Equities finished mixed after much weaker than expected new home sales which were at record lows. However, stocks found some upside momentum as the USD index edged lower post DOE inventory data. Stocks oscillated between gains and losses before settling into sideways trade after the Fed were cautious in their outlook for the US economy. In terms of individual companies, there were decent gains for Philip Morris (+3.33%) after they boosted their forecast and also for Sprint Nextel (+4.63%) following an upgrade of the telecom services sector at Credit Suisse. At the close; the S&P 500 closed down 0.3% at 1092.04, the DJIA closed up 0.05% at 10298.44, and the NASDAQ 100 closed down 0.33% at 1874.42.
UKBP (BP: 29.83 +0.16 +0.54%) - US coast guard says co. closed Discovery Enterprise riser cap due to undersea robot collision with cap. In latest news, co. said it had reinstalled an oil-siphoning cap on its blown out well in the Gulf of Mexico and resumed collecting crude. In other news, the Obama administration appealed a court ruling that blocked its six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. (RTRS) Also in the news, CNOOC, the Chinese oil company, could be a potential buyer for the co. (Oriental Daily)
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: 35.19 +0.20 +0.57%) - Co.’s leukaemia drug Arzerra, licensed from Denmark’s Genmab, has been rejected by Britain’s cost watchdog NICE in preliminary draft guidance. (RTRS)
British American Tobacco (BTI: 63.90 -0.30 -0.47%) - Co. says Durante will become CEO on the retirement of Paul Adams at end of Feb 2011. (Sources)
Rio Tinto (RTP: 49.34 -1.71 -3.35%) - Co. is adamant it has rights to the whole of the Simandou Iron ore deposit in Guinea after the government threatened to take away another part of the massive concession. (RTRS)
Petrofac - Co. says operations in line with expectations. (Sources)
USApple (AAPL: 271.86 +0.89 +0.33%) - Co. files new suit against HTC over patent infringement. (Sources)
Nike (NKE: 70.40 -2.12 -2.92%) - Q4 EPS USD 1.06 vs. Exp. USD 1.06, Q4 revenue USD 5.08bln vs. Exp. USD 5.15bln. Co.’s Q4 profit jumped 53% to USD 521.9mln, up from USD 341.4mln for the same quarter a year ago. (RTRS)
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY: 39.99 -1.47 -3.55%) - Q1 EPS USD 0.52 vs. Exp. USD 0.48, Q1 revenue USD 1.92bln vs. Exp. USD 1.89bln and Q1 comp sales up 8.4%. (RTRS)
Paychex (PAYX: 27.10 -0.32 -1.17%) - Q4 EPS USD 0.32 vs. Exp. USD 0.31, Q4 revenue USD 496.2mln vs. Exp. USD 490.73mln. (RTRS)
Google (GOOG: 480.7399 -1.3101 -0.27%) - Co. CEO says more than 160,000 droids ship each day. (Sources)
Dell (DELL: 13.479 -0.341 -2.47%) - Co. sees strong growth in revenue, non-gaap operating income and cash flow for fiscal 2011. Says expects revenue for fiscal 2011 will increase 14-19% over fiscal 2010 and expects that non-gaap operating income will increase by 19-23% over fiscal 2010. Also says cash flow from operations will be greater than net income for the current year. (RTRS)
EuropeGERMANY
Commerzbank - Co.’s shares may be sold by the German government under a plan to be presented by an expert committee by 31 December. (Boersen Zeitung)
Bayer - Co. and Sirtex Medical will start a final stage trial of their treatments for advanced liver cancer, according to Singapore’s National Cancer Centre. (Sources)
ThyssenKrupp - Co. is in talks with Chinese investor regarding the sale of its metal forming division. (Handelsblatt)
SAP (SAP: 45.86 -0.14 -0.30%) - Co. is likely to extend its takeover offer for the US rival Sybase by 10 business days. (Handelsblatt)
BMW - Co. is examining the possibility of reducing plant closures because of high demand for its cars. (Handelsblatt)
HeidelbergCement - Co.’s rumoured potential takeover of the cement unit of Murli Industries would be an overpriced deal, according to reports. (Dei Welt)
FRANCE
BNP Paribas - Co. is studying ways to cut back-office costs and will decide by the end of the year how this will be done, according to sources. (La Tribune)
GDF Suez/Suez Environnement - GDF Suez denies plan to raise Suez Environnement stake. (Sources)
Axa - National Australia Bank is having good discussions with the competition watchdog over its USD 11.5bln bid for Axa Asia Pacific, according to the bank’s chief executive. (RTRS) In other news, co. agreed to sell part of its UK life insurance unit to Clive Cowdery’s Resolution for GBP 2.75bln. (Sources)
Vinci - Co. says signed agreement for Turkey construction of CA Pass Tunnel and a road project in Vietnam, value estimated at EUR 600mln. (RTRS)
Air France - Co. hopes to cut 4,390 jobs by March 2013, according to sources. In other news, co. plans to invest in India’s Max MRO Services, according to sources. (La Tribune)
Companies going Ex-Dividend: Alstom (EUR 1.2400)
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