US

•  The Dow up 153.56 at 13,657.86, the S&P up 20.78 at 1,497.49 and the NASDAQ up 51.38 at 2,612.98
• Shares were ahead on Wednesday as a solid profit and outlook from Cisco Systems aided technology shares. Investors were also relieved by the Federal Reserve's message that the housing slump would not stall economic growth and hit corporate profits.
• News Corp - Media Company earns $890 million or 28c a share on a combined Class A and B basis, boosted by its SKY Italia unit, international cable channels and its Fox Interactive Media unit.
• AIG - American International Group's 2Q net income rises to $4.28 billion or $1.64 a share. Excluding after-tax net realised investment gains and losses and other items, EPS comes to $1.77. Analysts expected EPS of $1.61.
• Blackstone - Asset manager and financial adviser closes the largest buyout fund ever raised at $21.7 billion, shares rose 3%.
• Cisco - Shares climb 6% to a six-year high after the network-equipment maker reports strong earnings growth for its 4Q and raises its long-term growth forecast.

Japan

• NIKKEI up 141.32 at 17170.60 Hang Seng currently up 117.05 at 22653.72
• China Shipping Container Lines Co. said Thursday its first-half net profit jumped sharply to CNY1.16 billion from CNY81.2 million a year earlier
• Hong Kong-listed Chinese developer Beijing Capital Land Ltd. said Thursday it is planning an initial public offering of up to 1.4 billion new A-shares to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange

Europe

• European equity markets are seen opening higher after Wall Street extended gains in late trade in yet another volatile session as bargain hunters scooped up recently battered stocks.
• Aegon - Q2 Net profit was €655 million, down from a re-stated €857 million last year, but above analysts' estimates of €515-551 also announced a €1 billion share buyback scheme.
• AXA – 1H Underlying earnings were €2.688 billion, up from €2.079 billion, and net profit was €3.180 billion, up 16 pct from €2.732 billion
• RWE - Germany's largest power producer says high power prices in Germany and Europe boosted its 1H net profit and profit rose 59% to €2.63 billion on the year, exceeding analyst expectations of €2.36 billion.
• Deutsche Telekom - says net profit in the 2Q fell 40% to €608 million from €1.02 billion a year earlier, although the figure was ahead of analysts' forecasts of €563 million.

UK

• FTSE100 has opened down 41 points at 6352.90
• Aviva - said operating profit for the six months to June 30 came in down 8% at £1.541 billion, from £1.699 billion stg in the same period last year. Analysts had expected £1.563 billion.
• BAE Systems - The group's sales increased 8 percent to 6.9 billion from 6.4 billion, while its first half operating profit increased to £643 million from £540 million previously.
• International Power - said Thursday that first half pre-items pre-tax profit was £276 million, compared to £280 million in the year before. Chairman said "in line with expectations".
• Ladbrokes - Thursday announced an interim pre-tax profit of £156million for the six months to June 30, compared to £158.6million for the same period last year.

Brokers

• Lehman Bros lifts Scottish & Newcastle price target to 600p from 585p
• UBS upgrades Smiths Group to Buy from Neutral
• JP Morgan cuts Marks & Spencer’s09/08/2007 to Neutral from Overweight

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