LONDON (Alliance News) - Oil giant BP's shares dropped more than 5% at the open Tuesday after revealing a big miss on underlying fourth quarter earnings, resulting in its 2015 underlying profit more than halving.
Also surprising some, conservative US Senator Ted Cruz beat billionaire Donald Trump in the Iowa Caucuses, seen as the official opening gun to the US presidential election.
Not surprising anyone, Sainsbury's has agreed a possible deal to acquire Home Retail Group at a total value of GBP1.3 billion.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,023.82
FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 16,461.92
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 695.98
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.8% at 19,446.84
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.6% at 17,750.68
DJIA: closed down 0.1% at 16,449.18
S&P 500: closed flat at 1,939.38
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GBP: firm at USD1.4394 (USD1.4370)
EUR: firm at USD1.0901 (USD1.0889)
GOLD: down at USD1,124.30 per ounce (USD1,126.39)
OIL (Brent): down at USD33.84 a barrel (USD34.73)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in GMT)
08:55 Germany Unemployment Rate
09:00 Italy Unemployment
09:30 UK PMI Construction
10:00 EU Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Producer Price Index
13:55 US Redbook index
14:45 US ISM New York index
15:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism
18:00 US Fed's George Speech
18:30 US Vehicle Sales
21:30 US API Weekly Crude Oil Stocks
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EU President Donald Tusk announced there has been enough progress in negotiations with London for him to table a proposal in response to British reform demands on Tuesday, warning that outstanding issues remain. British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking a series of changes to the country's relationship with the EU before putting its continued membership in the bloc to a referendum. "Tomorrow around noon (1100 GMT) I will table [a] proposal for a new settlement" aimed at keeping Britain in the EU, Tusk wrote on Twitter following several days of top-level diplomacy between Brussels and London.
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Hillary Clinton is locked in a nearly even race with fellow Democrat Bernie Sanders for the Iowa caucuses, where the first votes were cast in the US presidential nomination process. Among Iowa Republicans, conservative Senator Ted Cruz topped the field, with billionaire businessman Donald Trump finishing second and Senator Marco Rubio a close third. Clinton and Sanders were nearly dead even early Tuesday, with Clinton at 49.8%, 0.2 percentage point ahead of Sanders, with 99% of precincts reporting, the state Party said. Cruz won 28% of the vote to Trump's 24%, also with 99% of precincts reporting, the Iowa Republican Party said.
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The US Federal Reserve is paying close attention to the impact of huge stock market losses to start the year, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Monday. "At this point, it is difficult to judge the likely implications of this volatility. If these developments lead to a persistent tightening of financial conditions, they could signal a slowing in the global economy that could affect growth and inflation in the US," he said in New York.
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India's central bank left its key interest rates unchanged as widely expected by economists. The Reserve Bank of India left the repo rate at 6.75% and the reverse repo rate unchanged at 5.75%. The cash reserve ratio for banks was retained at 4%, as expected.
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Australia's central bank maintained its record low interest rate for the eighth straight meeting on Tuesday as widely expected by economists. The policy board of the Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate unchanged at 2.00%. Policymakers judged that there were reasonable prospects for continued growth in the economy, with inflation close to target.
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The prime ministers of France and Belgium vowed to join forces in cracking down even harder on terrorism almost three months after deadly attacks in Paris that featured links to both of the neighbouring countries. "We are at war against terrorism. And to carry out this war, we have to be united," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said after talks in Brussels between top Belgian and French judicial officials. "The question is not if we will be hit again, but where and when."
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Syrian opposition negotiators pushed for humanitarian measures on Monday as they held their first formal meeting with the UN envoy brokering indirect peace talks with the Syrian government in Geneva. Opposition spokesman Salem Muslit said his delegation was awaiting the government's response to their call for all sieges to be lifted, detainees and especially women and children freed, and an end to government and Russian air raids.
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An uptick in birth malformations thought to be connected to the Zika virus outbreak across the Americas constitutes a health emergency of international concern, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said Monday in Geneva. A WHO board of 18 medical experts and advisors sees a connection between the virus and a jump in the number of cases of babies born with undersize skulls, or microcephaly, Chan said.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES SHELL TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: LIBERUM RAISES SHELL TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
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TRADERS: LIBERUM CUTS TULLOW OIL TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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BERENBERG REINITIATES IMPERIAL TOBACCO WITH 'BUY' - PRICE TARGET 4230 PENCE
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BERENBERG REINITIATES BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO WITH 'BUY' - PRICE TARGET 4285 PENCE
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TRADERS: JPMORGAN INITIATES BRITVIC WITH 'UNDERWEIGHT'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BP reported an underlying replacement cost profit that was way below analysts expectations for the last quarter of 2015, causing the oil and gas company's underlying profit for the full year to more than halve. BP said it made an underlying cost replacement profit of USD196.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, way below the USD730.0 million analysts were expecting, according to a market consensus provided by BP. Replacement cost profit is a standard measure used in the oil industry that takes into account the price of oil, and that USD196.0 million underlying profit is down from USD2.23 billion a year ago and down from USD1.81 billion in the third quarter of 2015. BP, as expected, maintained its dividend for the year, announcing an interim dividend for the final quarter of the year of 10.0 cents per share.
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J Sainsbury and Home Retail Group said they have reached an agreement on the terms of a possible offer for Home Retail, the Argos and Homebase owner, by the UK supermarket chain. The possible offer and proposed capital returns together imply a value of around 161.3p per Home Retail share and a value of approximately GBP1.3 billion for Home Retail's share capital. Home Retail's market capitalisation stands at GBP1.24 billion, and its shares closed Monday at 152.90p. Under the terms of the offer, Home Retail shareholders will own approximately 12% of the combined group.
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The New York Attorney General office announced that Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) will pay a combined USD154.3 million to the State of New York and the SEC to settle investigations into false statements and omissions made in connection with the marketing of their respective dark pools and other high-speed electronic equities trading services. Separately, The US Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed that Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse have agreed to settle separate cases finding that they violated federal securities laws while operating alternative trading systems known as dark pools and Credit Suisse's Light Pool.
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Budget carrier easyJet has unveiled plans to trial a hydrogen fuel cell system which it said could save around 50,000 tonnes of fuel per year and cut carbon emissions, the Financial Times said. The company will use a hybrid plane concept which works by capturing energy as the aircraft brakes on landing, which is then used to power the plane when it taxis on the ground. easyJet said using the technology meant planes would no longer have to use jet engines during lengthy taxi operations and when the plane moves from the runway to the terminal.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Ocado Group reported growth in profit in its recently ended financial year, as revenue was boosted by an increase in order volumes and active customers, despite the challenges posed by deflation in the average price of items across the UK grocery market. The online grocery delivery service said its pretax profit in the year ended November 29 grew to GBP11.9 million from GBP7.2 million the year before, as revenue rose 17% to GBP1.10 billion from GBP948.9 million. Ocado added that it expects to sign "multiple deals in multiple territories" in the medium term for its international offering through Ocado Smart Platform.
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TalkTalk Telecom Group said trading conditions have returned to normal following the cyber attack on the company in late 2015, with the group registering customer growth in January. The telecommunications company said its revenue growth for the third quarter to the end of December hit 1.8% year-on-year, though it said it saw a total net loss of customers of 101,000, with 95,000 of those attributed to the cyber attack which hit the group in October.
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Tullett Prebon said it has received a notice for further information from the US Department of Justice in connection with its proposed acquisition of the voice broking and information arm of rival interdealer broker ICAP. The pair struck a deal in November under which Tullett will acquire ICAP's voice broking and information unit in exchange for ICAP taking a big stake in Tullett. Tullett said it intends to respond to the request as soon as practicable and said it still expects the deal to complete in 2016.
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Amec Foster Wheeler said it has been awarded a seven-year contract from the US Air Force. The company said it has been awarded a prime contractor position on the Air Force Civil Engineer Centre Architect-Engineering 2013 services contract by the US Airforce. The contract will run for seven years and end in 2022. The maximum aggregate value of the contract is USD950.0 million for the multiple companies that have won work under the contract.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported an increase in profit for the fourth quarter, driven mostly by growth at mobile search revenue as well strong performance of YouTube. Both earnings and revenues for the quarter trumped Wall Street analysts' estimates, sending shares of Alphabet up by nearly 6% in the after-hours trading. The pop in shares helped Google's parent to surpass Apple as the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world. Alphabet's fourth-quarter profit rose to USD4.92 billion or USD7.06 per share from USD4.68 billion or USD6.79 per share last year.
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Yahoo is expected to announce cost-cutting plans that include slashing 15% of its workforce and closing several business units, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The announcement is expected to be made during the video conference call with CEO Marissa Mayer and Chief Financial Officer Ken Goldman after the company reports its fourth quarter financial results on Tuesday.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that software manufacturer SAP agreed to give up USD3.7 million in sales profits to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or FCPA when procuring business in Panama. An SEC investigation found that SAP's deficient internal controls allowed a former SAP executive to pay USD145,000 in bribes to a senior Panamanian government official and offer bribes to two others in exchange for lucrative sales contracts.
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Swiss financial services giant UBS reported its fourth-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders was CHF949 million or 0.25 franc per share, compared to last year's profit of CHF858 million or 0.23 franc per share. UBS' total operating income increased to CHF6.775 billion from CHF6.746 billion a year ago.
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Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, said it has launched a vaccine research and development project targeting the prevention of Zika virus infection and disease. Sanofi Pasteur has developed vaccines against viruses in the same family as Zika virus or ZIKV, with licensed vaccines against Yellow Fever, Japanese Encephalitis and, most recently, Dengue.
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Tuesday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Numis
Dewhurst
UDG Healthcare
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
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