Investors have come back from the weekend to find that the budget sequester in the US is in 'full-swing' after US President Barack Obama and Republicans failed to reach an agreement to avoid 85bn dollars in automatic federal budget cuts which will come into effect throughout what remains of this fiscal year.

On a more positive note, and according to The Sunday Times, France and Germany may be willing to show flexibility on caps for bankers' bonuses. The proposal from Brussels, last week, could see thousands of jobs lost in the British financial sector, as foreign institutions look to avoid the limits by moving outside of London and the European Union. As well, European institutions may be placed at a very serious disadvantage versus foreign competitors.

Acting as a backdrop, and highlighting the political risk which exists in the Eurozone, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe Portugal is now seeking to renegotiate parts of its international bail-out agreement. This comes on the heels of comments to the press from the Chief Economist of Germany's IFO institute, Hans Werner Sinn, regarding the possibility that Greece and Portugal may be forced to leave the single currency area.

The February construction PMI is published at 9.30.

To be had in account, investors are also waiting on the release of the next US employment report, on Friday, as well as a barrage of economic statistics due out from the People's Republic of China.

FTSE 100: HSBC misses analysts' forecasts

Emerging markets focused lender HSBC has this morning reported a profit before tax of $20.6bn (£13.73bn), down 6% on 2011, including $5.2bn of adverse fair value movements on own debt.

The consensus estimate had been calling for a profit before tax of £14.272bn. The group reported a record year in commercial banking, with reported profit before tax of $8.5bn, up 7%. Underlying revenues for the group were valued at $63.5bn (£42.3bn), up 7%. This was slightly below consensus expectations.

Miners are generally weaker this morning, led by shares of Anglo American after analysts at Nomura lowered their rating on the shares to reduce from neutral.

Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl has acquired Brazilian outfit Labor Import Comercial Importadora Exportadora.

FTSE 250: Debenhams craters following profit warning

High Street retailer Debenhams has admitted its UK business had been 'severely disrupted' by the snow in the latter part of January. The group said that whilst group like-for-like sales grew by around 3.0% for the 26 weeks to March 2nd, during the snow-affected period of January 14th-27th UK like-for-like sales were down by around 10%.

Defence, security and energy outfit Ultra Electronics has announced full year underlying pre-tax profits of £115.6m, with revenues up 4% at £760m.

Specialist insurance and reinsurance underwriting group Amlin on Monday announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire RaetsMarine, a managing general agent ranked in the top three global providers of fixed premium P&I business.



FTSE 100 - Risers
Centrica (CNA) 361.20p +1.72%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,308.00p +1.71%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,561.00p +1.51%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,644.00p +1.48%
WPP (WPP) 1,072.00p +1.32%
National Grid (NG.) 733.00p +1.10%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,434.00p +1.04%
Shire Plc (SHP) 2,096.00p +1.01%
Capita (CPI) 866.00p +0.87%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,354.00p +0.87%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 563.50p -4.49%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,831.50p -3.61%
Polymetal International (POLY) 971.00p -3.09%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 51.74p -2.84%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 708.30p -2.72%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,353.50p -2.57%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 326.50p -2.51%
Aviva (AV.) 347.70p -2.47%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,142.00p -2.31%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,055.00p -2.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 825.00p +3.12%
Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 519.50p +1.86%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 336.40p +1.85%
Perform Group (PER) 419.60p +1.84%
BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.95 +1.79%
Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 533.00p +1.52%
CSR (CSR) 476.20p +1.51%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 218.80p +1.39%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 250.00p +1.30%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,423.00p +1.28%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Debenhams (DEB) 85.30p -9.83%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 214.60p -4.11%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 121.90p -3.48%
Carillion (CLLN) 298.80p -2.99%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 91.00p -2.88%
Bumi (BUMI) 310.80p -2.81%
Lonmin (LMI) 345.90p -2.78%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 364.10p -2.57%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 189.90p -2.57%
Supergroup (SGP) 599.00p -2.36%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 1.00p +8.70%
Ricardo (RCDO) 399.75p +1.72%
Kofax (KFX) 284.00p +1.43%
Vectura Group (VEC) 92.75p +0.82%
Innovation Group (TIG) 25.00p 0.00%
Triad Group (TRD) 6.00p 0.00%
Parity Group (PTY) 26.50p 0.00%
Antisoma (ASM) 1.88p 0.00%
Torotrak (TRK) 24.00p 0.00%
Promethean World (PRW) 17.25p 0.00%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Phytopharm (PYM) 1.62p -4.41%
Skyepharma (SKP) 65.00p -1.52%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 18.25p -1.35%
Vislink (VLK) 32.75p -0.38%
Optos (OPTS) 203.75p -0.12%
NCC Group (NCC) 147.60p -0.10%
Innovation Group (TIG) 25.00p 0.00%
Triad Group (TRD) 6.00p 0.00%
Parity Group (PTY) 26.50p 0.00%
Antisoma (ASM) 1.88p 0.00%

AB

Related share prices
Anglo American (AAL) share price
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) share price
Bunzl (BNZL) share price
Amlin (AML) share price
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) share price
Debenhams (DEB) share price