RAMSEY CROOKALL & CO

13th May 2011 Morning Report

The FTSE 100 is trading up 0.9% as investors take their cues from a strong session on Wall Street and higher commodity prices which have given basic resources and oil stocks a boost. On the data front, euro-zone GDP is due this morning, while in the US CPI data is come in the early afternoon as well as the University of Michigan confidence survey.

In company news, oil services group Petrofac says it is “increasingly confident” that it will deliver profit growth in line with previous guidance after a strong performance so far this year.

Bourses operator London Stock Exchange (LSE) is higher after it hailed a 22% increase in adjusted operating profit and said a packed pipeline of new issues promises more to come.

Among today’s fallers is Stobart after the distribution group hit back at an article in the Daily Telegraph saying the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is examining a deal that will see Stobart buy a property portfolio from its chief executive.

Bermuda based insurance underwriter Catlin is up after it said rates for certain classes of business are starting to rise after a first quarter that saw an unprecedented number of significant natural disasters. Catlin reiterated its estimate of $375m of losses related to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the New Zealand earthquake and the floods in Australia.

THE FTSE 100 at 9:50         Up 53 @ 5998

THE DOW JONES closed Up 65 @  12695

THE NASDAQ COMP closed Up 17 @   2845

Exchange Rates

GBP – USD           1.6285 GBP - EURO          1.1376