Good morning traders!

In the US last night, the Dow rose 19 points to 15,471, the Nasdaq added 11 points at
3,610 and the S&P500 gained 5 points at 1,681.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was recently up 143 points at 14,758 and the Hang Seng 5
points better at 21,377.

WTI crude oil traded at $106.61 and Brent crude at $108.61.

Gold settled at $1,276 an ounce.

Good hunting!

G.

Intel and IBM see big fall in profit

Two tech titans, IBM and Intel, have reported big drops in net income.

Intel reported a second-quarter profit of $2bn (£1.32bn), down 29% from a year ago. For its part, IBM saw earnings for the same period fall 17% to $3.23bn.

Revenue for both companies slipped as well, with IBM's falling by 3% and Intel's down 5%.

European Factors to Watch-Shares seen marginally lower; focus on earnings

Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:23am BST
LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - European shares were expected to open marginally
lower on Thursday, with investors seen avoiding strong bets ahead of major
company results a day after the world's biggest chipmaker Intel cut its
full-year revenue forecast.

European technology stocks might come under pressure after Intel said late
on Wednesday it was scaling back capital spending following weaker personal
computer sales and economic weakness in China.

European and U.S. companies to announce results on Thursday included Nokia
, Ericsson, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft and
Google.

Financial spreadbetters predicted Britain's FTSE 100 to open 3 to 6
points lower, or as much as 0.09 percent, Germany's DAX to fall 5 to 6
points, or as much as 0.07 percent, and France's CAC 40 to drop 3
points, or 0.08 percent.

Investors free to put Aim shares into Isas from August

Investors will be allowed to put shares in Britain's smallest listed companies into their Isa portfolios from next month, it has emerged.

The move to allow shares in companies listed on the Aim market was part of the Budget in March.

The investment industry had predicted the new rules would be introduced at the beginning of the tax-year next April, when savers get a fresh Isa allowance.

However, a date has now been set for August 5, according to a bulletin from the Tax Incentivised Savings Association, the industry body that has been working on the plans.

Nikkei rises 1.3 pct to 8-week high as yen weakens on Bernanke comments

Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:07am BST
TOKYO, July 18 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose
1.3 percent to a new eight-week high on Thursday as the dollar
traded above 100 yen after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
said the timing of when the U.S. central bank would begin
winding down its stimulus was flexible.

The benchmark Nikkei gained 193.46 points to
14,808.50, the highest closing level since May 22. The broader
Topix added 0.7 percent to 1,222.01.

FTSE100 modestly higher in early deals, with LSE strong

EUR Current Account 19.6B 21.3B 19.5B

GBP Retail Sales m/m 0.2% 0.2% 2.1%

EUR Spanish 10-y Bond Auction 4.72|2.3 4.77|1.8

FTSE100 adds to early gains ahead of Bernanke testimony

ECB policy will be expansionary as long as needed - Asmussen

VILNIUS | Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:46pm BST
(Reuters) - The European Central Bank's monetary policy will remain expansionary for as long as needed, a senior ECB policymaker said, and IMF chief Christine Lagarde noted that the bank still had room to manoeuvre if needed.

Abandoning its traditional policy of never pre-committing on future rates, the ECB said on July 4 it would keep its interest rates at present or lower levels for an "extended period" - its first use of so-called forward guidance.

The ECB's main refinancing rate stands at a record low of 0.5 percent and the deposit rate it pays banks for holding their cash at zero. The ECB has said it is "technically ready" to take the deposit rate into negative territory if it decides to.

CAD Wholesale Sales m/m 2.3% 0.4% 0.2%

USD Unemployment Claims 334K 344K 360K

Dow industrials rise to intraday record

USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index 19.8 8.5 12.5

USD CB Leading Index m/m 0.0% 0.3% 0.2%

GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares hit records after Bernanke remarks, yen drops

Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:44pm BST

NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Stock markets around the world extended their rally on Thursday, with investors reassured that U.S. central bank stimulus measures would be unwound with care, while the yen and euro fell.

CORRECTED-GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares hit records as Bernanke speaks, yen drops

Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:08pm BST
(Corrects headline and 3rd paragraph to clarify timing and venue of Bernanke testimony)

End-of-day Market Overview