| Competition Congratulations to Martin Longley whose caption (below) has been voted the funniest and has won the UK-Analyst Competition. Watch out for another contest at the end of the week.  "If only it was so easy to cut the deficit." The Markets The US economy added 171,000 new jobs in October, a figure which was well ahead of expectations. Unemployment - a key issue ahead of Tuesday's presidential election - rose to 7.9% however (after falling to 7.8% in September) as more people resumed the search for jobs. The figures were quickly used by Mitt Romney against Barack Obama: he said "Today's increase in the unemployment rate is a sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill." Staying with unemployment, the number of jobless in Spain rose by a further 2.7% in October, meaning that unemployment levels have risen for a third consecutive month. Spain, the fourth biggest country in Europe, now has the highest unemployment rate on the continent. Meanwhile, China's services sector, which accounts for almost 43% of the overall economy, grew nicely in October. The non-manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 55.5 from 53.7 in September as services such as construction exhibited steady growth. At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 6.09 points at 13,087.07 and the Nasdaq was up by 8.53 points at 2,664.81. In London the FTSE 100 fell by 29.49 points to 5,839.06; the FTSE 250 finished 90.37 points down at 12030.46; the FTSE All-Share dropped 3.81 points to 703.70; and the FTSE AIM All Share fell by 3.81 points to 699.89. 
Broker Notes Canaccord Genuity maintained a "sell" recommendation on business support services company Rentokil (RTO) with a target price of 72p. The broker expects organic growth to have slowed from the 1.3% reported in the first half of the year due to a deterioration in the trading backdrop of continental Europe. The broker also believes that the company's parcel delivery service CityLink will continue to see a fall in revenues and that the business will remain loss making. The shares slipped by 0.4p to 88.05p. Daniel Stewart reiterated its "sell" stance on Admiral (ADM) and pointed to falling rates in the industry as a main bear factor. The broker realises rates were down 3% on average in the first half of the year for Admiral and subsequently the firm's combined ratio is steadily approaching 95%, which would take over 25% from group pre-tax profits. The combined ratio measures operating expenses as a percentage of premium income. Admiral shares fell by 14p to 1067p. 
N+1 Singer kept its "buy" recommendation on Dialight (DIA), with a target price of 1,355p after the company secured a lighting order worth 850,000 dollars (532,000 pounds) with a major US rig owner and operator. The broker believes that this order indicates what a unique position the company has in the lighting industry and appreciates how it has consistently accessed markets that are protected by tight regulations. The shares jumped up by 42p to 1175p. Blue-Chips Engineering company Weir Group (WEIR) reported a 15% like-for-like decrease in order input for the third quarter ended 30th September 2012. The company has three divisions; minerals, oil & gas and power & industrial, with the oil and gas sector suffering a 47% decrease in like-for-like order inputs. However, despite these figures the company insists that it is on track to deliver its target profit before tax figure for 2012, which is in the range of 440 million to 450 million pounds. Shares in Weir grew by 80p to 1,831p. HSBC (HSBA) announced a 51% fall in reported profit before tax to 3.5 billion dollars (2.2 billion pounds) for the third quarter ended 30th September 2012, of which 5.8 billion dollars (3.6 billion pounds) related to adverse movements on the fair value of the group's debt. The group's underlying profit before tax was 5 billion dollars (3.1 billion pounds), an increase of 125% on the same period last year. This improvement in underlying profit before tax was driven by increased revenues in the global banking and markets division as well as the commercial banking division. The results Included an additional provision of $800 million in relation to ongoing US anti-money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act and Office of Foreign Assets Control investigations, as well as a $357 million cost for Payment Protection Insurance. Shares in HSBC fell by 8.1p to 618p. 
Mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO) has signed an agreement with an undisclosed Chinese power supplier to provide power at the flagship Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia. Negotiations were ongoing for months and had already caused substantial delays to the 5 billion dollar (3.1 billion pounds) project. After the agreement, which paved the way for processing facilities at Oyu Tologi to be readied, Chief Executive Andrew Harding said "When fully developed it will be a top-five copper producer with significant gold production". The shares dropped by 69p to 3,145p. Mid-Caps Satellite operator Inmarsat (ISAT) revealed a 5% increase in revenues, excluding income from US partnership LightSquared, to $322 million (200.8 million pounds) for the three months to September. The company's maritime division experienced a 17% increase in revenues, driven by pricing initiatives earlier in the year and by the continuing strong take up of FleetBroadband. The XpressLink maritime broadband service saw an increase in sales too, with the company believing that the product will continue to capture market share. The shares declined by 69p to 3,145p. Specialist insurer Hiscox (HSX) reported a 6.4% increase in gross written premiums to 1.244 billion pounds for the nine months ended 30th September 2012 as the group expanded in areas where rates rose, particularly US errors and omissions. The company also stated it is in a good position to absorb any financial hit from Hurricane Sandy, due to an absence of catastrophe claims in the first three quarters of the year. Sandy, which has caused insured losses of approximately, $20 billion (12.5 million pounds), is set to become the fourth most costly disaster in US history. The shares were down by 8.9p at 474.7p. 
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) was forced to close its metal plant in Kainuu as waste water from the Talvivaara mine seeped out into a ditch outside the mining area following a leak from the firm's Gypsium pond. The company is now building dams to ensure this is stopped and plans to have the plant re-opened by Wednesday. The leak on the Finnish site is currently allowing hundreds of litres of waste water per second into the environment. The shares fell by 5.7p to 129.7p. Small Caps, AIM and PLUS Latin American gold mining company Minera IRL (MIRL) announced a 24% drop in revenues to $12.5 million (7.8 million pounds) for the 3 months ended 30th September 2012. Gross profits were down by 36% to $5.8 million as production dropped off at the Corihuarmi mine in Peru as expected. A further squeeze on profits was a 35.5% increase in operating costs to 552 dollars (334 pounds) per ounce, caused by lower production output. The shares crept up by 0.35p to 53.5p. Leni Gas & Oil (LGO) has agreed to sell its minority interests in the US Gulf of Mexico for 1.625 million dollars (1 million pounds) in cash. The extra cash will enable the company to accelerate the development of its Trinidad portfolio without needing to source additional capital through the equity or debt markets. The company recently reported proven and probable (2P) reserves of 7.2 million barrels of oil and 3P reserves of 30.5 million barrels within its Trinidad portfolio. The shares climbed by 0.15p to 1.25p. Risk management software developer Active Risk Group (ARI) revealed a revenue increase of 11% to 3.77 million pounds for the six months ended 30th September 2012. However, the company also reported a loss before tax of 0.8 million pounds, compared with a 0.63 million pounds loss last year, driven by an increase in administration and distribution costs. The shares fell by 4p to 22.5p. 
Sarantel (SLG), a manufacturer of antennas for mobile devices, reported a 160% increase in revenues for the second half of the year ended 30th September 2012 compared to the first half. The growth is primarily due to numerous military programmes in production, including a 200,000 pound follow up production order for its GeoHelix GPS antenna, which is used by the US military's joint tactical radio system program. The shares remained flat at 0.33p. 3D consumer technology licensing group DDD Group (DDD) has signed a patent agreement with Samsung for an undisclosed amount to allow Samsung to perform offline 2D and 3D video conversion. The license agreement is the first for DDD group solely concerning the intellectual property relating to 2D and 3D video conversion. Samsung Electronics, with whom the deal was done, reported sales of 143.1 billion dollars (89.6 billion pounds) in 2011 and employ approximately 206,000 people worldwide. Shares in DDD were up by 1p at 25.5p. Fastjet (FJET), the first pan-African low cost carrier, unveiled its new brand and says it will begin selling tickets a week ahead of schedule as the airline embarks on its first flight later this month. The company's website launches next week and will allow tickets to be bought through debit and credit cards, as well as mobile phone technology that will debit users' phone accounts. The shares flew by 0.275p to 3.75p. 
Fastjet's new mascot - a friendly African Grey Parrot | 
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