Market overview: Boston Fed president takes prudent approach

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1333: Market commentary has picked up on cautious remarks from the Boston Fed´s Rosengren regarding the possibility that interest rate hikes could be postponed - not the most likely scenario in his opinion. 1253: Analyst at Jefferies have lowered their view on shares of Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) to hold from buy.

1139: Following an analysis of 12 possible macro surprises analysts at Exane include Lloyds among its most prefered stocks and HSBC among its least.

1027: Sterling is gaining after the MPC (KOSDAQ: 050540.KQ - news) minutes showed the BoE´s rate-setters were now more optmistic on the Eurozone and less worried by the impact of sterling strength. As well, all present were in agreement that the next move in Bank Rate would be higher. Nonetheless, it should perhaps be pointed out that the minutes clearly state that Bank Rate was expected to rise over the three-year forecast period. The possibility was also held out that the dampening effect of the pound´s strength on prices might be less going forward.

1018: The German government has revised its forecast for economic growth in 2015 to 1.8% from 1.5% previously.

0930: As expected, at its last policy meeting the Bank of England´s MPC opted to maintain its policy settings unchanged by a vote of 9-0. 0905: Commenting on Tesco´s results today, analysts at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) have this to say: "We continue to rate Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) a Buy with a SOTP based PT of 275p. We view a FCF yield of circa 7% as an attractive valuation for a food retailer. Our Buy rating hinges upon a return to a 3% normalized UK EBIT margin and a stabilization of international profitability. Downside risks include a slower UK margin recovery than anticipated or a deterioration in international profit." 0900: Stocks have begun the morning lower, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. However, and acting as a backdrop, 10-year Greek government bond yields were in fact dropping by 18 basis points to reach 13.45%. Tesco shares have turned into positive territory despite having reported a worse than expected 6.4bn pond annual loss, which market commentary has interpreted largely as a 'kitchen sinking' excercise.