Thursday broker round-up
21st May 2015 13:01
Barclays: JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates overweight and 285p target. StanChart: Goldman sachs reiterates neutral. St.James Place: Numis reiterates add and 1050p target. Hargreaves Lansdown: JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates neutral and raises target to 1,100p from 1,050p. UK Mail Group: RBC Capital re
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks dip as investors shrug off strong retail sales
21st May 2015 11:58
Stronger-than-expected retail sales data wasn't enough to boost London's stocks on Thursday with markets rangebound as the FTSE 100 continues to fluctuate around the 7,000 mark. UK retail sales jumped 1.2% in April, according to the Office for National Statistics, more than making up for the 0.7% de
Read moreHSBC hits hurdle over ring-fencing plan, says Sky News
20th May 2015 09:33
HSBC's plans to segregate its UK retail banking operations have hit a fresh obstacle after regulators indicated that a prospective candidate for the division's chairmanship would be inegible for the role, according to Sky News. Sky said that HSBC had held preliminary talks with the Prudential Regula
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: BHP Billiton extends losses, Land Securities surges on higher dividend
19th May 2015 13:15
UK stocks edged higher on Tuesday, despite confirmation of the UK's first deflation since the 1960s. Sector-wise, losses made by miners and telecommunications were offset by strong results from real estate, construction and insurance stocks. As of 2:40GMT, the FTSE 100 was trading 28 points higher a
Read moreBernstein downgrades HSBC to market perform from outperform
19th May 2015 12:26
Bernstein downgraded HSBC to 'market perform' from 'outperform' and cut its target price to 650p from 660p. It noted that since the beginning of the year, HSBC has struggled with its top line performance, with muted credit demand and currency headwinds year-on-year, as well as an ever-increasing UK
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Bank ringfencing, UK deflation, Ryanair, Aveva
17th May 2015 16:17
Government plans to "ring fence" bank's high street business from their more risky investment banks could be watered down in an attempt to keep the likes of HSBC in the UK, according to the Sunday Times. The Treasury and the Bank of England have begun talks with senior City bankers on potential refo
Read moreFriday broker round-up
15th May 2015 15:12
SAB Miller: Berenberg reiterates buy and 3,920 price target. IMI: Nomura reiterates reduce stance, lowers target to 1,115p from 1,175p. ITV: Barclays downgrades to equal-weight with 260p target. HSBC: Berenberg reiterates buy and lowers target to 750p from 790p. Hiscox: Canaccord Genuity reiterat
Read moreTuesday broker round-up
12th May 2015 12:59
HSBC: Macquarie downgrades to underperform and lowers target to 520p from 600p. StanChart: Macquarie downgrades to underperform and lowers target to 850p from 950p. easyJet: Panmure Gordon reiterates buy with 2,000p target, Numis stays at buy with 2,100p target. Mitchells&Butlers: JP Morgan Cazeno
Read moreMacquarie downgrades HSBC and StanChart
12th May 2015 09:03
On Tuesday analysts at Macquarie downgraded their recommendations on shares of HSBC and Standard Chartered. The Australia-based broker lowered its recommendation on the former by two notches to underperform. The broker thinks it may be the first big bank to break-up. They set a price target of 520
Read moreLondon open: Miners lead stocks higher after China rate cut
11th May 2015 09:14
UK stocks extended gains on Monday with the Footsie once again nearing record highs, as mining stocks reacted positively to another rate cut in China. After surging 2.3% on Friday in the aftermath of the Conservative's election victory, the FTSE 100 was up a further 0.37% on Monday morning at 7,073.
Read moreHSBC sets aside £8bn for small businesses
11th May 2015 08:49
Banking giant HSBC has allocated £8bn to lend to small and medium-sized businesses in Britain, the FTSE 100 group said on Sunday. The lender said its small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) loan offering will see Manchester, Birmingham and Manchester receive at least £400m each, with an additional
Read moreMarket overview: Stocks surge on election results
8th May 2015 08:56
1630: Close Stocks ended day sharply higher following the surprise win by the Conservatives. Various issues received a significant boost as traders readjusted their positions to the prospect that the current economic policy settings would be maintained and the implications that would have for those
Read moreUBS raises HSBC price target
6th May 2015 14:09
UBS raised its price target on HSBC on Wednesday to 625p from 600p as it upgraded its forecasts following the company's first-quarter results. UBS raised its diluted earnings per share estimate for this year to $0.84 from $0.78 to incorporate the beat from better trading revenues and lower impairmen
Read moreHSBC sells UK probate services business to Simplify Channel
6th May 2015 11:36
HSBC said one of its subsidiaries, HSBC Trust Company Limited (HTCU), has reached an agreement to sell its UK probate services business to Simplify Channel. In a short statement released on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 bank said as part of the transaction, which is expected to be finalised by the end of
Read moreLondon close: FTSE hits one-month low as HSBC leads late sell-off
5th May 2015 16:47
Underwhelming results from banking heavyweight HSBC offset a late rally in the mining sector on Tuesday, with UK stock markets dropping into the red by the close. The FTSE 100, which rose to a high of 7,053.18 early on, finished down 58.37 points (-0.84%) at 6,927.58. This was the index's lowest clo
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