Barclays Share News (BARC)

Markets opened broadly flat on Wednesday as traders showed caution ahead of a barrage of economic reports, including the minutes of the latest Bank of England policy meeting. As well as the minutes, investors will look out for gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the Eurozone, unemployment data from the UK and the producer price index in the US.Growth figures from Germany and France were already released this morning and both nations grew faster than expected in the second quarter, with GDP expanding by 0.7% and 0.5% during the period, respectively. This bodes well for a decent reading of Eurozone GDP due out at 10:00."The Eurozone GDP figure is expected to show the region exiting a recession, posting growth of 0.1% on the quarter. but after today's German and French readings, some in the market are reconsidering their forecasts in the event of a stronger turnout," said Market Strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital.Markets will also be reacting to comments from Dennis Lockhart, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, who sparked gains on Wall Street last night after downplaying fears of a premature withdrawal of stimulus in the States.Lockhart, a non-voting member of the Fed, said that the economy's "uneven performance" makes it hard to determine whether the central bank should begin to taper quantitative easing at its next meeting in September."As I see it, a decision to proceed - whether it is in September, October, or December - ought to be thought of as a cautious first step," he said. FTSE 100: Miners provide a drag early onAfter a strong performance over the last week, mining stocks were among the heaviest fallers this morning as metals prices edged lower.ENRC fell as it reported a decline in revenue after trading was hit by poor pricing environment, higher finance costs, increased effective tax rate and impairments at Boss Mining. Sector peers Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Antofagasta and Vedanta were also lower this morning. Even Glencore Xstrata was lower despite reporting a 20% increase in copper production in the first half to 673,400 ounces.  Barclays gained despite confirming reports Financial Director Chris Lucas will step down this week for health reasons. Lucas was due to depart the company on February 28th 2014 but said he had to bring the date forward.Pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline was a high riser today after JPMorgan Cazenove raised its recommendation on the shares to 'neutral'. The broker said that the upside from upcoming catalysts balances out earnings risk.Comments from broker Nomura were also helping the share price of IAG early on after it raised its target price saying that the company shows the "best restructuring momentum" in the European airline sector.Oil major Shell was trading lower after going ex-dividend, though downside was limited after Barclays Capital upgraded its rating on the stock to 'overweight' saying that it remains "our preferred 'MegaCap' stock". Beverage groups Diageo and SABMiller were also down after going ex-dividend today.FTSE 100 - RisersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 327.60p +2.18%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,701.00p +1.25%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 800.00p +1.20%Schroders (SDR) 2,452.00p +1.07%ARM Holdings (ARM) 901.00p +1.07%TUI Travel (TT.) 383.80p +1.00%William Hill (WMH) 444.40p +0.98%Serco Group (SRP) 617.00p +0.82%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,635.00p +0.80%Compass Group (CPG) 882.50p +0.80%FTSE 100 - FallersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,173.50p -2.74%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 231.30p -2.20%Anglo American (AAL) 1,539.50p -2.10%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,255.50p -1.69%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 302.95p -1.46%Antofagasta (ANTO) 967.00p -1.23%Pearson (PSON) 1,334.00p -0.97%Diageo (DGE) 2,085.50p -0.83%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,243.00p -0.80%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,975.50p -0.73%FTSE 250 - RisersRentokil Initial (RTO) 102.40p +5.51%Laird (LRD) 216.70p +2.02%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 545.50p +1.77%Henderson Group (HGG) 176.00p +1.68%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 333.00p +1.15%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,810.00p +1.12%Michael Page International (MPI) 454.90p +1.04%Interserve (IRV) 540.50p +1.03%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 111.20p +1.00%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 267.50p +0.98%FTSE 250 - FallersCountrywide (CWD) 570.50p -4.44%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 188.60p -4.26%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 37.10p -4.26%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 293.50p -4.15%Bumi (BUMI) 216.30p -3.87%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,044.00p -3.04%Evraz (EVR) 115.10p -2.79%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 161.40p -2.77%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 226.00p -2.71%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 30.71p -2.60%BC