** MIDDAY WRAP **

** EUROPEAN EQUITIES **
Stoxx 600 0.05%; FTSE 0.1%; DAX 0.17%; CAC -0.47%; AEX 0.06%
RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 336pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 45pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent” rowspan=”3” colspan=”7” height=”60” width=”448” class=”xl25”>| Energy 0.99%| Utilities 0.47%| Materials 0.29%| Financials 0.04%| ConsStaples -0.17%| ConsDisc -0.17%| Industrial -0.29%| Technology -0.36%| Healthcare -0.39%| Telecom -0.99%

** IN PLAY TODAY **

- European markets are flat on below average volumes, affected by the U.S. being closed today due to President’s Day. Energy & Utilities are gaining after strength in the oil price. Brent oil gained 2.5% in Europe after news flow over the weekend out of Nigeria stating that Militants attacked the Forcados oil terminal and with that halting shipments of 400k barrels a day (estimated to be 20% of daily Nigeria oil exports). Above that the militants vowed to carry out new attacks on oil companies.

- On a stock specific note shares of Schering gained 4% after reporting above expected earnings. BOC group gained 1.5% on speculations of Germany’s Linde increasing its bid for the company.

** UPS & DOWNS **

+ INBEV PRICE EST. RAISED TO EU40 FROM EU33 AT MORGAN STANLEY
+ UMICORE PRICE ESTIMATE RAISED TO EU140 AT CREDIT SUISSE
+ NESTLE PRICE EST. RAISED TO SF440 FROM SF405 AT LEHMAN
+ TELECOM ITALIA RAISED TO `OVERWEIGHT’ AT JPMORGAN

- SANOFI-AVENTIS CUT TO `SELL’ FROM `HOLD’ AT CITIGROUP
- DEUTSCHE TELEKOM CUT TO `UNDERWEIGHT’ AT JPMORGAN
- VODAFONE CUT TO `UNDERWEIGHT’ FROM `NEUTRAL’ AT JPMORGAN
- BT GROUP CUT TO `NEUTRAL’ FROM `OVERWEIGHT’ AT JPMORGAN


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