Stocks slide after Fed sticks to taper plan

Morning All, tin hat polished, good to go :O)

French Flash Manufacturing PMI 47.8 49.6 49.1

French Flash Services PMI 48.8 51.3 50.9

German Flash Manufacturing PMI 52.5 52.3 51.7

German Flash Services PMI 54.5 53.1 52.9

Opening Market Overview

EUR Flash Manufacturing PMI 51.5 51.6 51.3

EUR Flash Services PMI 50.9 51.9 51.6

GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 6.4B 4.8B 9.4B

KEEP an EYE

CRV

Lost of volume for the last couple days, as is bouncing after retracement
edit - Very positive news........

Update on Investment

Craven House today announces that it has completed the restructuring of the distressed loan that it acquired in May 2013, as previously announced on 28 May 2013.

The Loan, which was secured over the Green Isle Conference and Leisure Hotel in Dublin, was acquired by Craven House for €0.7 million, with Craven House becoming the sole secured lender for the Hotel. Craven House directors believed that with the right capital structure the Hotel could form an attractive asset. The Company has now restructured the Loan, facilitating the simultaneous sale of the Hotel to new owners. Under the restructuring, Craven House has agreed with the new owners to convert the Loan into a new mortgage of €1.5 million. The Mortgage will carry an interest rate of 4% per annum and will be repaid in full within three years.

As previously announced, Craven House borrowed €0.7 million from Desmond Holdings Ltd, the Company's investment manager, in order to acquire the Loan. As a precondition of converting the Loan into the Mortgage and releasing the original security over the hotel, Craven House received sufficient funds from the Hotel to fully repay the original €0.7m borrowed from Desmond Holdings

The restructuring of the Loan into the Mortgage and the repayment to Desmond Holdings have resulted in an increase of €1.5 million in the net asset value of Craven House, as well as providing annual interest payments of £60,000 for the next three years.

Mark Pajak, Acting Chairman, commented, "This has proved to be an outstanding result for Craven House. In a period of less than six months we have repaid, in full, the €700,000 loan we took out to acquire the asset and have now restructured the mortgage, making the hotel a viable and attractive going concern for the new owners. This transaction has achieved two of our stated goals; firstly our aim to acquire a cash-generative asset (interest payments under the Mortgage are £60,000 per annum) and secondly it has increased Craven House Capital's net asset value by €1,500,000; which further underlines our firm belief that the Company's shares continue to trade at a discount to the underlying value of our assets. We are in active dialogue regarding similar, distressed loans and assets and we look forward to replicating this type of transaction in the future. "

Midday Market Overview

CBI says factory orders strongest since March 1995

(Reuters) - British factory orders have jumped unexpectedly this month to their strongest level since March 1995, the Confederation of British Industry's monthly industrial trends survey showed on Thursday.

The CBI survey's total order book balance rose to +11 this month to from -4 in October, well above expectations of a reading of 0 and the long-run average of -17.

The balance for total output over the previous three months surged to +29 from +8, the highest level since January 1995 and again well above the long-run average of +2.

USD PPI m/m -0.2% -0.2% -0.1%

USD Unemployment Claims 323K 333K 344K

USD Core PPI m/m 0.2% 0.1% 0.1%

USD Flash Manufacturing PMI 54.3 52.6 51.8

EUR Consumer Confidence -15 -14 -15

USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index 6.5 15.8 19.8

End-of-day Market Overview

U.S. shares rise on Fed hopes; euro up after Draghi remarks

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as the latest economic data suggested the Federal Reserve would not begin to slow its stimulus program soon, though conflicting views over the issue limited gains globally.

The euro rebounded after the head of the European Central Bank moved to quell growing talk that the ECB was considering an unprecedented policy of making banks pay to deposit cash overnight in a bid to boost economic activity.

An indication that the Fed may be ready to start scaling back its $85 billion a month in stimulus had weighed on equities Wednesday and drove the dollar to a more than four-month high against the yen earlier on Thursday. But the U.S. central bank has repeated it will not taper until the economy can stand on its own and interest rates will remain low well after stimulus is cut back.