Grand Central: What We Learned From Yellen: Fed is Dug In on Raising Rates in 2015

Broker comments in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, markets.eu@dowjones.com
        1030 GMT Stifel Nicolaus downgrades bike and car parts retailer Halfords Group PLC to hold from buy, following weaker than expected 1Q sales. Believes Halfords may struggle to deliver in excess of 4% like-for-like sales in fiscal 2016. Stifel also cuts its fiscal 2016 and 2017 adjusted pretax profit estimates by around 4% and below consensus, to GBP83.8M and GBP92.0M, respectively. The brokerage removes its 528p target price for Halfords, in line with its policy of not giving target prices for stocks on hold. Halfords shares trade 1.6% lower at 540p. (tapan.panchal@wsj.com)

        0947 GMT TomCo Energy is the biggest riser on AIM after the oil shale explorer said it has now received all necessary major permits from the various Utah State departments to take its Holliday Block into development and production. "The approval...is a major milestone for TomCo," CFO Miikka Haromo said after the company received a ground water discharge permit and a construction permit from the Utah Division of Water Quality. Shares soar 23% to 0.16p. (jana.simmons@wsj.com)

        0913 GMT Spain's bad loans fell to 11.4% of the total in May, down from 12% in April, data released Friday by the country's central bank shows. The numbers are bang in line with expectations that bad loans--a notoriously lagging indicator--should from now on reflect improvements in economic conditions and banking balance sheets that took place last year or even before. A piece of data which is closer to real-time is total loans, in a permanent slide and down to a nine-year low at EUR1.35 trillion, or around 130% of Spain's gross domestic product from a peak of EUR1.87 trillion in late 2008, when the property bust was busting on all cylinders. (david.roman@wsj.com)

        0833 GMT Shares of Frontier Resources International are down 40% at 0.45p after the oil and gas company announced a heavily-discounted share placing. The company has raised GBP205,000 via 58.57 million share placing at 0.35p each, a 53% discount to its closing share price of 0.75 pence Thursday. The money will be used as additional working capital as the company continues to seek a farm-out of one or more of its projects in Oman and Namibia. (ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749)

        0807 GMT Panmure Gordon lifts its target price on Hutchison China MediTech to 1750p from 1650p after the company says its prescription drug joint venture Shanghai Hutchison Pharmaceuticals Limited has been granted an invention patent in China for SXBXP to 2029. The broker remains a buyer. Shares flat at 1,707.5p. (jana.simmons@wsj.com)

        0805 GMT Canaccord Genuity boosts its target price on Dart Group to 540p from 415p after the company reported a good end to fiscal 2015. The broker also upgrades its EPS estimate by 17% for fiscal 2016 and by 14% for 2017. Canaccord maintains its buy rating. Shares +1.7% at 435p. (jana.simmons@wsj.com)

        0804 GMT Shares of New World Oil & Gas PLC fall 67% to 0.09p as the company returns from a two-month trading suspension that was triggered by financial difficulties. The AIM-listed company has since raised GBP3.5M through the sale of shares at 0.09 p each, a 65% discount to the 0.26 pence value on May 18, the day before the shares were suspended. The company has had a difficult time of late. A drilling program in Belize was unsuccessful, and the company was unable to seal funding from two potential investors, Niel Petroleum and Al Maraam. (ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749)

        0744 GMT London's FTSE 100 is down 0.2% in early trade at 6786. Marks & Spencer is the biggest loser, down 1.2%. The retailer said late Thursday the executive director for general merchandise, John Dixon, is leaving the business. ARM Holdings is the biggest gainer, up 1.5%, followed by Intertek and Weir Group, both up 1.3%. (josie.cox@wsj.com)

        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 17, 2015 07:03 ET (11:03 GMT)

        - U.S. Home Builder Confidence Hits Highest Level Since 2005. An index of builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes stood at a seasonally adjusted level of 60 in July, the National Association of Home Builders said Thursday.
        - White House Again Raises Debt Projections. Last July, when the White House first revised down its growth forecast, that bumped up the debt-to-GDP ratio to 72% for 2024. This February, that figure rose to 73.5%. And on Tuesday, the latest estimate said the debt-to-GDP ratio would stand at 74.6%.
        - U.S. Jobless Claims Fall. Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell 15,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 281,000 in the week ended July 11, the Labor Department said Thursday.
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        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 17, 2015 07:27 ET (11:27 GMT)

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