>>> What to look at today - 9th of October 2014

US Market closed higher, moved happened after FOMC minutes, mkt started on weak note with Crude but the minutes acknowledged that growth concerns overseas could have an impact on the U.S. through a strengthening dollar, which would lead to a decline in inflation expectations. This was viewed as an indication that the Fed would not rush to raise the fed funds rate, but instead maintain its accommodative policy stance. Accordingly, the prospects of continued easy-money policy resulted in a broad-based rally with high-beta groups leading the way. the telecom services sector (+0.1%) edged into the green just before the close, while consumer staples (+1.4%), health care (+2.5%), and utilities (+2.2%) posted stronger gains. volume were above average @ 900mil shares...VIX @15,09 -12,44%...After Hours : RT +19.3%, EXAR +13.7%, DRWI +5.4%, AA +2.2%, KFX-20.6%, ARCW -17.0%, GPS -7.5% following earnings/guidance...Alcoa earnings marked the unofficial start of the Q3 reporting period with a positive note...In China, the PBoC announced a drain of CNY20B in 14-day repos for the day but a net injection of CNY26B for the week - the largest in 6 weeks. Vice Fin Min Zhu expressed concern over the "quality of economic growth", noting it was less important to meet a hard GDP target. A report from China State Council indicated it would regulate local govt more strictly against fiscal risks...In Japan, BOJ Gov Kuroda maintained the central bank will do additional monetary easing if economy shows significant signs of deviating from path to 2%...Nikkei -0.43% Habg Seng +1.02% Shanghai +0.02%

Eur$ 1.2741 S&P +0.04% EuroStoxx +1.10% FTSE +0.87% DAX +0.83% SMI +1.11%

Macro
- Europe Has ‘Big Problem’ of Slow Growth, U.S. Aide Atkinson Says {NSN ND56L36K50Y4 <go>}
- Most of German Weakness Caused by Russia Sanctions, Weber Says
- Italy Govt Wins Confidence Vote on Plan to Change Labor Market

Keep an eye on :
- AIR FP : Airbus to Merge Its Aerolia and Sogerma Units, Echos Says
- BNP FP : BNP May Integrate Securities Services, Investment Bank: Echos
- BSLN SW : To announce further subgroup and health economic analyses of isavuconazole phase 3 studies will be presented at IDWeek conference
- BMW GY : BMW Hires Ferrari’s Former Chief Engineer: Reuters
- CGG FP : CGG 3Q Vessel Production Rate 92% vs 94, Availability 92% vs 89%
- CO FP : Casino in Purchasing Pact With Intermarche, Le Figaro Says
- DL NA : Delta Lloyd Ends Sale Process of Its Belgian Banking Business
- EDF FP : French Ex Energy Min Batho Worked on Plan to Renationalize EDF
- EXACT NA : Exact Agrees to Takeover by Apax-Advised Funds at EU32/Share
- GLEN LN : in HK 333.10
- GXI GY : Gerresheimer Sees 21% Adjusted Ebitda Margin 2016-2018
- ML FP : Michelin CEO Says May Buy Budget Tire Brand in Asia: Reuters
- MMT FP : M6 Renews Movie Accord With Walt Disney, Le Figaro Says
- RIO LN : Rio: Continues to Witness High Demand for Its Iron Ore Products
- SZU GY : Suedzucker 2Q Oper. Profit Drops 73%; Confirms FY Forecast
- TIT IM : Mediobanca Won’t Re-Enter Telecom Italia Shareholding: Sole

>>> Brokers Upgrade & Downgrades - 9th of October 2014

>>> Up
*ALPHA BANK RAISED TO BUY VS NEUTRAL AT CITI
*ALPHA BANK, NBG RAISED TO BUY VS NEUTRAL AT BOFAML
*ANTOFAGASTA RAISED TO HOLD VS REDUCE AT NUMIS
*BMW RAISED TO OVERWEIGHT VS NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN
*DUNELM GROUP RAISED TO OVERWEIGHT VS NEUTRAL AT JPMORGAN
*DS SMITH RAISED TO BUY AT VERTICAL RESEARCH
*EDENRED RAISED TO HOLD VS SELL AT DEUTSCHE BANK
*FIRST QUANTUM MINERALS RAISED TO BUY VS HOLD AT NUMIS
*OUTOTEC RAISED TO HOLD AT NORDEA
*PETRA DIAMONDS RAISED TO BUY VS ADD AT NUMIS
*PETROPAVLOVSK RAISED TO REDUCE VS SELL AT NUMIS
*RANDGOLD RESOURCES RAISED TO BUY VS ADD AT NUMIS
*RED ELECTRICA RAISED TO NEUTRAL AT HSBC
*WAERTSILAE RAISED TO NEUTRAL VS SELL AT GOLDMAN

>>> Down
*CEZ CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN
*GERRESHEIMER CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN
*K+S CUT TO SELL VS NEUTRAL AT CITI
*MAN SE CUT TO UNDERPERFORM AT BOFAML
*RENAULT CUT TO NEUTRAL VS OVERWEIGHT AT JPMORGAN
*VODAFONE CUT TO REDUCE VS NEUTRAL AT NOMURA

>>> PT Changes


>>> Initiation
*BAVARIAN NORDIC RATED NEW BUY AT CITI
*CORONATION RATED NEW EQUALWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS
*EUROBANK RATED NEW NEUTRAL AT CITI
*GREEN DRAGON GAS RATED NEW BUY AT CANTOR, PT 952P
*INNATE PHARMA RATED NEW BUY AT CITI
*INVESTEC LTD RATED NEW OVERWEIGHT AT BARCLAYS

>>> Call
>> Stock
*ANADOLU EFES REMOVED FROM UBS LEAST PREFERRED LIST
*BIDVEST ADDED TO UBS MOST PREFERRED LIST
*EMS-CHEMIE, WACKER CHEMIE REMOVED FROM UBS MOST PREFERRED LIST
*GEBERIT ADDED TO GOLDMAN CONVICTION BUY LIST; STAYS BUY
*IMPERIAL ADDED TO UBS LEAST PREFERRED LIST
*SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC REMOVED FROM GOLDMAN CONVICTION BUY LIST
*SIEMENS ADDED TO GOLDMAN CONVICTION BUY LIST; STAYS BUY
*SIKA ADDED TO UBS MOST PREFERRED LIST

(BFW) French Ex Energy Min Batho Worked on Plan to Renationalize EDF

BN 10/09 05:06 *FRENCH EX ENERGY MIN BATHO WORKED ON PLAN TO RENATIONALIZE EDF
BN 10/09 05:06 *FRENCH EX ENERGY MINISTER BATHO COMMENTS IN BOOK
French Ex Energy Min Batho Worked on Plan to Renationalize EDF
2014-10-09 05:14:51.325 GMT


By Tara Patel
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Delphine Batho, who was fired as
environment and energy minister in July 2013, said she worked on
a plan to renationalize the country’s nuclear operator EDF.
* Batho comments in her book “Insoumise” or “The Intractable”
to go on sale Oct. 15
* The idea of retaking control of EDF was quashed by President
Francois Hollande and former Prime Minister Jean-Marc
Ayrault, Batho writes
* A spokeswoman for EDF declined to comment.

Link to Company News:{EDF FP <Equity> CN <GO>}

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First Word scrolling panel: {FIRST<GO>}
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To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Whitehouse at +33-1-5365-5059 or
dwhitehouse1@bloomberg.net

>>> Gartner says worldwide PC shipments in Q3 declined 0.5%

Gartner says worldwide PC shipments in Q3 declined 0.5%

* Worldwide PC shipments reached 79.4 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 0.5 percent decline from the third quarter of last year, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. * "Growth in the mature markets was offset by a decline in shipments in emerging markets, similar to what was seen in the second quarter of 2014," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. "Positive results in Western Europe and North America can be a sign of gradual recovery for the PC industry. * Lenovo extended its position as the worldwide leader in PC shipments, as it accounted for 19.8 percent of the market in the third quarter of 2014 * In the U.S. market, PC shipments totaled 16.6 million units in the third quarter of 2014, a 4.2 percent increase from the same period last year. This was the third quarter in a row with positive shipment growth.

>>> US After Hours

After Hours Summary: RT +19.3%, EXAR +13.7%, DRWI +5.4%, AA +2.2%, KFX -20.6%, ARCW -17.0%, GPS -7.5% following earnings/guidance

After Hours Gainers: Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings: RT +19.3%, EXAR +13.7%, DRWI +5.4%, AA +2.2%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: ARWR +3.7% (higher following Deutsche Bank analyst appearance on CNBC defending the company, said today's sell off was over done), UAL +2.0% (reported September 2014 consolidated traffic decreased 0.2%, consolidated capacity decreased 0.4%), CCJ +0.4% (announced that the McClean Lake mill has started producing uranium concentrate from ore mined at the Cigar Lake operation in northern Saskatchewan)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings: KFX -20.6%, ARCW -17.0%, EOPN -8.9%, GPS -7.5%, HUB.B -1.0%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: AMD -6.7% (appointed Dr. Lisa Su as President & CEO), ONTX -3.1% (co filed for a $100 mln mixed securities shelf offering; co also filed for a 228,647 share common stock offering by selling shareholders), 

>>> Asian Update

Asian Market Update: Volatile Australia Jobs show biggest monthly drop since 2011; PBoC steps up liquidity injection

***Economic Data*** - (AU) AUSTRALIA SEPT EMPLOYMENT CHANGE: -29.7K (largest decline since Apr 2011) V -30.0KE; UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 6.1% (highest since July 2003) V 6.2%E; PARTICIPATION RATE 64.5% (lowest since Mar 2006) V 65.0%E - (JP) JAPAN AUG MACHINE ORDERS M/M: 4.7% (3rd month of increase) V 0.5%E; Y/Y: -3.3% V -4.9%E; Govt raises machine orders assessment - (NZ) NEW ZEALAND SEPT RETAIL CARD SPENDING M/M: -0.1% (2nd decline in 3 months) V +0.4%E; TOTAL CARD SPENDING M/M: -0.2% V +0.3% PRIOR - (UK) UK SEPT RICS HOUSE PRICE BALANCE: 30% (15-month low) V 36%E

***Index Snapshot (as of 02:30 GMT)*** - Nikkei225 +0.4%, S&P/ASX +1.4%, Kospi closed, Shanghai Composite +0.3%, Hang Seng +1.2%, Dec S&P500 +0.1% at 1,963

***Commodities/Fixed Income*** - Dec gold +1.5% at $1,224/oz, Nov crude oil +0.5% at $87.72/brl, Dec copper flat at $3.02/lb - GLD: SPDR Gold Trust ETF daily holdings fall 4.6 tonnes to 762.9 tonnes; Lowest level since Dec 2008 - (CN) PBoC to drain CNY20B in 14-day repos (20th consecutive drain); Injects net CNY26B (largest injection in 6 weeks) this week v drained CNY5B in prior week; Offer yield at 3.50%, unchanged from prior. - (JP) BOJ offers to buy ¥400B in 5-10yr JGB, ¥100B in 10-25yr JGB and ¥30B in JGB with maturity over 25-yr as well as ¥400B in CP - (JP) Japan investors sold net ¥179.0B in foreign bonds v bought ¥186.9B in prior week; Foreign investors bought net ¥186.5B in Japan stocks v sold ¥41.9B in prior week - USD/CNY: (CN) PBoC sets yuan mid point at 6.1461 v 6.1493 prior setting (strongest Yuan setting since Sep 18th)

***Market Focal Points/Key Themes/FX*** - US indices staged their biggest single-day rally of the year after Fed Policy Meeting minutes that were far less hawkish than anticipated. Specifically, the Fed expressed concern over the strength of the US dollar, shortfall in economic growth and eurozone inflation, as well as slowdown in China/Japan and geopolitical risk in Ukraine/Middle East. Investors took that as a sign that policymakers will keep rates on hold far longer in 2015 than anticipated, pushing expectations for the first rate hike deeper into H2 of 2015. Along with the US equity rally, short-end treasury yields fell, USD weakened, and metals spiked.

- Alcoa earnings marked the unofficial start of the Q3 reporting period with a bang. EPS came in at $0.31 v $0.22e on Rev of $6.24B v $5.78Be. Alcoa also affirmed FY14 global aluminum demand growth +7% and increased its 2014 estimate of production growth for the North America commercial transportation market to a range of 16-20% from a previous range of 10-14%. Company also noted an impressive order backlog, particularly in the Aerospace segment.

- Australia Sept employment saw its biggest monthly drop since early 2011, as unemployment rate rose to 11-year high of 6.1% and participation rate fell to an 8-year low. The increasingly volatile data series saw significant revisions of prior months' figures, as Australia Stats remained mum on the changes. Losses in AUD/USD were limited to about 20pips on the release, as the pair fell below $0.88 before rising above $0.8880 as part of a broader USD-weakness trend.

- Also of note in Australia, NAB guided FY14 cash earnings at A$5.1-5.2B v A$5.7Be and announced an A$800M capital raise due to impairment charges in the Wealth and Australian Banking businesses and other smaller assets in the UK and NZ region. Bank of Qnsld reported FY14 net profit up 40% and net interest margins up 13bps, sending BOQ shares up over 3%.

- In China, the PBoC announced a drain of CNY20B in 14-day repos for the day but a net injection of CNY26B for the week - the largest in 6 weeks. Vice Fin Min Zhu expressed concern over the "quality of economic growth", noting it was less important to meet a hard GDP target. A report from China State Council indicated it would regulate local govt more strictly against fiscal risks.

- In Japan, BOJ Gov Kuroda maintained the central bank will do additional monetary easing if economy shows significant signs of deviating from path to 2% inflation. USD/JPY hit session highs on those comments at 108.30 before retreating to 107.90 late in the morning session.

***Equities*** US markets: - AA: Reports Q3 $0.31 v $0.22e, R$6.24B v $5.78Be; +2.4% afterhours - UAL: Reports Sept load factor 82.9% v 82.7% y/y; provides Q3 metrics; +2.0% afterhours - HAL: Awarded mature field contracts from Petroamazonas; Terms not disclosed; -0.1% afterhours - CTRX: To acquire Salveo Specialty Pharmacy for $260M in cash; -0.4% afterhours - GPS: Reports Sept SSS flat v 0.8%e; -8.1% afterhours

Notable movers by sector: - Financials: National Australia Bank NAB.AU +1.7% (FY14 guidance); Bank of Queensland BOQ.AU +3.3% (FY14 result); China Vanke Co 000002.CN +0.7% (Sept result) - Customer discretionary: FamilyMart Co. 8028.JP +0.7% (H1 result); ABC-MART 2670.JP +6.9% (H1 result); Intime Department Store Group 1833.HK +5.5% (9-month SSS); SA SA International 178.HK +1.7% (Golden Week sales); Sands China 1928.HK +1.5% (Golden Week sales) - Industrials: Ningbo Port Co 601018.CN +0.6% (Prelim Sept result); Great Wall Motor 2333.HK +4.1% (Sept results); Jiangling Motors Corp 000550.CN +0.7% (Sept result) - Customer staples: China Huishan Dairy 6863.HK +4.1% (jv with FrieslandCampina) - Energy: China Longyuan Power Group 916.HK +1.1% (Sept result)

(BFW) Europe Has ‘Big Problem’ of Slow Growth, U.S. Aide Atkinson Says

Europe Has ‘Big Problem’ of Slow Growth, U.S. Aide Atkinson Says
2014-10-08 20:07:51.540 GMT


By Danielle Trubow and Rebecca Christie
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- “I’m sorry to say in Europe there is
still a big problem of slow growth,” White House Deputy
National Security Adviser for International Economics Caroline
Atkinson says.
* “There is a growing imbalance again with Europe as it has
moved into current-account surplus” because countries in
the periphery “have restricted their economies” while
nations like Germany and the Netherlands have maintained
surpluses, Atkinson says in Washington
* Surplus countries have “scope for investment,” Atkinson
says
* “We believe that it’s important to take measures in
productivity and supply and address long-term issues. The
most immediate issue is the shortfall in global demand,”
Atkinson says
* “It’s clear that we have been disappointed globally over a
number of years by a failure of quite too many
expectations,” Atkinson says


For Related News and Information:
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To contact the reporters on this story:
Danielle Trubow in Washington at +1-202-654-1261 or
dtrubow@bloomberg.net;
Rebecca Christie in Washington at +32-2-285-4307 or
rchristie4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alan Crawford at +49-30-70010-6237 or
acrawford6@bloomberg.net
Brendan Murray

>>> US CLose Dow +1,64% S&P +1,73% Nasdaq +1,90% Russell +1,94%

Closing Market Summary: FOMC Minutes Spark Broad Rally

The stock market ended the Wednesday session on an upbeat note despite enduring a shaky start. The S&P 500 spiked 1.8% with the bulk of the gain coming after the release of the FOMC minutes from the September meeting.

Equity indices began the day near their flat lines following another reminder about slowing global growth. To that point, China's HSBC Services PMI slipped to 53.5 from 54.1 (expected 53.8), but remained above 50.0, which marks the difference between expansion and contraction.

The first half of the session saw a brief dip into the red that was fueled by weakness in the energy sector. At its lowest level, the group was down near 2.0% with crude oil exerting pressure on the sector. Crude fell 1.3% to $87.67/bbl, while the sector ended with a solid gain (+1.0%) after the FOMC minutes sparked an afternoon rally that likely featured a short-covering component.

Most notably, the minutes acknowledged that growth concerns overseas could have an impact on the U.S. through a strengthening dollar, which would lead to a decline in inflation expectations. This was viewed as an indication that the Fed would not rush to raise the fed funds rate, but instead maintain its accommodative policy stance. Treasuries spiked from lows to new highs in response (10-yr yield -3 bps to 2.31%) while the Dollar Index (85.27, -0.40) slumped to a two-week low.

The dovish-sounding statement was accompanied by yet another reminder that economic data would serve as the driving force behind future policy changes. That being said, the overall tenor of the key passages suggests the Fed isn't convinced recent progress toward its objectives can be sustained.

Accordingly, the prospects of continued easy-money policy resulted in a broad-based rally with high-beta groups leading the way. Chipmakers soared with Intel (INTC 34.27, +0.80) climbing 2.4%, while the broader PHLX Semiconductor Index gained 2.3% to narrow this week's loss to 0.5%. For its part, the technology sector (+2.0%) ended the day ahead of the remaining cyclical groups. Germany-based business software developer SAP (SAP 69.21, -1.20) bucked the trend, falling 1.7% amid speculation the company will implement a hiring freeze until 2015.

Elsewhere among cyclical sectors, industrials settled in-line with the market, but that concealed the underperformance of transport stocks. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 1.0%, but despite today's advance, the bellwether complex remains down 2.7% since last Friday versus no change for the S&P 500.

On the countercyclical side, the telecom services sector (+0.1%) edged into the green just before the close, while consumer staples (+1.4%), health care (+2.5%), and utilities (+2.2%) posted stronger gains.

The staples sector received a measure of support from Costco (COST 128.73, +3.46), which reported better than expected results. As for health care, the sector received help from biotechnology with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 274.13, +7.51) surging 2.8%.

Today's session invited above-average participation with roughly 900 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

Economic data released this morning was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, which rose 3.8% to follow last week's downtick of 0.2%.

Tomorrow, weekly Initial Claims (consensus 295K) will be released at 8:30 ET, while the Wholesale Inventories report for August (consensus 0.3%) will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.
  • Nasdaq Composite +7.0% YTD 
  • S&P 500 +6.5% YTD 
  • Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.5% YTD 
  • Russell 2000 -5.8% YTD

>>> Alcoa beats by $0.09, beats on revs; reaffirms FY14 aluminum demand growth +

--> AA +1,87% in after Hours

Alcoa beats by $0.09, beats on revs; reaffirms FY14 aluminum demand growth +7%
Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.31 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.22; revenues rose 8.2% year/year to $6.24 bln vs the $5.84 bln consensus.

- Engineered Products and Solutions delivers highest after-tax operating income in history of $209 million, 18th consecutive quarter of year-over-year after-tax operating income improvement; new record adjusted EBITDA margin of 23.5%
- Global Rolled Products after-tax operating income up 30% sequentially, 45% higher year-over-year
- Upstream business improves performance for 12th consecutive quarter; highest Primary Metals segment adjusted EBITDA per metric ton since second quarter 2008.

>>> Global aluminum demand growth forecast of 7% in 2014 reaffirmed.
- Alcoa continues to project 2014 global aerospace sales growth of 8 to 9 percent driven by robust demand for both large commercial aircraft and regional jets.
The Company tightened its projection for 2014 global automotive production growth from a previous range of 1 to 4% in the second quarter to 2 to 4 percent.
- Global packaging sales growth of 2 to 3% and global building and construction sales growth of 4 to 6% in 2014 remain unchanged.
- In the industrial gas turbine market, the co's projected decline of 8 to 12 percent, on lower orders for new gas turbines and spare parts, also remains unchanged for the year.
- For the second time this year, Alcoa increased its 2014 estimate of production growth for the North America commercial transportation market to a range of 16 to 20 percent from a previous range of 10 to 14% in the second quarter, and 5 to 9% in the first quarter.
- The higher estimate is based in part on a 43 percent increase in third quarter truck orders year-over-year and strong backlogs.
- Globally, Alcoa continues to expect a flat commercial transportation market of negative 1 to positive 3% in 2014 due to ongoing weakness in the European market.