RAMSEY CROOKALL

12th July

Afternoon Report

The FTSE 100 is down 1.43%, but a touch firmer as U.S. futures come off their lows after Monday's sell-off. Still, fears about euro-zone debt contagion and E.U. officials' failure to grasp the nettle, along with broader concerns over economic growth continue to dominate and keep equities in the red. Only Marks & Spencer bucks the trend in London, adding 1.1% with analysts forecasting a decent 1Q trading update. No further domestic data is due, but after the close the Fed publishes the minutes of its June FOMC meeting.

Thomas Cook’s shares are down by more than a fifth after it said its third quarter results will miss expectations as the turmoil in the Arab world and economic weakness in the UK take its toll on the travel operator. The firm said its French operations have been hit particularly hard by the political unrest in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Peer TUI Travel is also hurt.

Oil outfit Premier Oil moved to assure the market about production targets saying it predicts a sharply increased production rate of around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of the year, as its Asian development projects ramp up output.

Information technology solutions provider Computacenter said profitability in the first half of its financial year will be comfortably ahead of the same period last year, and trading at this stage remains in line with management expectations for the year as a whole.

In economic news, the retail sales environment improved slightly in June, but conditions remain tough due to consumer caution and shops are having to launch sales to draw in customers, according to the British Retail Council (BRC). Total sales were up by 1.5% during June, having fallen by 2.1% in May.      

THE FTSE 100 at 12:00                  Down               96           @     5832

THE DOW JONES closed                 Down               151         @     12505                                 NASDAQ COMP closed                     Down               57           @     2802 

Exchange Rates GBP – USD           1.5807 GBP - EURO          1.1363