9:30AM London edged up in early trading Thursday on National Grid.
By mid-day, the FTSE 100 index in London was up 8.5 points, or 0.1%, to 6,238.1.

Advancers

National Grid led the advancers, up 5.1%, as the energy network operator announced higher profits and plans to demerge its mobile phone mast business and return $1.9 billion to shareholders.

Cadbury Schweppes rose 2% amid talk that a private equity group was lining up a takeover of the confectionary group.

Anglo American gained 0.7% on rumours that Larry Yung was adding to his holding in the mining group via a derivative position. Mr Yung, one of the richest men in China, bought a 1% last week.

Mid-cap Northern Foods rose 9.9% as long-time bear Credit Suisse lifted its recommendation from neutral to outperform for the first time in a decade.

Decliners

Mining group Vedanta Resources was among the leading decliners, off 7.4% in early session, as the market was stunned by plans announced today by the India-based company to build a 1.9 billion pounds, 2,400-megawatt, power plant in Jharsuguda, Orissa. The news accompanied a 355% rise in operating profit to $1.2 billion. Vedanta managed to erase some of the losses and is currently down 6.49%.

Publisher Reed Elsevier eased 4% after it said its Harcourt Education division has underperformed in recent trading. Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered fell 0.9% after UBS cut its rating from buy to neutral.

Initial jobless claims fell by 2,000.
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended November 11, showing that jobless claims fell compared to the revised reading for the previous week. The report showed that jobless claims fell to 308,000 from the previous week\''s upwardly revised figure of 310,000. Economists had expected claims to increase to 310,000 compared to the 308,000 originally reported for the previous week. The Labor Department also said that the less volatile 4-week moving average rose to 313,750 from the previous week\''s revised average of 311,750. The report also showed that continuing claims in the week ended November 4 came in unchanged from the preceding week\''s revised level of 2.443 million.


Consumer price index dropped 0.5% in October.
The Department of Labor released its closely watched report on consumer prices in the month of October on Thursday, showing that prices fell more than expected due a steep decline in energy prices. The report also showed a smaller than expected increase in core consumer prices. The report showed that the consumer price index fell 0.5 percent in October, matching the decrease that was reported for September. Economists had been expecting a somewhat more modest decline of about 0.3 percent. The decrease in consumer prices was due in large part to a significant decline in energy prices, which fell 7.0 percent in October after falling 7.2 percent in September. Within energy, petroleum-based energy prices fell 10.7 percent, while prices for energy services fell 2.5 percent.

The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy prices, edged up 0.1 percent in October after rising 0.2 percent in each of the three previous months. Economists had been expecting core prices to rise by 0.2 percent again. The drop in energy prices contributed to a notable decline in prices for transportation, which fell 3.1 percent in October after falling 4.1 percent in September. The report also showed that apparel prices fell 0.7 percent, while prices for medical care and education and communication increased. Food prices increased 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month.


9:00AM U.S. stock futures were little changed ahead of CPI data.U.S. stock futures traded little changed Thursday morning, with investors awaiting consumer inflation data release. Inflation is seen lower by 0.3% in October, but the core measure, excluding food and energy prices, is expected to have rise by 0.2%. Weekly jobless claims, October industrial production and capacity utilization and the Philly Fed survey are also due out today.

Among companies in focus will be Hertz Global Holdings and KBR Inc., as two closely followed initial public offerings. Hertz (HTZ: chart), car-rental company, priced at $15 a share, below the expected range of $16 to $18 a share. The firm raised $1.32 billion. KBR (KBR: chart), a spin-off of Halliburton, priced at $17 a share, at the top end of its $15-to-$17 share range. The sale of KBR shares raised $441 million for the parent company.

Dell Inc. (DELL: chart) was scheduled to release quarterly results Thursday, but postponed the quarterly financial report as the SEC stepped up its probe into the accounting practices of one of the personal computers maker. Dell shares declined over 2% in Germany. Applied Materials (AMAT: chart) also dropped in Germany after the chip-equipment maker forecasted sales below analyst estimates.

Quarterly earnings reports are expected from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: chart), Sears Holdings (SHLD: chart), Starbucks Corp. (SBUX: chart), and Gap Inc (GPS: chart). In corporate news, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: chart) said Thursday it is expanding its $4 generic prescription program to 11 additional states and adding 17 more prescriptions to the program. The world\''s largest retailer added 502 stores to those offering the discounted medications. In all, Wal-Mart is offering the program in 3,009 stores in 38 states. Wal-Mart said it intends to continue to push for expansion to other states as quickly as possible.

Dow Jones futures were recently up 1 point, S&P 500 futures were off 0.9 point, and Nasdaq futures rose 0.2 of a point.