting the wraps on a midsized sedan to be built at the German carmaker’s first US assembly plant. (Weekend FT More)
  
  
• Adidas – Co. CEO Hainer has said the Co. aims to post faster sales growth than Nike, aiming for an increase of 40-50% by 2015. (Focus)
  
  
• Aixtron – US Rival Cree is considering a EUR 38 / share offer for the Co. (Finanz und Wirtschaft)
  
  
• Irish Banks – Ireland’s financial authorities will oppose any pressure for a quick sale of Irish Banks assets. (Sunday Times)
  
  
• Bank of Ireland – Co. is holding talks with some Middle East sovereign wealth funds about their possible involvement in a capital raising. (Sunday Business Post)
  
  
• Santander – Co’s Banesto unit may be worth as much as EUR 10bn if the Co decided to sell. (La Vanguardia)
  
  
• ENI – Co. is unlikely to reach a deal to sell the Co’s stake in Galp Energia to Petrobras during the weekend, as both Co’s have yet to agree on a price. (Finanza & Mercati)
  
  

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