RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO 2nd November 2012

      Morning Report

The FTSE 100 trades little changed, as investors brace for the all-important US employment report for October at 12:30 GMT.

Car insurance firm Admiral has dropped after seeing a 2% decrease in third-quarter turnover. "Little has changed since the half year. The UK car insurance market is cyclical and we are in the softer part of the cycle with premium rates coming down," said Chief Executive Henry Engelhardt.

Aerospace, defence and energy components group Meggitt announced that organic revenues were flat year-on-year and revenue growth will be in the mid-single digits in 2013.

Banking giant RBS was little changed after reporting a statutory loss before tax of £1.26bn for the three months to September 30th after taking a £1.46bn charge in own-credit adjustments and a £400m bill for PPI redress. Investec maintained its 'sell' rating for the stock this morning, saying that it had expected a loss of £1.0bn.

Oil giant Tullow is up after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded its stance on the shares to 'overweight'. In contrast, engineering giant Weir was under the weather after Jefferies cut its rating to 'hold' and supermarket group Morrisons fell after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to 'underweight'.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals dropped after saying that it has opted to halt commercial production of generic drugs at Eatontown facility in the US until mid-January while it gets to grips with compliance issues raised by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Bwin.party digital entertainment, the world's largest listed online gaming company, fell after seeing revenues slip in the third quarter with several factors to blame, including a better regulation and the weak economic environment in Europe.

THE FTSE 100             @ 10:00         Down       2        @       5858 THE DOW JONES            closed          Up         136      @       12232 THE NASDAQ               closed          Up        42       @       5858

Exchange Rates GBP – USD        @       10:00                     1.6098 GBP - EURO      @       10:00                     1.2499

Gold $/ OZ                              $1707