Feb 07
19
Morning Call
THE DOW, S&P and NASDAQ all continue to hold at the highs, watch for a breakout from these levels. The FTSE, writes Greg Secker, 100 closed down 13 points but holding above the 6400 level. Futures – DOW is called down 5 points, FTSE is called up 10 points. Oil is trading at $59.10 a barrel and gold at $672.5
Banks
UK top banks are expected to unveil massive profits up to £38 billion from £33 billion last year. over the next ten days.
Barclays reports on Tuesday and is expected to see profits rise by a third to £7 billion.
Also reporting is HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, HBoS and Lloyds TSB.
HSBC is forecast to record profits of about £11.5 billion for the past 12 months.
Alliance & Leicester reports data on Wednesday, while Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB (Friday) and Halifax Bank of Scotland are expected to report returns of about £9.1 billion, £3.6 billion and £5.4 billion respectively.
London Stock Exchange
Chinese firms are expected to list on the London Stock Exchange in record numbers this year.
In 2006, six Chinese firms launched IPOs on the bourse, while the Alternative Investment Market took on 44.
Some $22 billion was raised through IPOs by overseas firms last year.
Reports
Confectionery giant Cadbury Schweppes delivers annual results on Tuesday.
Mining giant Anglo American posts annual results on Wednesday and is expected to report around £4.9 billion in pre-tax profit.
Defence firm, BAE Systems, publishes strong annual results on Thursday.
Rentokil Initial updates the market on Thursday.
Pharmaceutical firm Shire unveils annual figures on Friday.
