GROUP 4 SECURICOR CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'BUY' AT MERRILL LYNCH

Russian tycoon, Alisher Usmanov, yesterday cashed in most of his 13.4% stake in steelmaker Corus.

BG UPGRADED TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' VS 'UNDERWEIGHT' AT MORGAN STANLEY

AB PORTS INITIATED 'NEUTRAL' AT JP MORGAN, PRICE TARGET 494P

SPIRENT INITIATED 'OVERWEIGHT' AT MORGAN STANLEY, PRICE TARGET 90P

Morning punters.

Nothing from me today I'm afraid. Out in 10 mins - aargh!

MARKETS

FTSE 1004,722.8, down 14.0

FTSE 250 6,715.7, down 13.2

DJIA 10,676.40, up 38.10

Nasdaq Comp 2,159.84, up 11.34

S&P 500 1,203.40, up 4.70

Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 10,956.46, up 40.88

Hang Seng midday 14,104.52, up 61.00

Gold 436.90 usd (439.20 usd)

Oil - Brent Jan 39.25 usd (37.84 usd)



BREAKING NEWS

* 'Reckless' auditors face jail; false advice from accountants may prompt criminal charges; boost for firms with government agreeing in return to a limit on liability - FT

* German regulators investigating Citigroup for possible market manipulation in the eurozone government bond futures market, people familiar with the probe say - FT

* Dissident shareholder Alisher Usmanov cashes in most of his shares in CORUS

* National Health Service claiming 4.5 mln stg in compensation from BT over the late delivery of a broadband link

* PEARSON says it remains committed to financial newspapers in spite of its decision to sell a controlling stake in Recoletos, the Spanish media company, for 743 mln eur

* BRITANNIC to buy Allianz Cornhill closed life fund for a price in excess of 100 mln stg - FT

* TRAVIS PERKINS emerging as the frontrunner to buy WICKES in a deal that could be finalised by the end of this week - Mail



PRESS COMMENT

FT

THE LEX COLUMN comments on VODAFONE/Verizon/Sprint, HBOS, Indian stocks, Veritas/Symantec - HIGHLAND GOLD (cautious investors should probably swap into Russian gold groups with a more consistent record, such as PETER HAMBRO MINING and BEMA GOLD)

Sun

HBOS (keep holding)

Mail

MOSS BROS (whispers suggest that Kevin Stanford has been approached by a private equity firm - possibly Permira or Cinven - to name a price for his 28 pct stake)

Telegraph

PEARSON (worth considering), CARPETRIGHT (worth holding), JOHN MENZIES (shares should continue to rise)

Times

RUMOUR OF THE DAY: MOSS BROS (talk that Kevin Stanford has been offered 150 pence for his 22.5 pct, held through a derivatives contract) - DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: OASIS HEALTHCARE (chief executive buys 100,000 shares at 12 pence) - TEMPUS: HBOS (buy), CARPETRIGHT (buy), ISOFT (sell)

Express

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER (trading fears) - WHO'S DEALING: ITE GROUP (chairman buys 25,456 shares at 69.53 pence) - SHARE WHISPER: VOSS NET (newly appointed Australian board members Gerard Nealon and Denis Chambers have bought a large stake in the company, which is rumoured to be looking at buying a nickel-mining business) - BROKER'S VIEW: HEADLAM GROUP (Panmure maintains buy support)

Guardian

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER (rumours that today's trading statement would contain some nasties)

Independent

THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: CARPETRIGHT (existing investors may find it worth sticking around for the full-year results in the spring, but it is looking a bit late for newcomers to climb aboard), INTERTEK (leave on the shelf for now), JOHN MENZIES (still a buy) - FRENCH CONNECTION (bears bet it is likely to have a disappointing Christmas)

UK domestic banks downgraded to 'underweight' at JP Morgan
JP Morgan's key 'underweight' recommendations are Lloyds TSB, Northern Rock PLC, Banco Popolar SA, Bankinter SA and Handelsbanken.
The broker's key 'overweight' rating are Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered, HBOS, Erste, Bank Austria and National Bank of Greece.

morning all iam thinking of shorting fccn is it to late views please?

Morning all.

WOODIE - Forecasts are that FCCN will have a bad Christmas trading session so may be more opportunities coming up. Nobody knows where the bottom will be.

Best watch Level 2 for the order book to turn again before making a move.

G.

g thanks for info

UK and European brokers' recommendations issued today, as collated by AFX News from a range of market sources.

ABN AMRO
Downgrades to Add from Buy Smith & Nephew

WESTLB
Initiates coverage as Outperform on Exel, 800 pence target

WILLIAMS DE BROE
Upgrades to Buy from Hold First Choice

SEYMOUR PIERCE
Downgrades to Hold Kleeneze

JP MORGAN
Initiates as Neutral Belgacom, price target 33.1 eur -- Initiates as Neutral AB ports, price target 494p -- Initiates as Neutral Campari, price target 48 eur

CITIGROUP SMITH BARNEY
Downgrades to Hold from Buy Recoletos -- European Tobacco; Upgrades to Buy from Hold Altadis, raises target to 35.5 eur from 29.5 -- Hold BAT, raises target to 920 pence from 840, Hold Gallaher, raises target to 750 pence from 655, Buy Imperial Tobacco, raises target to 1580 pence from 1470

DRESDNER KLEINWORT
Reiterates Hold Alliance & Leicester -- Downgrades to Add from Buy Inditex

PANMURE
Reiterates Buy Inchcape, raises target to 2150 pence from 1925 -- Sell Aggreko, cuts target to 130 pence from 140 -- Upgrades to Buy from Hold iSoft, 400 pence target -- Buy Wilson Bowden

MERRILL LYNCH
Downgrades to Neutral United Business Media -- Downgrades to Neutral from Buy Group 4 Securicor -- Buy Rexam, raises target 480p from 460p -- Neutral British Vita, cuts 2004 pretax profits

UBS
Reiterate Buy Intertek, price target 800p vs 830 -- Downgrades to Neutral from Buy Tandberg -- Downgrades to Neutral from Buy Aegon -- Neutral EADS, cuts price target to 23 eur from 25 -- Neutral Altria, ups price target to 56 usd from 51.50 -- Neutral Yell, price target raised to 435p vs 360 -- Downgrades to Reduce from Buy iSoft, cuts target to 320 pence from 540

CSFB
Reiterates Neutral TDC, ups target price to 234 dkr

DEUTSCHE BANK
Reiterates Buy BT Group, raises target to 215 pence -- Upgrades to Buy from Hold Premier Farnell -- Downgrades to Hold from Buy Altadis -- Buy HBOS, raises target to 880 pence

MORGAN STANLEY
Upgrades to Equalweight from Underweight BG Group -- Initiates coverage as Overweight Spirent -- Downgrades to Underweight from Equalweight PPC -- Downgrades to Equalweight from Overweight Group 4 Securicor

DEUTSCHE BANK
Buy iSoft, cuts target to 430 pence from 520

Morning all, (just)

HBOS - Buy? I would have said it was a bit late now!