LONDON (ShareCast) - 1359: German chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly said that no further sanctionson Russia are planned for now.






1217: Speaking on Bloomberg TV Goldman Sachs equity strategist Abby Joseph Cohen says the S&P 500 should reach the 2,150 point mark in twelve months´time.

1113: Dollar/yen is rising quickly, trading up by 0.98% at 115.93 as of 12:08 after remarks from Japan´s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he will call snap elections if a planned consumption tax increase next year is delayed. In tandem, Russia´s rouble is over 2% lower at 46.71 versus the US dollar, giving back most of the previous day´s gains after the country´s central bank announced the end of regular currency interventions.

0920: The price of iron ore prices will drop to under $60 a metric ton next year as global supplies expand but demand conditions remain drail, according to Citi. The metal´s price will average $72 a ton in the first three months of 2015, versus an earlier forecast of $82. In the second-quarter forecast it will drop further, to $65 (instead of $80), and in the three months to September it will move lower still, to $60 (instead of $78). The industrial metal will trade at $62 over the final three months of the year, below the $78 it has previously anticipated.

0842: JP Morgan has upped its view on the shares of Betfair and Man Group.

0831: Renishaw is leading gains on the junior index after delivering its fourth trading update since the start of October, guiding to profits for FY2015 ahead of expectations, N+1 Singer points out. For its part, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it now expects its full-year operating margin to grow by around 400 basis points (bp). In July it had guided to an increase of "at least 300bp" from the 13.6% in 2013. On the top flight index the best performer is Vodafone after guiding towards the higher end of expectations for full-year profits.

0830: Stocks have started the session slightly higher on the back of overnight gains on Wall Street, ahead of today´s Veteran´s Day holiday Stateside (equity markets will remain open). Like-for-like retail sales in the UK were flat in October, according to the latest BRC retail sales monitor data. Further abroad, the latest trade negotiations between China and the US seem to have made some progress. On the negative side of things, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stated that he wil call snap elections if a planned consumption tax next year is delayed. FTSE 100 up 20 to 6,631.

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