Markets Overview: (Source: Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, DJ Newswires)

UK 100 called to open up +17pts at 6745, having registered just a 1pt gain in yesterday's session.

The single point advance would perhaps suggest very little happened yesterday when in fact it was one of the more memorable sessions of late - The UK Index had a trading range of over 50pts yesterday and swung between gains and losses no fewer the fourteen times.

Let's start with the losers. Barclays (BARC.L) finished the day down 6.5% at 215.00p, an improvement on the session low of 209.40p (down 8.5%), after the US Attorney General slapped the company with a lawsuit for yet more unethical behaviour, this time regarding fraudulent securities activity relating to dark pool, high frequency trading. A judgement and subsequent fine is yet to be determined but that didn't stop traders cashing out.

Standard Chartered (STAN.L) ensured Barclays had company at the foot of the table with a 4.3% decline after announcing a profit warning. The bank said first half profit for 2014 would fall by some 20% and was likely to leave its full year 2014 profit down from 2013. HSBC (HSBA.L) was cold shouldered to the tune of 1.2% as a result.

However, there were some spectacular gains recorded at the top of the table. The London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) advanced 6.1% as the market cheered news of its acquisition of US peer Frank Russell.

Bank of England governor, Mark Carney said all the right things to bring confidence back to the house builder sector and those related to it.

In short Mr Carney spoke positively about the UK housing market, that he expected house prices to continue climbing and that we are not in danger of bubble bursting so long as lending continues in a sensible fashion. Interest rate rises will be gradual and incremental, again this went some way to calming those spooked by the boom and bust scaremongers.

Carney's comments saw Persimmon (PSN.L) and Barratt Developments (BDEV.L) secure podium positions on the UK 100 with gains of 5% and 4.7% respectively. Building materials supplier Travis Perkins (TPK.L) gained 2.7% in the process.

The news spread to Britain's biggest mortgage lender Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), the shares appreciating by 1.2% to 75.4p.

In the AIM market, fans favourite Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP.L) gets a mention after rising 18.4% to 95p as the takeover rumour mill starts to grind once again.

U.S. stocks slipped for the third time in four days after Fed’s James Bullard, suggested that higher interest rates may happen sooner than people thought, as early as March. The Dow was down in early trading by over 100pts before recovering to finish lower by just 20pts at 16,846, with the S&P 500 also lower by 2pts to 1,957. Of note Bullard is not a voting member of the policy-setting Fed committee.

Asian markets were also lower with Japan’s Nikkei the significant underperformer down by over 1.4% to finish at 15,095pts, hurt by a stronger yen. Australia’s ASX was also lower by 0.3% as risk was taken off by traders ahead of the weekend.

In focus today we have UK GDP data released at 9:30am, expected to come in-line with last month. Will this spring a surprise similar to the US GDP which was a shocker on Wednesday. Following this we have Euro-zone Confidence data out at 10:00am, and German CPI released at 13:00pm.

In commodities, gold steadied above $1320 as equity markets sold off following Fed Bullard’s comments. So far bullion has rallied 5.5% this month alone as violence in Iraq and tensions in Ukraine spur demand. Silver followed as traders headed for precious metals, trading at $21.2 an ounce the highest levels since March. WTI trading at $105.5 and Brent trading at $113 fell slightly as the violence in Northern Iraq so far has failed to disrupt output from OPEC’s second-largest producer. In FX, the dollar slumped to its lowest level in five weeks against the yen as U.S. Treasury yields fell amid signs of an uneven recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

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Key Overnight Macro Data: (Source: Reuters/DJ Newswires)

• JP           Jobless Rate            IN-LINE
• JP           CPI                              IN-LINE
• JP           Retail Sales              BETTER

See Live Macro calendar for full details

UK Company Headlines: (Source: Reuters/DJ Newswires)

•             Glencore denies media claim it avoided Australia taxes

•             Rosneft to supply BP with up to 12 mln tonnes of oil products

•             United Utilities submits revised business plan to 2020

•             Berendsen says underlying revenue rises 3 pct

•             Aer Lingus says "reluctantly accept expert panel recommendations"

•             Monitise says acquired full ownership of Agit Monitise Indonesia

•             Acron Group, Rio Tinto form JV to develop Albany potash prospect

•             Keller says no significant changes to trading since May 16 statement

•             Providence cuts initial Barryroe target to 30,000 BOPD

•             UK competition regulator confirms ban on Eurotunnel ferries

•             Dialight names Fariyal Khanbabi as group finance director