HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

- Markets still digesting Draghi's comments- Barclays leads the risers on the Footsie after first-half beat- 'Fiscal-cliff' worries weigh on sentimentLondon's stocks swung between gains and losses on Friday morning and were trading broadly flat by lunchtime, as investors continue to ponder over comments made yesterday by the head of the European Central Bank (ECB).Equity markets rallied sharply yesterday after ECB President Mario Draghi said that the ECB would do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro...and believe me, it will be big enough". Perhaps critically, nevertheless, European leaders do indeed seem to have at least softened their stance somewhat as regards the possibility of further bond buying by the European Central Bank (ECB). Thus, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is reported to have welcomed Draghi´s pledge. However, he did add that, "the precondition (for Draghi's pledge) is that politicians also take and implement the necessary measures to overcome the financial and confidence crisis," Schaeuble said in a statement. Schaeuble also praised efforts by Spain and Italy to put their public finances in order and said fiscal programmes adopted by Ireland and Portugal were going well. Have we left anyone out? Today, the 10-year yield on a Spanish bond was down 9.3 basis points (bp) at 6.835%, while Italian equivalent fell 6.8bp to 5.988%. Nevertheless, data out this morning showed that Spanish unemployment continues to rise, with the jobless rate in the second quarter coming in at a whopping 24.63%, up from 24.4% previously and broadly in line with forecasts.In other news, despite yesterday's reports that Greece had identified €11.7bn in additional cuts for 2013 and 2014, Parliament has only approved €10bn out of the €11.5bn required according to the terms of its bailout. Leaders will meet again on Monday to try to hammer out more details, but the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that leaders "have reservations about where the €1.5bn of additional savings will come from".Meanwhile, Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the major risk to the global economy is now the fast-approaching US 'fiscal cliff', not the Eurozone debt crisis. "Risk number one...is clearly the fiscal cliff in the United States of America, where the deficit and debt to GDP ratios are actually worse than in the Eurozone," she said. FTSE 100: Repentent Barclays beats expectations A contrite Marcus Agius, Chairman of under-fire bank Barclays, apologised for the company's involvement in the LIBOR fixing scandal as he unveiled half-year profits ahead of market expectations, causing shares to jump high early on. Adjusted profit before tax in the first half of 2012 rose 13% to £4,227m from £3,725m in the first half of 2011, versus market expectations of £3,958m. ??Banking peer HSBC fell after saying that it will offload its 44% stake in card-processing joint venture Global Payments Asia-Pacific for $242m in cash. Commodities giant Glencore rose as it came closer to completing the £3.9bn takeover of Canadian agricultural grain handler Viterra after being given the all-clear by Australian authorities. Heading the other way was mining colossus Anglo American after first-half profits plunged from $6,571m to just $2,942m on the back of weaker commodity prices and input cost pressures. ??Publishing group Pearson also fell after operating profits came in a little sky of expectations as it admitted that the first half has been a little tougher than expected for some parts of the business. Goldman Sachs has today cut its price targets on Tullow Oil (to 1776p from 2020p) and Royal Dutch Shell (to 2840p from 2980p). Coincidentally, the Financial Times' Lex column the recent volatility in oil quotes and the challenge which that poses for the sector.FTSE 250: Strong top-line growth at UBMExhitbitions group and business publisher UBM was a high riser after reporting strong underlying revenue growth in the first half and revealing that it is "exploring strategic options" for its Data Services division.AG Barr, the soft drinks group, was losing its fizz as margins came under pressure, with the recent heavy rainfall in the UK only adding to the gloom.High Street bookie William Hill surged after improving profits by 13% in the first half, with online and mobile businesses driving growth.Coal and coke group New World Resources dropped despite maintaining its full-year production and sales targets. The first revealed that while production was up in the second quarter (from the first), realised prices slipped.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 162.45p +5.76%ITV (ITV) 78.40p +3.36%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,641.00p +2.56%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 719.50p +1.84%Carnival (CCL) 2,118.00p +1.68%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 328.50p +1.55%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,448.00p +1.54%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 211.00p +1.49%Kingfisher (KGF) 265.30p +1.41%Sage Group (SGE) 291.90p +1.32%FTSE 100 - FallersAnglo American (AAL) 1,884.50p -4.05%Pearson (PSON) 1,246.00p -3.71%Polymetal International (POLY) 860.50p -1.49%Schroders (SDR) 1,269.00p -1.48%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 563.50p -1.40%Unilever (ULVR) 2,225.00p -1.37%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 319.90p -1.17%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 322.10p -1.17%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,799.00p -1.13%United Utilities Group (UU.) 694.50p -1.00%FTSE 250 - RisersUBM (UBM) 640.50p +5.52%William Hill (WMH) 304.90p +4.99%Cookson Group (CKSN) 549.50p +3.10%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 135.90p +2.95%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,917.00p +2.93%Rank Group (RNK) 120.30p +2.91%Homeserve (HSV) 200.10p +2.72%Ruspetro (RPO) 141.00p +2.62%Ashtead Group (AHT) 254.70p +2.54%Halfords Group (HFD) 200.20p +2.35%FTSE 250 - FallersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 300.30p -3.66%Invensys (ISYS) 240.10p -2.40%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 660.00p -1.79%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 411.50p -1.70%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 610.50p -1.69%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 423.90p -1.58%NMC Health (NMC) 193.00p -1.53%Devro (DVO) 302.50p -1.47%RPS Group (RPS) 240.40p -1.44%Cairn Energy (CNE) 270.70p -1.42%BC