RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO May 11th  2012

Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is down 0.1%, weak but firming up from intraday lows, helped by growing hopes that Greek leaders can form a coalition government. Additionally, traders digest UK PPI data, which shows prices for manufactured products rose 0.7% in April, versus expectations of a rise of 0.5. Bank stocks remain weak though, after JPMorgan's reported surprise losses at its investment arm.

Soaring fuel costs contributed to a larger than expected first-quarter loss at International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), the airline formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia. The airline reported an operating loss of €249m in the first quarter (compared with a €102m loss last year), an outcome worse than the €230m loss the market had been expecting.

Banks were heavy fallers in the opening hour on the back of the JP Morgan surprise trading loss. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and HSBC were among the worst performers.

Meanwhile, mining stocks were pushed lower after the gloomy Chinese data weighed on the demand outlook from the world's second-largest economy. Rio Tinto, ENRC, BHP Billiton and Vedanta all fell into the red.

Oil and gas services group Petrofac fell despite saying that its year-to-date performance has been in line with expectations and it still remains on track to grow net profits by at least 15% in 2012.

THE FTSE 100              @ 10:00           Down       13     @      5,530 THE DOW JONES            closed             Up         19     @     12855 THE NASDAQ               closed             Down        1     @      2933 Exchange Rates

GBP – USD       @      10:00                   1.6123 GBP - EURO      @      10:00                   1.2458 ??

??

??

??