25/09/07

After the close, Lowe's warned that fiscal 2007 earnings will come in at the low end or slightly below its prior guidance of $1.97 to $2.01 per share. Lowe's share fell 4 percent in extended hours trading and dragged down rival Home Depot by 2 percent.

GM stock was active after the United Auto Workers union launched a nationwide strike against the company, saying the key issues in contract talks could not be resolved. However, union leaders said they were willing to resume talks. GM stocks rose as much as 3 percent in the morning, but gave up those gains by the afternoon, ending lower as investors questioned how quickly the disputes could be resolved.

AMR slumped 14.4 percent after warning late Friday that third quarter profit results won’t meet estimates. The stock dragged on other airline issues.

Standard Pacific fell 13 percent after the homebuilder said it would stop paying a quarterly dividend and would instead use the money to pay down debt.

Sonus Pharmaceuticals plunged 84 percent after the company said a late stage trial of its breast cancer treatment failed and it was giving up development of the drug.

Microsoft rose 1.5 percent ahead of the launch of its highly anticipated Halo 3 video game at midnight. Separately, Microsoft is in talks with Facebook about making an investment in the site that could value it at $10bn, the WSJ reported.

EMC rose 7.8 percent in active trading after Citigroup upgraded the computer data storage maker to buy from hold. Citigroup pointed to recent strong earnings and the outlook for Vmware, the maker of virtualization software that EMC spun off last month, but still holds a big stake in. Separately, Citigroup initiated coverage of Vmware with a buy and a $100 price target.

Apple rose after Citigroup boosted its price target and earnings forecast for fiscal year 2008 and 2009.

Treasury prices ended the session little changed, with the yield on the 10 year note at 4.62 percent, from late Friday.

In currency trading, the dollar fell to a new record low against the euro and also slipped against the yen.

US light crude for November delivery lost 67 cents to $80.95 a barrel on NYMEX.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose 40 cents to settle at $739.3 an ounce.

In Japan, the Nikkei rose 89.12 points to close at 16401.73 as shipping stocks gained on earnings hopes while Toyota Motor Corp rose on a news report about its plan to launch a fuel efficient ultra compact car in Europe.

UK stocks closed 9.2 points higher on Monday to close at 6465.9, after touching a low of 6437.3 earlier in the day. Mining stocks and M&S supported the index, but Northern Rock weighed in a choppy trading session.

BHP Billiton added 5.7 percent to lead the mining sector higher after it said it plans an update on its reserves this week. It declined to say whether that would include an upgrade to the gold resource at its giant Olympic Dam mine.

Firm metals prices also weighed with Xstrata up 4.6 percent, Antofagasta climbing 6.6 percent and Rio Tinto gaining 4.1 percent.

M&S added 4.4 percent to 589.5 pence. Traders cited a positive broker note from Deutsche Bank which said M&S shares have underperformed the market by 20 percent over the past 4 months due to concerns a slowing UK consumer will hurt the business.

Prudential added 2.7 percent after Lehman Brothers lifted its price target on the stock by 4 percent to 1060 pence. Lehman analysts said cash flows are improving rapidly enough not to constrain growth and that metal increases in the dividend could be on the horizon.

Northern Rock slid 11.5 percent after dipping as much as 16 percent, and adding as much as 14 percent, amid worries it may not maintain its interim dividend and a report that a hedge fund break up could leave investors with almost nothing. The FT reported Northern Rock has taken legal advice about whether to pay out a £59m dividend to shareholders.

Building and property stocks were also hit after Wolseley reported its first profit fall in more than a decade, and warned that weakness in the US housing market was spilling over into repairs and maintenance. Wolseley fell 5 percent to three year lows as some analysts cut their profit forecasts for the current financial year by around 10 percent. The stock ended 4.8 percent lower. Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Persimmon and Hammerson also fell.

Economics

UK Total business investment (Q2, final) 09.30 bst

Business investment was expected to rebound in Q2 after a large decline in the first quarter. However, it remained subdued. A modest upward revision is expected to this initial number.

US Consumer confidence (Sept) 15.00 bst

Consumer confidence is seen falling to 102.5. Consumer confidence could drop to 85 from 88.2, down for the second consecutive month. The present situation index may edge lower to 129 from 130.3. The recent weakness in non farm payrolls may mean further declines in the labour market components, which account for 40 percent of the survey.

US Existing home sales (Aug) 15.00

Pending home sales plunged by 12.2 percent in July. This should translate into further declines in existing home sales. A drop to an annualised rate of 5.5m is expected, down from 5.75m in July.

The details published in this e-mail are intended for information only and should not be construed as advice under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Aventus Capital Management will not accept responsibility for any actions taken (or not taken) on the basis of information published in this e-mail.

Aventus Capital Management is a trading style, "Aventus" is a trade mark and the Aventus logo is a registered trade mark of Rickerbys Solicitors. Rickerbys is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.