STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Friday, 16 March 2012

[Ghost Dog]

11. UBS ups 2012 Europe, UK GDP estimates

Economists at UBS have upgraded their 2012 eurozone GDP growth forecast to -0.4 percent from -0.7 percent, and for the UK to +0.6 percent from -0.1 percent.

"Europe is still in a recession, but a milder one. But the big variances across countries are getting wider: Germany is upgraded to +1.0 percent and Spain is cut further to -2.0 percent. We continue to see higher economic growth outside Europe," the broker says in a strategy note...

... "With 90 percent of European results in, we have seen small net beats (6 percent by company count). But, there has been a big gap between internationally exposed stocks that have beaten and the domestics that have missed," UBS adds. The broker says, based on its sample, household products, media, autos, semis and pharma have beaten; IT hardware, investment banks and materials have missed.

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/16/markets-europe-stocksnews-idUKL5E8EG0KB20120316?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=marketMovers&rpc=401