US stocks closed up across the board on Thursday, with the S&P 500 finishing the session close to a 10-month high, in part buoyed by better-than-expected US data.

The index closed up 5.8 at 1,363.46, while the Nasdaq Composite ended the day up 23.81 at 2,95.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 46.02 to 12,984.69.

US jobless claims last week were near a four-year low, while the average house price rose 0.7% in December.

In company news, Sears Holdings finished the day in the top spot, rising over 18% on continued speculation that the retailer could be made private by majority owner Eddie Lampert.

Bank of America gained after swinging from a loss of $1.57bn to a fourth-quarter income of $1.58bn year-on-year.

Apple was another big riser, following the firm’s first annual shareholder meeting since Steve Jobs’ death in October of last year. Other gainers in the sector included MetroPCS, a discount wireless carrier, which reported fourth-quarter profits of $91m, as well as Microsoft and International Business Machines.

Heading in the opposite direction was Hewlett-Packard, hit by poor first-quarter results which showed it had earned $1.47bn compared to $2.6bn the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile, Safeway was one of the day’s worst performers on the S&P 500 after the supermarket chain unveiled a drop in its gross margins. Elsewhere in the retail sector, Target reported fourth quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.45, which surpassed the consensus estimate of $1.40. Revenue rose 3.3% to $20.9bn compared to $20.6bn from the year-ago period.

Like-for-like sales rose 2.2% with a profit margin of 7.8%, one decimal point less than in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company expects to earn $4.55 – $4.75 per share in 2012 compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28.

MACROECONOMY

Initial weekly unemployment claims fell to 351,000 last week (Consensus: 355,000). The previous week´s reading has been revised up to 351,000 from 348.000.

The FHFA house price index rose 0.7% month-on-month in December (Consensus: 0.1%).

OTHER MARKETS

The front month West Texas crude futures contract rose by $1.55 to the $107.83 per barrel mark.

10-year US treasuries rose by 2/32 dollars, with yields at 2.00%.

S&P 500 – Risers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $61.80 +18.66%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $11.70 +13.81%
Sprint Nxtel Corp. (S) $2.52 +13.00%
QEP Resources Inc (QEP) $34.03 +7.79%
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (JEC) $47.59 +6.32%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $64.03 +6.08%
Federated Investors Inc. (FII) $20.62 +5.91%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $20.72 +5.50%
International Game Technology (IGT) $15.13 +5.14%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $8.73 +4.80%

S&P 500 – Fallers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $37.20 -8.03%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $20.95 -7.59%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $27.05 -6.53%
Kohls Corp. (KSS) $49.07 -5.98%
American Electric Power Co. Inc. (AEP) $37.90 -4.87%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $58.68 -3.68%
Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) $33.45 -3.46%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $4.30 -3.15%
Kroger Co. (KR) $22.98 -2.79%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $7.82 -2.74%

Dow Jones I.A – Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $66.42 +3.07%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $197.72 +1.99%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $38.49 +1.10%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $8.02 +0.88%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $46.95 +0.82%

Dow Jones I.A – Fallers
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $27.05 -6.53%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $21.03 -1.54%

Nasdaq 100 – Risers
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $61.80 +18.66%
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $25.39 +6.73%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $36.02 +3.89%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $7.21 +3.59%
Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $15.86 +3.12%

Nasdaq 100 – Fallers
Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $21.21 -9.78%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $37.20 -8.03%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $58.68 -3.68%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $37.00 -2.19%

Parliamentary speaker Anastasios Kourakis explained that the law passed automatically because the ruling alliance of Socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy have a parliamentary majority and no request was made for a named vote, Reuters reports.

M.G.

Italy: 5.54% (+3bp)
Spain: 5.07% (-2bp)
France: 2.96% (-1bp)
Germany: 1.88% (-1bp)
UK: 2.10% (-1bp)
US: 2.02% (+2bp)

Fears that Europe may struggle to grow its way out of debt pushed some of the haven yields down through Thursday.

The EU commission revised it prediction that the Eurozone economy would grow 0.5% in 2012 to a 0.3% contraction. Spain is forecast to see its GDP contract by 1% and Italy by 1.3%. This emphasises just how precarious the European recovery is.

The next big event will be the ‘long term refinancing operation’ of the European Central Bank on February 28th. This will make hundreds of billions of euros available for European banks to borrow at around 1% for up to three years.

Much of that money is likely to be loaned to governments. The result ought to be that banks will shore up their balance sheets from the profits made by borrowing money at 1% and lending it at 5%, while the governments will get the money they need to keep the lights on.

It’s a neat idea, but it is only a temporary solution because until the Eurozone becomes a place where businesses can grow and create jobs, all of its members will be plagued by fears over their debt.

BS

’2011 was a very successful year for Bayer, and we want our stockholders to appropriately benefit from the company’s performance,’ explained Bayer’s Chief Executive Marijn Dekkers.

Bayer closed today’s session at EUR56.02.

S.C.

London’s blue chip index finished strongly on Thursday, gaining nearly 40 points in the final two hours, after some better-than-expected economic data Stateside boosted buying late on. Meanwhile, the market reaction to a flurry of company results on the Footsie was mixed with Capita and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) rising strongly and RSA Insurance leading the fallers, while Bodycote surged on the FTSE 250.

The US Labor Department revealed in the afternoon that initial jobless claims were unchanged last week at 351,000, better than the 353,000 forecast by economists surveyed by MarketWatch, while the four-week moving average fell by 7,000 to 359,000, the best level since March 2008. Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said that its home price index rose by a better-than-expected 0.7% in December.

Earlier on, the European Commission (EC) unveiled some gloomy forecasts for economic growth across Europe, saying that the European Union (EU) is set to experience stagnating growth this year, and the euro area will undergo a mild recession. The EC said that the ‘unexpected stalling of the recovery in late 2011 is set to extend into the first two quarters of 2012′, with the EU registering zero growth this year and the Eurozone registering a 0.3% contraction. However, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn, does note that there are signs of a recovery and modest growth is predicted to return in the second half of this year.

In other news, Germany’s IFO business climate indicator for February came in at a six-month high of 109.6 points, up from 108.3 in the previous month, according to the German IFO Institute based in Munich. The market consensus was looking for a reading of 108.8. It is the fourth consecutive monthly increase.

RBS, CAPITA TOP THE CHARTS AFTER RESULTS

The biggest news of the day centred around RBS which rose strongly early on despite widening losses in 2011. Provisions for mis-selling of payment protection insurance schemes and Greek debt ensured part-nationalised lender made a pre-tax loss of £766m in 2011, compared with a loss of £399m in 2010, though the core business was profitable at the operating level. Results were broadly in line with expectations, according to Nomura.

‘RBS Core profits – the ongoing bank – were £6bn, comparing well with others and representing a return on equity of 10.5%. The reduction in our balance sheet since 2008 now exceeds £700bn with all other ‘safety’ measures improving strongly,’ said Group Chief Executive Stephen Hester. Sector peers Barclays and Lloyds were also in demand, with the latter’s results due out tomorrow.

Capita was the second-best performer by midday after the outsourcing giant said that it expects revenue growth to accelerate in 2012 after a ‘reasonable’ level of growth last year. Turnover grew by 7% from £2,744m to £2,930m in the year ended December 31st, slightly ahead of Panmure Gordon’s forecast of £2,900m.

Leading the downside was RSA Insurance after its full-year results disappointed. Profit before tax came in at £613m, a gain of 29% on the previous year, 8% below consensus estimates according to Nomura. Net asset value came in 3% below forecasts also. The broker highlighted that RSA’s 2012 guidance now implies that around a 15% reduction to consensus pre-tax profit forecasts now needs to be made.

British American Tobacco (BATS) fell despite seeing revenues rise 3% to £15,399m in 2011. The company said that volumes fell 0.4% during the year, and expressed concerns about various proposals around the world to introduce so called ‘plain packaging’, which BATS argues will play into the hands of criminal gangs which smuggle cigarettes.

Gas and electricity provider Centrica rose after aying that it had put in a resilient performance in challenging conditions in 2011. Revenue edged up to £22.8bn from £22.4bn in 2010, ahead of market expectations of £21.9bn.

BODYCOTE SURGES OVER 15% ON FTSE 250

Shares in metals and alloys treatment firm Bodycote rocketed after it said profit jumped 68% helped by strong demand at its aerospace and defence unit and robust sales overseas. The group said despite economic headwinds, particularly in Europe, the business would continue to make progress in the coming year.

Cookson, the materials science firm, rose after selling its American precious metals business to Richline, an offshoot of Warren Buffetts’s Berkshire Hathaway vehicle.

Meanwhile, sitting in the bottom spot was construction, services and property group Kier, which this morning unveiled a 4.6% fall in total revenue for the six months ended December 31st.

Following suit was bus and train operator Go-Ahead which posted a 13% drop in half year pre-tax profit and expressed its caution n regards to the wider economic outlook.

BC

FTSE 100 – Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,885.00p +6.08%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 28.72p +5.09%
Capita (CPI) 718.00p +4.28%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,435.00p +3.99%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 401.20p +3.80%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,500.00p +3.52%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.58p +3.26%
Serco Group (SRP) 556.00p +3.15%
Aggreko (AGK) 2,205.00p +2.18%
Old Mutual (OML) 160.10p +2.10%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 107.00p -4.89%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 286.50p -2.98%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 121.60p -2.88%
Amec (AMEC) 1,088.00p -2.42%
Man Group (EMG) 129.00p -2.05%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 298.90p -1.97%
BAE Systems (BA.) 319.20p -1.75%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 162.60p -1.57%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 457.80p -1.55%
ITV (ITV) 77.80p -1.33%

FTSE 250 – Risers
Bodycote (BOY) 389.30p +15.52%
Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 442.80p +6.96%
Senior (SNR) 198.50p +5.42%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 670.00p +4.69%
Grainger (GRI) 108.80p +4.62%
Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 328.80p +4.38%
Informa (INF) 435.30p +4.36%
Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 254.20p +4.35%
Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 486.00p +4.20%
Lamprell (LAM) 347.60p +4.01%

FTSE 250 – Fallers
Kier Group (KIE) 1,334.00p -10.41%
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 76.50p -5.15%
Logica (LOG) 82.50p -4.79%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 375.00p -4.34%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,274.00p -3.99%
Cranswick (CWK) 812.00p -3.16%
Supergroup (SGP) 562.00p -3.10%
Domino’s Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 447.00p -2.83%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 265.00p -2.57%
FirstGroup (FGP) 295.50p -2.54%

Bodycote announced this morning that profits surged 68% after strong demand at its aerospace and defence unit and robust sales overseas. Pre-tax profit from continuing operations rose to £75.8m for the year ended 31 December 2011 from £45.2m previously. Revenue from continuing operations increased to £570.7m from £499.8m the year before.

In a separate announcement Bodycote said it has signed a five-year contract with ZF Lenksysteme, a joint venture between Robert Bosch GmbH and ZF Friedrichshafen to provide heat treatment services in China for heavy truck steering components. Shares were up 14.93% at 387.3p in afternoon trade.

Meanwhile, engineering giant Weir was in demand after submitting a binding offer and raising its offer price to buy Australian mining equipment supplier Ludowici, matching the recently-upped offer from Danish rival FLSmidth.

Back on February 10th, Weir announced that it would pay A$7.92 per Ludowici share, representing a 10% premium to FLSmidth’s indicative proposal of A$7.20 a share, announced on January 23rd. FLSmidth then raised its offer to A$10 per share a week later and entered into a scheme implementation agreement.

However, Weir claims that FLSmidth filed a ‘no increase statement’ on January 23rd, an issue that Weir has raised with the Takeovers Panel and which is currently being considered. Weir was trading 0.97% higher at 2,175p this afternoon.

BC

Top performing sectors so far today
Industrial Engineering 8,164.35 +1.77%
Support Services 4,825.24 +1.27%
General Industrials 3,214.61 +1.24%
Life Insurance 4,439.78 +1.11%
Electronic & Electrical Equipment 3,430.12 +1.02%

Bottom performing sectors so far today
Food & Drug Retailers 3,915.41 -1.31%
Insurance (non-life) 1,440.40 -0.90%
Travel & Leisure 4,457.87 -0.78%
Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 25,518.89 -0.51%
Electricity 8,112.88 -0.47%

Back on February 10th, Weir announced that it would pay A$7.92 per Ludowici share, representing a 10% premium to FLSmidth’s indicative proposal of A$7.20 a share, announced on January 23rd.

FLSmidth then raised its offer to A$10 per share a week later and entered into a scheme implementation agreement. If Weir’s binding offer is accepted by the Ludowici board, Weir says that it will sign a scheme implementation agreement on the same terms as FLSmidth.

According to Weir, FLSmidth filed a ‘no increase statement’ on January 23rd, an issue that Weir has raised with the Takeovers Panel and which is currently being considered.

‘The Weir Implementation Agreement will give Weir the right to terminate the agreement and not proceed with the scheme of arrangement if the Takeovers Panel does not make an order preventing FLSmidth from offering, or proposing to pay, Ludowici shareholders more than A$7.20 per share,’ the company announced today.

The A$10-a-share offer values Ludowici at around A$357m (£243m) on a cash and debt-free basis.

According to Chief Executive Officer Keith Cochrane, ‘we have now undertaken due diligence which has reinforced the attractiveness of this opportunity for the Weir Group.’

‘The acquisition would extend Weir’s offering in attractive segments of the minerals processing sector, while still meeting our strict financial criteria. Weir’s binding offer also ensures certainty for Ludowici shareholders. If our offer is accepted, Ludowici shareholders will have the opportunity of receiving A$10.00 per share regardless of the outcome of the Takeover Panel proceedings,’ he said.

Weir was trading 0.97% higher at 2,175p before the close on Thursday.

BC

FTSE-100: 0.30%
Dax-30: -0.72%
Euro Stoxx 50: -0.52%
Cac-40: 0.02%
Ibex 35: -1.55%

The European Commission released its growth forecasts for the Eurozone this morning, the prediction that the single-currency area’s output will shrink 0.3% in 2012 depressed markets.

In particular, the news on the under pressure countries was grim, with Spanish GDP forecast to shrink 1%, while Italy’s is expected to contract 1.3%. Bad news for countries struggling with debt.

On a slightly brighter note, the closely followed IFO Institute’s business climate survey for Germany gave a reading for February of 109.6, the fourth monthly rise in a row and above expectations of a 108.8 reading.

EQUITIES

German lender Commerzbank had fallen 5.8% by the close after saying it would not pay a dividend in 2012 while also undertaking a share swap to raise more capital.

Deutsche Telekom reported a net loss of EUR1.3bn for the fourth quarter and warned that underlying earnings will come in under analysts´ expectations this year, prompting a fall of 2.8% by the close

Swiss Re announced better than expected quarterly results and hinted at the possibility of paying out a special dividend, this pushed its shares up 2.64%.

The weakest sector on the Stoxx Europe 600 was Automobiles and Parts which dropped 1.8% while the strongest was Health Care, which climbed 0.5%

MACROECONOMY

ISTAT´s Italian consumer confidence index for the month of February has risen to 94.2 points (Consensus: 92.1) from 91.8 the month before.

Dutch consumer spending fell 1.3% year-on-year in December, after a fall of 1.2% the month before.

OTHER MARKETS

Front month Brent futures dropped 0.11% on the fix to hit $122.76 by 16:40 in London.

The euro/dollar had risen 0.45% by 17:52 in Frankfurt to 0.33% to the $1.3308

BS

EPS of $1.45 surpassed the consensus estimate of $1.40. Revenue rose 3.3% to $20.9bn compared to $20.6bn from the year-ago period.

Like-for-like sales rose 2.2% with a profit margin of 7.8%, one decimal point less than in the fourth quarter of 2010. The US retailer announced that it bought back shares worth $1.9bn throughout the year, representing 5.2% of outstanding shares.

The company expects to earn $4.55 – $4.75 per share in 2012 compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28.

Target also plans to enter the Canadian market and will be testing the waters with the opening of a temporary store in Toronto. It expects to open 135 stores in 2013.

S.B.

For what it is worth, the bank is tipped by the communual voice of the investment analyst community to report a full year pre-tax loss of £355.7m on revenue of £20.6bn, but how ‘pre-tax loss’ is defined is open to interpretation, as evidenced by commentary from Nic Clarke at broker Charles Stanley.

‘On 8 November, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) issued an interim management statement in which its stated that in the first nine months of 2011 it made a statutory loss before tax of £3,858m (2010: profit of £1,967m). LBG also reported that profit before tax fell by 30% to £1,748m, in the first nine months of 2011, on a combined businesses basis,’ Clarke wrote.

Wait. There is more.

‘This differs from the statutory results as it is before a number of items such as the integration, simplification and EU mandated retail business disposal costs of £1,066m (2010: cost of £1,172m), volatility arising in insurance businesses of -£737m (2010: £110m), amortisation of purchased intangibles -£428m (2010: -£478m), provision in relation to German insurance business litigation of – £175m (2010: £0m), the cost of the £3,200m PPI insurance provision this year and a pension curtailment gain of £1,019m in 2010,’ Clarke continued.

Nomura says that the things to look out for in Lloyds’ results are: any comments made regarding the progress of the Verde sale; comments around the revenue outlook for core and non-core; asset quality trends and any indications of outlook for 2012; any comments made regarding the progress of the Verde sale; comments around the revenue outlook for core and non-core; asset quality trends and any indications of outlook for 2012;

The operations of bookmaker William Hill should be easier to understand. Usually it involves the punters placing bets and, unless the favourite wins, the bookie making money.

William Hill made things even easier by revealing it expects full year earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) to come in at around £274m.

Profit decline at the High Street shops will have been tempered by improved cost control, with Retail profits figured to be down just 4% on 2010. Online profits are expected to jump by around 17%.

Market consensus is for profit before tax of £232.8m on turnover of £1.13bn.

INTERIMS
Asian Citrus Holding

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
ACM Shipping Group, Fletcher King, Foresight 3 VCT, Foresight 4 VCT, Games Workshop Group, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 1, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 1 ‘C’ Shares, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 1 ‘D’ Shares, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 2, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 2 ‘C’ Shares, Ingenious Entertainment VCT 2 ‘D’ Shares, Ingenious Live VCT 1, Ingenious Live VCT 2, NCC Group

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
Picton Property Income Ltd

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Homes Sales (US) (15:00)
U. of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US) (15:00)

Q4
Telefonica SA

FINALS
Berendsen, Hammerson, Lloyds Banking Group, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd. (DI), Nord Gold (GDR Reg S), Rightmove, Ruukki Group (DI), Telefonica SA, William Hill

AGMS
Brewin Dolphin Holdings, Invista European Real Estate Trust, LonZim, OMG, PowerShares Palisades Global Water Fund, Rock Solid Images, Sinclair (William) Holdings, Sunrise Resources , Tertiary Minerals

TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mail.ru Group GDR (Reg S)

UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
GDP (output, income & expenditure) (09:30)
Index of Services (09:30)

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Blackrock Frontiers Investment Trust, NB Global Floating Rate Income Fund Ltd GBP, NB Global Floating Rate Income Fund Ltd USD, Titon Holdings, Victrex, Zytronic