LAFDI market report - Friday 23rd October

* Returns are calculated for the week to local market close on Thursday.

 Index heavyweight Provident Financial PLC lead the leaderboard this week after an encouraging interim management statement released on the 16^th October.  Trading seems strong and sentiment is further buoyed by the ongoing strength in the UK economy which makes for a good backdrop for this predominantly UK consumer lender. 

NewStar Financial Inc built further on last weeks extremely strong showing and it was also good to see BasWare Oyj shrugging off any sentiment fall out from the ongoing scandal from fellow Scandinavian disruptive lender Trust Buddy.   The market seems to correctly recognise that beyond their similar geographic heritage that there is zero read across from the company specific problems at Trust Buddy. 

Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc plans to announce its financial results for the third quarter 2015 on Tuesday, November 3.  Ahead of that release this index heavyweight remains under-pressure and are approaching all time lows.  The shares have a significant short interest amounting to 32.3% of the total float. The average daily volume of 1,024,273 shares suggests that to cover the 13,230,314 short position would take 13 trading days. 

The market clearly expects further bad news on November 5^th - It would seem that anything other than poor results could result in a squeeze.    

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