Market Round-up 25.07.14 – 09:00hrs CET
Obama slams “corporate deserters” that leave the US to cut their tax bills.
The US President made the boldest call yet for a crackdown on the merger deals that let them to do so, including Medtronic’s $42.9bn acquisition of Dublin-based Covidien or AbbVie agreed takeover of the UK’s Shire for $54bn.
BSkyB seals £7bn deal with Rupert Murdoch to create ‘Sky Europe’.
BSkyB has agreed to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from 21st Century Fox for a total of £4.9bn cash, in a deal that will create a pan-European pay-TV and broadband empire.
Air Algerie plane wreckage found in Mali.
The wreckage of the Air Algerie airliner carrying 116 people that disappeared early on Thursday has been found in Mali near the border with Burkina Faso. The aircraft had been “clearly identified in a state of disintegration.
Google’s UK operation paid £20.4m of corporation tax on its profits in 2013.
The charge is an increase of more than 75% compared with last year, but that is unlikely to silence critics who say Google pays too little tax in the UK.
The US accused Russia on Thursday of firing artillery across the border into eastern Ukraine.
The state department said it had “new evidence” that Russia was attacking Ukrainian military positions from within Russia.
Junk bonds are on track for their worst monthly return in nearly a year.
Years of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve have driven investors into bonds, real estate and equities, sparking concerns of looming asset price bubbles.
Amazon shares tumbled almost 10% after big investments in cloud computing contributed to a larger-than-expected loss.
The online retailer reported a net loss of $126m, or 27 cents per share for the quarter to June 30, against analysts’ expectations of a loss of 15 cents, prompting a fall of 9.8% in its shares to $323.66.
Chinese regulators are a step closer to sanctioning US mobile phone chipmaker Qualcomm.
The Securities Times said an investigation into Qualcomm has determined that the company constitutes a monopoly, although no punishment has been decided.
OVERNIGHT MARKETS
Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +93.43 (+0.61%) at 15,378
Topix up +5.11 (+0.40%) at 1,275
Hang Seng down -12.12 (-0.05%) at 24,129
ASX 200 down -17.70 (-0.32%) at 5,570
US markets
S&P 500 up +3.48 (+0.18%) at 1,987
DJIA down -2.83 (-0.02%) at 17,084
Nasdaq down -1.59 (-0.04%) at 4,472
European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +6.28 (+0.46%) at 1,382
FTSE100 up +23.31 (+0.34%) at 6,821
CAC 40 up +34.33 (+0.78%) at 4,411
Dax up +40.50 (+0.42%) at 9,794
Currencies
€/$ 1.35 (1.35)
$/¥ 101.77 (101.81)
£/$ 1.70 (1.70)
€/£ 0.7925 (0.7925)
Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) up +0.07 at 107.14
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.10 at 101.97
100 Oz Gold (Comex) at 1,291
Copper (Comex) down -0.12% at 3.25
Sources: FT, Bloomberg
All information correct as of 09.00CET. For the latest news from the financial markets, please visit deVere Foreign Exchange. For regular news updates throughout the day, please view deVere Market News