Back on 02/01/08

I hope you are all well and enjoying the festive period...

We have had some amazing moves in the last week and we are all set for a good start to the year.

I will be back online, on the 02nd January, so please logon then.

See you soon.

Dan

Take a look at the Gold chart below... Price rose from 800.00 to 840.00 in a week!!!

Market Wrap, Friday 21st December 2007

The FTSE finished the day up 88.3 points at 6,434.1, down about 17 points from the session high. The FTSE 250 closed the week up 134.4 points at 10,531.8.

Christmas was being celebrated a few days early over the pond, possibly, as by the time London closed the DJI was up about 160 points at 13,406, the S&P 500 was up about 15 points at 1,475 and the Nasdaq was up about 32 points at 2,673.

Here in London, as we reported this morning, commodities gold and copper were rising, giving stregnth to the heavyweight miners. Anglo closed up 129p at 3,013, Anto up 31p at 714.5, and Kazakhmys was 51p to the good at 1,347. The Rio/BHP bid saga took some strength too, as the Takeover Panel said that BHP must formally put their bid in by 6th Feb. Rio Tinto was up 148p at 5,278 and BHP was up 47p at 1,540 on the day.

Oil majors also gained today as the price of the black stuff rose again. RD Shell closed up 21p at 2,072 and BP was up nearly 5p at 616p. Sector peer BG Group also had a good day, closing up 8p at 1,103.

Top of the day's leader board, though, was SABMiller, who were up 90p at 1,406 on news of a signed deal with US brewer Molson Coors. The new deal is for Puerto Rico where the newly formed JV company will be called MillerCoors. There is a view to complete the transaction in full by the middle of next year, the brewer said.

Continuing its recent popularity, Aero engine maker Rolls-Royce closed up 23p at 533 on further positive reaction to yesterday's news on the pension agreement and £500m cash input.

Seven stocks were booted out the FTSE 100 today, and all suffered accordingly. One of those exiting the Premier Stock League was Northern Rock. Yes, Northern Wreck fell again, down 6.5p (or 8%) at 85.5p.

The other fallers were: Barratts down 9.75p at 431.25, Mitchells & Butlers down 15p at 427.25, Punch Taverns down 8p at 767, DSG International down 2.3p at 100.5, Daily Mail & General down 9.5p at 485.5, and Tate & Lyle down 2.5p at 433.5.

One mention of Division 2 - FTSE 250 media and radio outfit Emap had a good day, up over 20% to close at 925p, that was a 165.5p rise on the day. This came as the group said it has recommended a cash takeover from Eden Bidco, a vehicle formed by private equity firm Apax Partners. Emap already agreed earlier this month to sell its consumer media and radio operations to Germany's Heinrich Bauer for £1.14 bln and said it will give £1 bln back to shareholders in a one-off special divvy of 461p. Apax said that this 461p divvy and 470p a share offer, Emap shareholders would now get 931p for each share held in cash. This equates to a £2 bln value for Emap.

Morning Market, Friday 22nd December 2007

The FTSE was up early doors this morning, and at 8:30 was up about 64 points at 6,409 and carried on to 70 points by 9am. The FTSE 250 was up 103 points at 10,500.

Over the pond last night the closed up 38.37 higher at 13,245.64. The S&P 500 was up 7.12 at 1,460.12 the Nasdaq closed up 39.85 at 2,640.86.

In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 index closed up 225.4 points at 15,257.0 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index closed up 609.83 points at 27,626.92.

Back here in London this morning, Vodafone was up 2.5 pence at 187.5, carrying on from the SFR news yesterday.

Also carrying on from yesterday was aero engine maker Rolls-Royce, who were up 14p at 524 early doors after the pension sort out news yesterday.

Stronger commodity prices, with gold and copper both rising, gave the mining heavyweights some help this morning. Kazakhmys was 37p up at 1,333, Anto was up 22p at 705.5 and Anglo was up 77p at 2,961.

Oil was up again, with Brent North Sea crude (Feb08) up 12 cents to US$91 bbl this miorning in the Far East, in contrast to the 60 cent fall here yesterday. Subsequently BP were up 6p this morning at 617p. Other press news on BP was a US$2 bln fine is looking possible for the Texas fire 2 years ago that killed 15 people. in Asian trade after closing down 60 cents at 90.88 usd in London. This helped BP push 6 pence higher to 617-12.

Banks are now coming off support, with HSBC up 9p at 851p and RBS up 7p at 437p.

Pendragon, the northern car dealer firm, was up about 10% at 34p after announcing that it has sold 3 properties this month for £10m, giving a profit of £6m. Pendragon shares have lost 75% in 7 months and the company previously made a profit warning.

Wolseley fell 1/2 penny to 719-1/2 pence after Deutsche Bank cut it to 'hold' from 'buy' with a reduced target of 763 pence. Friends Provident recovered from earlier falls to trade 1/2 penny higher at 155.4 pence after the Times reported that the company froze its 1.2 bln stg flagship fund after a rush for the exit by investors over the past three weeks.

The paper described the move as a deepening of the crisis in the commercial property investment market.

Northern Foods was up 3p at 93p on broker upgrade and 100p target.

The retailers haven't done well this year, with the likes of DSG International doing very poorly this year, with their brands PC World and Currys not doing too well. Despite being up nearly 2p this morning at 104.3 DSG will be leaving the FTSE 100 today.

Others to leave the FTSE 100 include housebuilder Barratts and pub operator Punch Taverns.

Market Wrap, Thursday 21st December 2007

The FTSE closed up 61.1 points at 6,345.6 and the FTSE 250 closed up 165.3 points at 10,397.2.

Here in London, Johnson Matthey was top of the daily league today, closing up 93p at 1,836, extending yesterday's gains after a report in the FT this morning said the speciality chemicals company could be a bid target for Dow Chemicals.

ITV closed up 1.4p at 84.45, after the UK Competition Commission recommended that BskyB should sell down its 17.9% stake in the broadcaster to below 7.5%, sparking fresh hopes of a bid for the UK TV group.

A rise in oil prices aided the heavyweights, with RD Shell finishing up 41p at 2,072, and BP up 7.5p up at 611.25. However, sector peer Tullow Oil closed down 20p at 630, after news from its Ugandan Mputa-4 well failed to impress. Tullow reported this morning that the well flowed between 950 bbl and 1,100 bbl per day following testing operations. Brokers called the performance 'disappointing'.

Carphone Warehouse closed up 6.5p pence at 337, with sales expected to rise ahead in the holiday season. Vodafone also climbed as investors cheered news that SFR has confirmed reports it plans to buy the stakes it doesn't own in fixed-line telecoms group Neuf Cegetel. Vodafone, which owns a 44% stake in SFR, ended the day up 3.2p at 184.95, after SFR said it would pay much less than expected for Louis Dreyfus' 29.5% stake in Neuf Cegetel.

Bullish broker comment helped advertising and marketing company WPP Group end 19p up at 630.5, with broker commenting that the last 1/4 of the year has seen more new business than the previous 3/4 put together.

Aero engine maker Rolls Royce closed up 6.5p at just shy of 510p as confirmation of a pension-scheme agreement encouraged investors to move back in to the stock. The group said that it proposed to make a lump sum contribution of £500m across its three main UK defined benefit pension schemes as part of a strategy to reduce the fund's overall deficits.

Further down the pecking order, Arriva closed up 26p at just shy of 795p as the UK'S Office of Fair Trading (OFT) cleared the company's win of Cross Country Rail franchise. Arriva also confirmed it is to offer 45p per share for Tellings Golden Miller, valuing it at £10.3m.

National Express Group also finished firmer, up 76p at 1,228-1/2, as the UK's Office of Fair Trading said it has cleared the company's win of the inter city East Coast Rail franchise.

carrying on from this morning, Keller Group finished up 20.5p pence to 660.5, after the company said it has continued to trade strongly in the second half and accordingly it expects results for the current year to end-December to be better than market expectations.

Apologies for the lateness of posting this blog, we had a Xmas prty tonight! :-)

USDCAD falls below 1.0000...

One of my favourite currencies USDCAD, has fallen below 1.0000, which could signal its move for a continuation down. USDCAD has been in free fall for a long time now but has recently retraced 1000 points back to its parity. If we break the 50 MA on the Daily we could ses that move...

Chart below shows the breakout at 11.00am this morning. Look at the descending triangle below the MA's...

Morning Market, Thursday 20th December 2007, 8.45am

By 8.45am the FTSE was up about 43 points (0.7%) to 6,327.5. The FTSE All-Share Index added 20.21, or 0.6%, to 3,212.56.

Last night over the pond the DJI closed down 25.20 points at 13,207.27. The S&P 500 closed down about 2 points at 1,453 and the Nasdaq closed up almost 5 points at 2,601.01.

In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed up just 1.09 points at 15,031.60, while in Hong Kong by its lunchtime the Hang Seng was down about 10 points at 27,019.63. Oil was up 12 cents at nearly US$91.40 bbl for Light Sweet (Feb08) and Brent North Sea crude (Feb08) was up 6 cents to US$91.54 bbl.

BSkyB, the U.K.'s biggest pay-TV provider, should cut its stake in broadcaster ITV Plc to less than 7.5% to relieve competition concerns, the country's antitrust authority said. BskyB shares fell 2p to 605. Staying with television, ITV gained 1.5% to 84.2p.

Enterprise Inns, the U.K.'s second-biggest pub landlord, fell 8p or 1.6% to 475p on broker downgrade. Mitchells & Butlers shares were 2p lower to 440.5 also on same broker downgrade. Marston's Plc, the pub owner and brewer that sponsors England's national cricket team, was also downgraded.

Bovis Homes lost 20p, or 3.4%, to 585p after the U.K.'s sixth-largest homebuilder was downgraded by Citigroup. The major US broker said that it expects the sector to remain weak over the next 12 months.

Tullow Oil Plc was down nearly 19p (nearly 3%) at just shy of 632p after telling us all that its Ugandan test well, Mputa-4 was showing signs of depletion and was between 950 barrels and 1,100 BBL per day. Not as much as hoped.

Staying with oil, RD Shell added 26p to 2,030 and BP was up 4p at 608.

Keller Group, the UK ground engineer who built the base for the offshore Palm Island in Dubai, added 64.5p (10%) to 705p after it said full-year results will beat analysts' estimates.

Building Maintenance company Inspace were up 13p (8%) to 178.5. after it said it reached agreement with the board of Willmott Dixon on the terms of a recommended cash offer of 183p for each Inspace share.

2007 Draws to an End

Good morning...

Seems quiet out there this am, so i am going to leave it for today...

In January i will be recording Daily Educational Video's, on strategies using the Market Analyser. I will report on the days movements in FX, Indices, Commodities and Equities and show you examples of the trades we have taken and why. For all of you who have been on the 2 Day course, it will be a be a great follow on and really give you the confidence you need, to trade and make consistent profits in these markets.

2008 promises to be a great year with MDS and i look forward to working closely with you...

Have a great Christmas and New year!!!

Regards
Dan

Market Wrap, Wednesday 19th December 2007

The FTSE ended up 5.2 points at 6,284.5, which was up about 32 points from the session low. The FTSE 250 closed up 44.7 points at 10,231.9.

By the time London closed, the DJI was down nearly 30 points at 13,204, the S&P 500 was down 2 points at 1,453, and the Nasdaq was even at 2,597.

Northern Wreck - Carrying on from this morning, the Bradford & Bingley news of them joining the fire sale was taken positively, with Northern Rock ending up 4.7p at 90.7. Further news of hedge fund SRM Global Master raising its stake to 9.74% from 9.51% was also taken positively. Mind you, it may be worth mentioning the Bradford & Bingley said they actually weren't looking at any of Northern Rock's assets, but it does appear that any rumours of good news will help the troubled mortgage bank.

The housebuilders got stronger on anticipation the Bank of England will cut interest rates further. Persimmons closed up 19p at 788, Taylor Wimpey closed up nearly 4p at just shy of 200p and Barratts closed up 8p at 447.

Can manufacturer Rexam closed up 9p at 396 on broker upgrade but did cut its target to 530p from 6-quid. A 5.2% divvy and decent forecasts for 2008 was cited as the reason for upgrade.

The opposite was said for Intercon Hotels, who received a broker downgrade and subsequently closed down 20p at 877.

Oil prices rising again assisted RD Shell close up 47p at 2,004, and news of a JV deal with the Chinese also helped the rise. Peer Tullows closed up 4.5p at 650 on broker upgrade.

Back to neagatives, major miner Anglo closed down 65p at 2,919 on a lowering of broker's target to 34-quid from 35-quid.

Barclays closed down 10p at 499 on broker Goldman Sachs downgrade and re-rating of the European major banks. They also downgraded HBOS, which also fell, closing down 9p at 727.

USDSEK - 500 points since London open

USDSEK - Since our triangle breakout was posted this morning, we have seen the SEK currency run up over 500 points...It is important to watch your stop losses closely and keep them just below the support line, to you give yourself every oppotunity to make trades like this...

See you tomorrow...

Morning Market, Wednesday 19th December 2007, 9am.

The FTSE 100 was down about 8 points in the first hour of trading at about 6,270. The FTSE 250 index up around 27 points at 10,214.

Last night over the pond, the DJI closed up 5.27 points at 13,232.47, the S&P500 up nearly 7 points at 1,452.7 and the Nasdaq was up 11.64 points at 2,586.10.

In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 closed down 177.35 points at 15,030.51 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up bout 240 points half way through its day at 26,973.

Back here in London, the banks pulled back a little on broker downgrade. The US heavyweight, Goldman Sachs (fresh from its own decent figures) said the banks were a bit pricey. Both Barclays and HBOS were down 5p at 503p and 731p respectively. Peer Northern Rock was up about 2p to 89p as media news said that Bradford & Bingley had sniffed around with possible intention of buying some of the Northern Rock assets.

Vodafone received an unexpected negative broker comment and 160p target, thus falling 0.5p to 182, as did oil giant BP, who were down nearly 3p at 603.5 on broker downgrade and a 7-quid target.

Currency Report - Wed 19th December

Good afternoon everyone.. I hope everyone is enjoying the build up to Christmas and the New Year.

If you are unsure of any strategies, book yourself onto our 2 day course in the New Year and start 2008 with a bang!!! There is nothing better then having a great start to the year and making your budget mid way through the year. This game is about challenging yourself and i have recently updated my plan for next year to really push my self for 2008. You should all do the same...

A few figures came out today importantly the GBP Bank of England Minutes and the EUR IFO figure which was nearly as forecast. There was a unanimous vote for the 25% rate cut last month and expectations are now high for an early interest rate cut for next year. What effect will this have on GBP? Well from this reaction, GBP will weaken against the Dollar, exactly what we have seen today with GBPJPY and GBPUSD falling off.

I have been coming in bright and early for the last few weeks (possibly because i have a 4 week old baby) in order to spot the patterns early. If you are all set up before 7am, with OCO orders in the system you can often sit back and monitor the trades as they happen.

Take a look below at the triangles in GBPJPY, GBPUSD and USDSEK


GBPJPY - All orders below 227.40 and now trading at 226.50...








GBPUSD - All orders below 2.0100 and now trading at 2.0050...






USDSEK - All orders above 6.5600 and now trading at 6.5750...

Market Wrap, Tuesday 18th December 2007

A funny old day, today. Up and down, and finishing about even.

By closing time the FTSE was up just 1.5 points at 6,279.3. This was about 160-odd points off the high of the day. The FTSE 250 closed up 46.8 points to close at 10,187.2.

By the time London was closing, the early rush upwards over the pond had faded, and the DJI was only up about 8 points at 13,175. The S&P 500 was up about 3 points at 1,449, and the Nasdaq was even at 2,574. This compared to the decent start to the day over there, where the bulls moved in for an hour or so on the decent figures posted by Goldman Sachs, whose figures were ahead of expectations with 4th quarter earnings at over US$3.2 bln. Goldman's board have also approved a share buyback of 60m shares.

The good news from Golman sachs was soon forgotten with the poor housing news that came from the US Commerce Dept. They said that new purchases at the bottom of the housing ladder were down by 3.7%. Reality returned and the early gains on the markets fell back.

Back here in London, the Bank of England tried to get things going with their opinion that whilst some uncertaincy is around in the financial sector for a while longer, we'll all soon be back on track and alot more stable, they said. The major banks in the US, UK an Europe have put their money up and will lend billions in short-term loans to help the troubled credit markets. The CPI index for November showed prices were up 2.1% on last year, which was under the forecasted 2.2%. Another cut in interest rates may follow in January.

Back to stocks - the major Miners did well as the metal commodities were rising. The highest riser was Kazakhmys, up 24p at 1,274, whilst Anglo was up 30p to 2,984, Lonmins was up 40p at 3,008 and Rio closed up 46p at 5,119.

The Northern 'Wreck' saga continued, closing down another 4.5p at 86.9, despite having a fairly good start to the day. Peer Alliance & Leicester closed down 23p at 635.5 as Moody's said it would review the bank's credit rating with a possible view to downgrade. Not good news, but anything 'double-A' is still considered a decent rating.

The London Stock Exchange was top of the FTSE 100 leader board, closing up 48p at 1,855 on broker comment and 1,825 target.

Amec, who will join the top 100 on Thursday, closed up 12.5p at 830p on news it will replace the mighty ICI in the FTSE100. ICI has been taken out by the Dutch outfit Akzo Nobel. AMEC has done well of late, and is up at at or near its highest price.

Cadbury Schweppes rose 15p to 623 on news that Trian Fund Management has up its stake from 3.5% to 4.5%.

High Street retailer Debenhams closed over 6p to the good at just shy of 82p on news that Micky Jagtiani’s Milestone Resources is now holding 7.4% of the high street retailer. Next closed 15p to the good at 1,617.

Gold keeps on running

We called the gold trade this morning with a breakout of the triangle at 795.00. We are now trading at 806.00 which is a considerable move in one day.

I know quite a few of you who took this trade...well done!

Gold - Breaks Triangle at 09.15am

the commodity prices have been very interesting over the last few months and its all about being patient and waiting for the right time to attack. Chart patterns are key, with moving average's and Pre Alerts..Combine all 3 and you are well ahead of the game...

The triangle formed on the 15 min chart this am and as the price broke above the 795.00 level orders were triggered. We are now trading at 799.00.

Be patient, draw your key support and resistance levels and then wait for the trade to confirm to you its direction.

Good luck

USDCAD bounces off 1.0000

USD CAD had a large fall from 1.0200 yesterday and is now finding support above the 1.0000 level. 1.0000 was always going to be a large support level so all sell orders need to be below that level and not my triangle. You can see how the price drifted lower and then rebounded strongly off 1.0010 level. The green conductor alerted us to the move at 08.45am and as it broke above the 1.0050 level, triggers were set for a move to the 200MA at 1.0100... We are now boxed in and unsure where the price will move so be careful... Canadian CPI figures are out at midday today...

Market Wrap, Monday 17th December 2007

At the close of play today, the FTSE was down 119.2 points at 6,277.8, which wasn't much up from the session low of the day at 6,264.3. The FTSE 250 closed down 273.2 points at 10,140.4.

By the time London closed over here, over in the US the DJI was down about 86 points at 13,254, the S&P 500 down 5 points at 1,463 and the Nasdaq down 25 points at 2,608. Investors still not happy despite the feeling of another rate cut by the Feds next time round.

Investors are cautious and are sure there's worse to come, which may be correct, but no-one who counts (!) reckons a major recession is on its way. The credit crunch has made people think, and many aren't spending as much in the High Streets this Xmas here too. This affects the share prices of the major retailers, who all took a bit of a pasting today, and were among the worst performers today overall.

As we mentioned his morning, both Next and Debenhams received broker downgrades. Next closed down 75p at 1,602 and Debenhams was down almost 6p at 75.5p. Peer Marks & Sparks was also down, closing off 21p at 548.25p. Home Retail Group, who own the Argos chain, were down 19p at 311.

Another casualty was can manufacturer Rexam, who had a bad day after also receiving broker downgrade. They gave a profit warning last week too. They closed down 27p at 397.

The miners didn't fair very well as the main commodities were down. Xstrata closed off 140p at 3,457, Kazakhmys down 60p at 1,250, Vedanta down 110p at 1,999, and BHP was off 67p at 1,478.

The builders were also down, as we said this morning, after Rightmove gave the figures for house prices. They said that prices were 3.2% lower this month than last month. Last month was down 0.7% on October, so we're off 4% in 2 months. The bigger players were then off as a reaction, with Taylor Wimpey down nearly 8p at 199p and Barratts down 22.5p at a smidge shy of 450p.

Standard Life was also a heavy faller, down 9p to 246p on reports that the FSA may be looking closely into the recent takeover battle for Resolution and its associated negative broker comment. The press reports said that the FSA has launched an investigation into allegations of 'market abuse' that could impact all four of the main players in the battle; which included Resolution, Friends Provident, Standard Life, and Pearl. Peers were down too, with Provident down 7.4p at 153.1 and Aviva down 29.5p at 644.

There was a broker upgrade today (yes, really), which was cruise liner operating firm Carnival, who are looking at posting some decent numbers for the year shortly. they closed up 3p at 2,189.

USD CAD - 100 Point fall

The USD CAD is still in its free fall from 1.0200 and is now trading at 1.0032. I belive the 1.0000 level will be important so be careful with volatility at this level.

The entry on this trade was at midday with a fall below the support line at 1.0150.

Monday 17th December 2007 - Currency Report

Good afternoon...

We have had an interesting morning and it seems that the markets will remain volatile with year end profit taking going on...Many traders have been short of the US dollar this year so the risk for GBPUSD and EURUSD was to always pullback. Look how the EURUSD has broken its trading range for the month.

Last week saw stronger than expected consumer prices and this suggests the Fed needs to be very careful on how low they push interest rates. Inflation is a key indicator and they need to be very carfeul that it doesn't get out of control. The consumer is holding strong and continuing to spend money, so the likely hood of a recession is less clear now...

There are key indicators for GBP this week with CPI out tomorrow and BOE minutes out on wed at 09.30am. This is very important as this will give a key indication if Interest Rates will be cut in the short term or not at all...

Here are a few examples of breakouts today. I have taken shots of the charts b4 the breakouts have occured. Look at USDCHF breaking out on the 15min at 07.30am from 1.1520 to 1.1570 for 50 points...It held the 1.1500 level perfectly over night and continued its trend..





DKK - Look how the DKK was holding the 5.1600 level. As soon as it brok the 5.1700 level the entry level was kicked in... Draw your support line up the channel and stop when it breaks back down through the line at 5.2000





EURUSD...The EurUSD formed a triangle this am, with a support line at 1.4430. The currency broke the support line and continued its trend to a low of 1.4330, for a 100point move...







Good luck and more later..

Morning Market, Monday 17th December 2007

The FTSE was down about 100 points this morning at 6,290 after the poor end of week preformance over the pond on Friday, where the DJI closed down 178.11 points at 13,339.85. Still in New York on Friday the S&P 500 closed down 20.46 points to at 1,467.95 and the Nasdaq was down 32.75 points to close at 2,635.74.

The trend continued in the Far East earlier today, with the Nikkei 225 closing 264.72 points lower at 15,249.79 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down nearly 970 points to close at 26,596.58.

In London, Northern Rock was also on its way down again and was 5p lower at 86.9 as weekend press told of further woes in the rescue bidding war. It now appears that the Knight in Shining Armour, Sir Dick Branson, has failed to notice that his Virgin Group doesn't have a banking license. You couldn't make it up. To add to this, the other main bidder, Olivant, is reported in other press that even though it's supposedly on equal footing in the bid war it's been given some more good news in that will need to pump an additional £200m-300m cash into its proposed takeover.

Other banks followed down, with HBOS down 30p at 726, Alliance & Leicester down 20p at 675, and Standard Chartered down 55p at 1,841. Standard Chartered's exposure to the Far East helping the negatives on that one after a poor day's trading in Hong Kong, and a broker downgrade this morning also not helping its share price.

Standard Life was also a heavy faller, losing 12p to 246p on reports that the FSA may be looking closely into the recent takeover battle for Resolution and its associated negative broker comment. The press reports said that the FSA has launched an investigation into allegations of 'market abuse' that could impact all four of the main players in the battle; which included Resolution, Friends Provident, Standard Life, and Pearl.

Negative broker comment also cost Rexam 15p this morning - it was trading at 408p early doors.

Poor Xmas for shops - Marks & Spencer dropped 17p this morning, trading at 552p, while Home Retail Group, owners of argos, was down a massive 16p at 313p. The Xmas season not being very good to the retailers, who all seem to be reporting less than bouyant sales.

Other High Street retailers, Debenhams and Next, were also down as well on a broker downgrade saying clothes sellers will suffer. Debenhams lost 5p at 76p, and Next shares had lost 57p at 1,620.

Even bricks and mortar wasn't safe. The builders also suffered this morning as the latest Rightmove survey said prices were down buy over 3% in December compared to November. November was down 0.7%, don't forget. Taylor Wimpey was off 10p at 197p and Barratts down 14p at 458 on the news. Many are blaming the House Information Pack (HIP) that sellers are required to have prior to putting their houses on the market for some of the lack of house sales performance, with many Estate Agents wanting to rename the 'HIP' to the 'Sellers House Information Trouble', but the acronym was either too apt or considered unacceptable.

Market Wrap, Friday 14th December 2007

The FTSE closed up 32.8 points today at 6,397, but this ws down on today's peak by some way. The FTSE 250 closed up 78.9 points at 10,413.6.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was about 62 points lower at 13,455, but this was recovering somewhat after over 100 point fall early doors. Mind the gap. The S&P 500 was down a little, about 6 points, at 1,482. The Nasdaq was also down a little, just 3 points at 2,664.

Back here in London it was the miners that took a bit of a pasting, with Goldman Sachs downgrading the sector in general, for Europe, anyway. Vedanta closed down 52p at 2,018 and Lonmin down 73p at 3,029. The big boys didn't fair too good, either, with Anglo down 108p to 3,072, Anto down 31.5p to close at 702.5p, and Rio off 118p to close at 5,176.

One suprise, sort of, was Northern Rock, who eneded up top of the FTSE 100 leader board, up almost 6p to close at 91.9 on newspaper news that the private equity group, Olivant, has been persuaded to hang around in the bidding for the troubled bank and was given reassurances that it is on an equal footing with Sir Dick Branson's Virgin Group consortium bid. The fact there are two players now gave some hope there would be more chance of a sensible outcome.

Other banks didn't do so well, with HBOS off 8.5p to close at 856p on a broker downgrade.

ZAK GREEN - 750 points in his 1st week...

Zak Green joined MDS 2 weeks ago and signed up for the 2 Day course last Thursday and Friday. He studied the charts over the weekend making sure he understood the strategies taught to him. In 5 days he has profited over 750 points and has worked hard to perfect his own method.

This is proof that when you combine hard work, with great software and great education that success will come.

If you would like to learn how to make these profitable trades, call in and book for the January course. We have a special Christmas offer and you won't be dissapointed.

Morning Market, Friday 14th December 2007

The FTSE was up a little to start today but started to fall back again. By 10am the FTSE 100 was at 6,399. By 10am the FTSE 250 was up about 120 points at 10,459.

Northern Rock was a suprise today, as it rose 9p to 95p on some positive feeling returning as newspaper reports said that there were two offers of equal footing in the the troubled bank. The two players are Virgin Group and Olivant, who were clsoe to pulling out, analysts thought.

The miners were down this morning, down for a second day. Anglo (down about 4% to 3,050) and Vedanta led declines after broker downgrade on the sector for Europe in general. Vedanta, 54% owned by Anil Agarwal, the Indian billionaire, was down about 3% on morning trading. Rio also had a bad start, down about 2% to 5,190p.

PartyGaming was up a penny to 30p as the on-line gaming company said its figures would be in-line with forecats for the year, despite the loss of US business.

Northern Foods, the maker of 'scrummy' Goodfella's frozen pizzas, was up over 5p (6%) to about 88p on news the company is planning to buy back 5% of its own shares, costing about £20m to do so. The stock hasn't had a good year, having fallen 23% this year. The food producer, which makes prepared meals and biscuits as well as frozen pizza, said all its units have made 'steady progress' since the company reported half-year results last month. For the second half, the company has negotiated price increases with retailers to recoup surging ingredients costs. The company also said today it is looking for possible acquisitions and will return any excess capital to investors.

Apple Mac semiconductor manufacturer Wolfson Microelectronics fell about 25p (11%) to 193.75 on broker downgrade.

Inspicio jumped over 20p (10%) to 218p as 3i Group agreed to buy the UK's largest food tester for 225p a pop. This valued the firm at about £230m.

USDCAD Channel Breakout...

USDCAD - This am we have seen a perfect channel breakout at 10.15am. The Daily Trend is up and orders were triggered on the break. We are now trading 50 points higher...

Oil, Gold and Currency Report

Oil - The Oil market saw a small retracement yesterday and at 3pm the green conductor alerted us to a potential move back up again. Always analsye the higher lows or higher highs, as this will show u the trend and direction of the market.





Gold has fallen out of its intraday channel and with the retracement back up to the resistance line, an opportunity to sell (with the red conductor) was there to be taken. The MA's were behind the candles and the lower high indicated that the sellers had the strength and intention to drive this back down. Does the setup get any better?




GbpUsd - So where is GBP going? There are many mixed views in GBPUSD but the Daily is starting to look week and potentially looking for a fall. The red market conductor alerted us yesterday and as it broke the channel on the 15 min chart, the sell orders came in at 2.0400. Your stop loss shoud have been above the 200MA.




EurUsd - The EurUsd had a perfect triangle form from yesterday on the 15 min chart. The candles formed below the 200MA suggesting a down move and at 08.00am this am the inevitable happened and the Eur fell from 1.4630 to 1.4550. Our trailing stop should be above the 20MA now.



AudUsd - AudUsd has shown consolidation on the daily chart with a bearish feel about it. The 60 min chart had a confirmed lower higher this am and the red conductor alerted us to move in for a sell trade. The 7.00am candle broke lower than the previous one and gave us a good entry level at 0.8770 to 0.8710



Good luck today...The london open really gives us exceptional trading opportunities

Market Wrap, Thursday, 13th December 2007

The FTSE fell a worrying 195.6 points today, closing at 6,364.2. That's a 3% drop in one day. The FTSE 250 closed at 10,334.7, down over 308 points.

By the time London was closing, over the pond the DJI was at about 13,405, down 68 points in its first 2 hours of trading for the day. The S&P 500 was down about 15 points at 1,472.

Back to UK stocks, where only five companies in the FTSE 100 rose today, and none more than 1 pct. Of those five, two were oil and gas producers.

On the downside today, Rentokil Initial stayed at the top of the loser board, continuing on from this morning, down a massive 22% on the day, closing at 114.3p (down 32.4p). This was due to the news that its 4th quarter profits from its delivery van group City Link will be down by £10m. This triggered an immediate broker downgrade.

On to the stricken mortgage bank, Northern Rock, which was off another 13.2p, closing down at 86p on further bad news. The bank said it was taking a £281m charge to cover the reduction in value of its debt-related investments. This includes collateralised debt obligations and holdings in SIVs (structured investment vehicles), all due to the global financial situation with sub-prime and general credit squeeze. All this couple with press coverage that the private equity group Olivant Ltd is also looking at abandoning its bid for the bank caused massive selling. Virgin looks like the only bidder left, and also looks like the government's preferred bidder, but analysts aren't so impressed with Sir Dick's capabilities with the ongoing 'rescued' bank's problems. Only closing shorts is keeping the price where it is, we can cynically comment. The bank is also leaving the FTSE 100 this month, which always causes a bad reaction. Topping all this, the bank also announced that chief executive Adam Applegarth was on his bike, off down the frog and toad with his tail between his legs.

Peers didn't fair too well, either. Barclays closed down 33p at 523, RBS closed down 28.5p to close at just shy of 434p, and HBOS closed down a massive 8% lower at 764.5, down 68.5p as the company said it would offer no further share buybacks until the market calmed down. The bank said it had written down the book value of asset-backed securities £180m, but stressed these were nothing to do with the sub-prime mortgages.

Drinks can manufacturer Rexam closed down 78.5p (16%) at 409 as it announced that oil prices and a weak green back were causing some suffering, but added that results should be thereabouts with expectations.

On to the builders, where news from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in that over 40% of its members said house prices were down again this month caused the sector to take a back step. Taylor Wimpey was down 21p to just shy of 208, Barratts was down 30.5p at 478 and Persimmon closed down 38.5p to 785. Broker downgrade on Persimmons didn't help, as the target was lowered from 1,125 to 840p.

The price of the black stuff fell back a dollar today, after its healthy US$4 rise yesterday, hovering today at US$93 bbl. With this came some fall back of BP, closing down 15p to 608p.

On the other hand, rumours of a major find in Brazil helped BG Group, who closed up 8p at 1,091. Peer Tullows closed up 4.5p at 675.5p.

FTSE 250 aerospace and auto group GKN closed down over 27p to 285.25 on broker downgrade and 310p target.

Morning Market, Thursday 13th December 2007, 9am

The FTSE was lower this morning despite New York closing up last night. By 9am this morning the FTSE was about 75 points lower at 6,485, and the FTSE 250 was down 100 points at 10,542.

Over the pond the DJI had a roller coaster session after investors felt that the 2.5% rate cut wasn't enough. The DJI closed up 41.13 points at 13,743.9 but had actaully been up over 270 points earlier in the day, but had also been down over 100 points during the session as well. Hold on to your hat. The S&P 500 closed up 9 points at 1,486.59 and the Nasdaq was up nearly 19 points at 2,671.14.

Today in the Far East the Nikkei 225 closed down 395.74 points at 15,536.52, which is 2.5% lower over its day, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down 300-odd points by its lunchtime at 28,220.

Back here this morning the biggest faller was Rentokil Initial, which was down some 18% at 121p, as it said that its 4th quarter profits from City Link (its delivery business) would be about £10m under expectations. Broker downgrade followed immediately.

Another casualty this morning was Rexam, the drinks can manufacturer, which was down about 45p this morning at 443p as it said oil prices and a weak green back would affect results for the 2nd half of the year.

And to the banks, where HBOS was down nearly 35p at 798 as it said it had written down £180m of bad credit but did expect to be at market expectations on figures. Broker downgrade followed with a 680p target. Its troubled peer, Northern Wreck, was down about 3p at 96.5p as it took the news of relegation from the FTSE 100. It now appears that another one of the bid chasers may be pulling out of the race to secure the bank as Olivant will join JC Flowers and others that say they are no longer interested in the stricken bank. Looks like Sir Dick Branson may be the only one left in the running soon. Or nationalisation is another option, of course. Hobson's choice, maybe. Another £4 bln has gone into the bank in the last 2 weeks, we hear.

Looking for something positive brought us onto BG Group, up about 35p this morning to 1,118 as news of a major discovery was still doing the rounds this morning.

Oil was up about 4-bucks a bbl. Light sweet crude (January delivery) was at US$94.3 bbl on Nymex. Other oil stocks also did well on this and as over the pond the government said that reserves were getting lower. News of a fire at an ExxonMobil refinery in Texas helped oil stocks rise further. Back here Tullow was up a penny at 672.

GBPCHF Crossover

The GBPCHF has been a dream to trade recently and with GBPUSD finding too much resistance at 2.0500 a lot of my attention has been with this currency pair. Early wednesday morning showed us the trend reversal but on this example the 15 minute chart gave us the exact entry level.

The 1st stage was on the cross at 08.00 and the 2nd stage buy in at 10.15 for a solid run from 2.3100 to 2.3300.

At all times i have the MA's assisting me with the Pre Alerts and market conductor's.

Good luck today...

The Gap Trade

For those of you who trade the Gap, what a day yesterday!!!

The important recognition with the gap is to know where the MA's are in respect to the price. Look here how the Gap rose 268 points, hit the MA's and then closed by the end of day...

Crude Oil Trading at $94.00

Good morning

Well Crude finally took off yesterday after the Accumulator picked up buying volume on the 6th December. I mentioned to all on the 2 day course that you must only buy after red market conductor's. Well this is a classic example of a break above $91.00 to a high of $94.85 in one day.

Look at the 60 min chart for the break above the 200MA as an entry level. All MA's behind you and this is an example where you can build on a position. The 1st stage is to see where the candles broke the MA's on the 60min and this was at $89.00. The
2nd stage was the break above $91.00 which was the old resisance level. All in, that is over 500 points in one trade and in one day.

Be patient and wait for the perfect setup. You only need 2 of those in the month to make your 1000 points.

Good luck today...More later.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 12th December 2007

The FTSE closed up 22.9 points at 6,559.8, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down slightly at 10,643, down 4.9 points.

Some good news arrived fro the US this afternoon in that the Federal Reserve will hold the four term auctions in cooperation with: the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the European Central bank and the Swiss National Bank. The Fed has also arranged swap agreements with the European Central Bank for US$20 bln, and with the Swiss National Bank for US$4 bln, which will mean that they could help them intervene in European dollar markets.

By the time London closed the DJI had jumped up at the news, and was up around 151 points at 13,584, whilst the S&P 500 was up about 20 points at 1,498. The Nasdaq also liked the news and was up 44 points at 2,696.

Back here in London, a fairly mixed day. The housebuilders did well on the money news, with Barratts up 23p at 508.5p, also helped with rumours of a French bidder looking closely. This didn't help the company's FTSE 100 status, as it was booted out in the reshuffle. Peer Taylor Wimpey closed 6p up at 229p.

The banks weren't sure what to do, with on one hand Alliance & Leicester closing up 28p at 728, HBOS 16.5p up at 833, but Northern Rock was down 5.2p at 99.2, but this was mainly due to another rescuer changing his mind as news that Cerberus had pulled out the running for the stricken bank.

The miners were mostly off too, with Rio down 23p at 5,657 and BHP down 2p to 1,670. BHP said it was still trying to get in to the boardroom for talks with Rio, reiterating the 'compelling logic' of its 3-for-1 share merger/offer for Rio. Peer Xstrata closed down 34p at 3,704 as the major miner said it was in talks with a number of parties on possible tie-ups and mergers. Anto was down 10p to 785, and Vedanta down 36p to 2,254.

With oil back above US$90 bbl we saw BP close up 6.5p at 623p and BG Group close up 4p at 1,083. Rumours of a 'significant find' by BG Group helping its popularity today.

PC World and Currys owner, DSG International, had a poor day, off 3.2p to close at 110.6p on news that the major electrical retailer will pobabbly get kicked out the FTSE 100 later this month. Going ex-div today also helped the share price fall.

Argos owner Home Retail Group and cut the target to 283 pence, from 327. Home Retail fell 5p to 358.5 on broker downgrade.

Furher down the league table, Rank Group fell 6p to 101.5 on a rather negative trading statement, which included news that the group has scrapped its final dividend, blaming the smoking ban and recent "restrictive" changes to gaming regulations, and added that a weakening in consumer confidence have resulted in an uncertain outlook for 2008. Not a positive outlook, we'd say.

Michael Page was down 10p to just shy of 292p on broker downgrade.

Recent strong mid-cap, Game Group, which had been at a 12-month high only last Friday, closed down again today, off 14p to 220p after yesterday's trading update sank in further.

HMV Group, the DVD and CD retailer, reported a first half operating loss.

Morning Market, Wednesday 12th December 2007, 9am

The FTSE opened down this morning, and by 9am was about 57 points at 6,484.30, up from the low at 8.30am of 6,429.50. The FTSE 250 was at 10,555, down 88 points.

Over the pond the DJI closed down 294.26 points at 13,432.77. The S&P 500 was down 38.31 points at 1,477.65 and the Nasdaq down 66.6 points at 2,652.35. It seems that the 0.25% rate cut wasn't enough, as there was much disappointment expressed.

In the Far East this morning we saw fall backs in line with the earlier close in the USA, with the Nikkei 225 closing down 112.46 points at 15,932.26 and in Hong Kong the Hang seng closed down 705.78 at 28,521.

Back here in the UK this morning, the fallers were in abundance.

The banks were down, with Barclays off 18p at 537.5, RBS down 13p at 460, HBOS down 20p at 796.75, Standard Chartered off 33p at 1,873, and Northern Rock down 2.4p at 101.4.

Miners were off too, with Kazakhmys down over 3% (44p) at 1,361, Vedanta down 55p at 2,235, Anto down 18p at 776.5, BHPdown 35p at 1,636 and Anglo down 34p at 3,296.

Taylor Wimpey had a poor start this morning, down 8p at 215p, which was over a 3.5% fall.

Land and property owners continued to fall back, with British Land down 27p at 907p, Land Sec Grp down 36p at 1,485 and Hammersons down 29p at 1,044.

Positive early on were Barratts the builders, up 9p at 494.5 and Morrisons supermarket, up 4p at 319.25.

Market Wrap, Tuesday 11th December 2007

The FTSE closed down 28.5 points today at 6,536.9. This was down about 60 points from its high and up about 23 points from the session low. The FTSE 250 closed up 17.6 points at 10,647.9.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 19 points at 13,708, and the S&P500 was down just a smidge (2 points) at 1,514, whilst the Nasdaq was also down a couple of points at 2,741.

Back here in London, property and banks were casualties, as were miners.

British Land was down 45p to 930.5, Hammerson was down 19p to 1,076.

Barclays was down 13p at 556p, Lloyds TSB down nearly 6p at 498.8 and Northern Rock down 5.1p at 104.4. There won't be any decisions on Northern Rock 'til the New Year, at least.

Rio was down 104p at 5,680, BHP down 25p to 1,653, and Anto down a couple of pennies to 795.

Carpetright said it was in talks with its founder regarding a posible £850m buyout.

Morning Market, Tuesday 11th December 2007 10am

The FTSE was down this morning and by 10am was at a session low so far of 6,529 and the FTSE 250 was at 10,624, fairly even - up about 5 points.

Over the pond last night the DJI closed up about 102 points at 13,727.03, the S&P500 up at 1,515.96 and the Nasdaq at 564.50 - all really due to the hope of a interest rate cut by the Feds today.

The banks weren't doing very well, with Northern Rock was down a further 3% this morning and at 10am was at 106.53p, Standard Chartered down to 1,926, RBS down 9p at 482.25 and HSBC down 7p at 847p.

Land was down too, with Hammersons down 30p at 1,065 and British Land down 30p at 943p.

Barratts the builders was doing ok, still in favour since the broker upgrade, rushing up late last nihght before closing and jumping another 19p after opening this morning to session high so far of 492, but it tailed back to even money by 10am, although we feel there is still some strength in this one.

Xstrata continued with its popularity due to the takeover rumours, and was up 111p points at 3,766, bringing one or two other miniung majors up nwith it. Kazakhmys was also up about 18p at 1,398.

Market Wrap, Monday 10th December 2007, 8pm

The FTSE closed up just 10.5 points today, closing at 6,565.4. The FTSE 250 closed slighly down at 10,630.3, off 2.6 points. It was a fairly even day, trading in a 70 point range either side of the Friday's close.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 95 points at 13,720, the S&P500 up 11 points at 1,515 and the Nasdaq up about 15 points at 2,721 - this mainly due to the feeling that the Feds will cut interest rates again tomorrow by another 0.25%.

Back here in London we saw Lloyds TSB close up 16.5p at 504.5p despite news in its trading update that the sub-prime situation would cost the bank £200m in October. The bank also said it expected to meet analysts expectations and a 12% increase in profit. Broker reiterating support and confidence in the bank. UBS issued a profit warning this morning, which did affect the banks early on, but most recovered. HBOS closed up 12.5p at 829 and peer Alliance & Leicester closed up 18.5p at 713.5.

Yell Group was the top riser, moving up 23.5p to close at just shy of 420p after its bullish investor day on Friday and a confident broker reiterating support and a 520p target this morning.

The housebuilders also had a good day, with the expected US rate cut helping the heavyweights over here. Despite both looking like they may leave the FTSE 100 in the reshuffle, Taylor Wimpey closed up 9p at 223.5 and Barratts closed up nearly 11p at 477.5. Peer Persimmons was also up, closing 36.5p to the better at 830.5. Persimmons looking like keeping its place in the FTSE 100. As we mentioned this morning, Alfred McAlpine was in favour as the board recommended acceptance of the £572m bid from Carillion, helping the share price close up 34p at 525p. Carillion's, however, closed down 13.5p at just shy of 350p.

Compass Group was up 10.5p at 326.25 on broker upgrade and and Insurance giant Aviva gained 10p to close at 696 on another broker upgrade. Peer Prudential closed 20p up at 716.5. Kingfisher was also up on broker upgrade, closing up 6p at 165.2 after being initiated as a buy.

Now to the negatives, starting with the oil majors. The price of oil fell as the dollar gained some stregnth, resulting in RD Shell closing down 27p at 1,969 and BP closing off 3.5p at 616. Peer Tullow Oil was also off 4.5p at 655.5.

Broker downgrade and concerns the recent interest in the brewer may cease if there isn't some sort of positive word from the board caused Scottish & Newcastle to retreat 9p to 739.5.

Further down the league, Admiral Group closed up 49p at 1,086 after it said it will be increasing its retention of motor insurance for 2008 from 22.5% to 27.5%, up 5% on the year.

Broker upgrade and 670p target help UK Coal up, closing 19.5p to the better at 416.5 after a contract announcement.

On from this morning, easyJet closed up 23p to 585.5p on the broker upgrade we mentioned.

Currency Report - 10 December 2007

Good morning and i hope everyone is well. We had a very successful 2 day course last week, analysing the strategies needed to make money in this market. Remember to let the trades come to you and not chase them. If there is no clear trend, then do not trade!!!

GBPUSD bounced off its channel a couple of days ago at 2.0250. We are now trading at 2.0420, so nearly 200 points higher. Asia showed the momentum and as London opened GBP took off for a positive 125 points...

So has GBP fallen enough to now gain momentum back up again? Well GBP has fallen across the board for a while now and this week will be important to regain that momentum. Look out for Interest Rates in the states as this could kick start a move.






GBP JPY has formed a higher lower and showing a small recovery. The Hourly has showed the momentum from late last week and the green conductor at 07.45am this morning gave us the go ahead for a 150 point move up to 228.00 from 226.50





I still can't get over how we are sitting 1000 points higher in the Dow from 9 days ago. It really just shows the liquidity in the market and how much money we can make out of these markets. When ever i see the Accumulator on the Dow Daily i know we are going to see a move..All i need to do is be patient and wait for the turn and the green conductor on the 27th gave us the go ahead...



There have been so many indications that commodity prices would be rising. In fact some analysts are reporting a 20 year bull run... Take a look at the Daily chart showing us the up trend and the hourly got us in perfectly on Wednesday last week. A good solid move from 850.00 to 917.00...

Morning Markets, Monday 9th December 2007, 9am

The FTSE started the week slightly lower, with a 10 point fall to 6,541 in the first hour's trading.

On Friday over the pond the DJI closed up just 5-odd points to 13,652, with the S&P500 down just 2 points at 1,504, and the Nasdaq also down just over 2 points at 2,706. Whilst Friday was fairly even in the US, the DJI did have a decent week. It was actually up about 700 points on the week.

This morning in the Far East the Nikkei 225 closed down 32 points at 15,924 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng down 341 at 28,501.

Back here in the UK this morning we saw some negatives returning to the Northern Wreck, sorry, Northern Rock situation with a fall of nearly 6 points to 111p early doors. It looks like the deputy governer of the Bank of England is under pressure to go now, as weekend press reporting that Sir John Gieve is under pressure to resign over the whole affair. There are 3 banks ready to provide some loan funding, but not until the New Year, it was also reported. All this hasn't helped the stricken bank's stance with investors. The 3 banks are: RBS, Deutche Bank and Citigroup. They have said they want a more stable and less stressed inter-bank market before they move in with help.

Other banks fell early on, with RBS down 8p to 475, Barclays down 7p to 557, HSBC down 10p to 848p, and Lloyds TSB down 4p to 487 despite giving a fairly decent trading update saying they were firmly on track.

Miners had a good morning early on, with Rio adding 49p to 5,795 on rumours of a bidding war between BHP and one or two others. Xstrata was also up 70p to 3,726 on bid rumours from Brazil. Other peers were also up, with Anglo up 50p to 3,450 and Kazakhmys up 35p to 1,735.

Cadbury Schweppes was up 11p to 644p as news of US investment vehicle now holding 4.5% helping the fizzy drinks and chocolate giant.

Retailer Kingfisher was up 2.5p to 161.7 on broker upgrade. Easyjet also rose 15p to 577 on broker upgrade too.

The housebuilders were also back in favour with hope of another US interest rate cut, giving the UK builders some weight too. Taylor Wimpey was up 4p to 218.5p, Persimmons up 13p to 806, and Barratts up 7p to just over 474p.

Bookies William Hill and Ladbrokes were up up 16p to 531 and 5p to 323 respectively on broker upgrade for both of them.

Alfred McAlpine was up 25p to 516 on news that its board has recommended Carillion's £572m cash and shares offer, equating to about 558p per share offer.

Market Wrap, Friday, 7th November 2007, 8pm

The FTSE closed up 69.3 points at 6,554.9, which was about 22 points off the day's high. The low of the session was about 6,486.

By the time London closed the US was in positive territory, but failry even on the first couple of hours of its trading day. The DJI was up about 10 points at 13,630, the S&P500 even at 1,507 and the Nasdaq down just a shade - 2 off at 2,706. All this in spite of the 94k jobs added to the US non-farm payroll figures for November.

Back here we saw the the miners have a very positive end to the week. Often there are rallies when everyone is down the pub. Most of the city had a Xmas party of some sort today. But I digress. As we were saying, the miners had a pleasant afternoon, with Xstrata up a very positive 286 points at 3,656 on a Brazilian bid rumour. Brazil iron ore heavyweight CVRD is looking to spread its wings, analysts said. Staying with the mining heavyweights, the rather smug RIO Chief Executive used the term 'dead in the water' when asked about the BHP US$140 bln bid. Other miners are looking over their shoulders now, it seems, as BHP is on the acuisition trail, with finance secured. Rio closed up 163 at 5,746 on the news that it won't be swallowed up. Peer Anglo said it was now going with the US$500m coal project in South Africa, which gave them some interest as the closed up 164p at 3,400.

The 0.25% cut in base rate seems to be seen as not too bad for the housing sector as the builders were back in favour. Taylor Wimpey closed up over 15p at 214.5, managing to keep the company in the FTSE 100 after all. This despite being at nearly half the shareprice it was 8 months ago (the FTSE reshuffle is on Tuesday, where there will be some changes). Persimmon closed up 43.5p at 794, also doing its position some favours, whilst peer Barratts closed 18.5p up at nearly 467p. Berkeley Group closed up 119p at 1,371 on an 11% rise of profits to nearly £91m for its first half of the year.

Looking at the banks, Northern Rock closed 7.6 up at 110.6 on news that investors could end up with 85% of the company if Olivant Advisers are correct. They are challenging the Virgin bid as not being in best interests for shareholders. To say we are suprised that anywhere near 85% for shareholders could be had is an understatement, to say the least. We are more than suprised. The £25 bln to be repaid back to the BoE is required before anyone can look at what they've actually got by way of mortgage book. Anyway, we are pleased for shareholders if this is all the case. Peer RBS closed up 5p at 483.5 on broker upgrade and a 540p target.

As we also mentioned this morning, Yell Group were still sure that they were on track this year and none of their plans were changing. They closed up 15p at 396.5.

Pharma giant AstraZeneca closed up 9p at a half penny shy of 2,300p on news that it is pushing its R&D targets. Some new drugs could be about in 2 or 3 years.

On the downside today we saw BskyB close down 3.5p at 601p on news that Rupert Murdoch is stepping down and his son James is taking his position as non-exec chairman, and also takes a strategic position on the board of News Corporation too. Looks like daddy Rupert wants to play with his new toy - the Wall Street Journal.

One more to note was Dairy Crest Group, who closed up 47p at 587 after agreeing to take milk fines because of previous price fixing. The UK Office of Fair Trading carried out an investigation into price-fixing and it looks like a slapped hand has been given and deal has been sorted.

Morning Market, Friday 6th December 2007, 9am

By 9am the FTSE 100 was 46 points up at 6,531.4 and the FTSE 250 index was up 90 points at 10,586. This mainly due to the good evening on Wall Street and over here the RBS statement reiterating that all was well, or almost, anyway.

Last night over the pond, the DJI was up a very healthy 174.93 points to 13,619.89, whilst the S&P 500 up 22.33 points at 1,507.34. The Nasdaq closed up 42.67 points at 2,709.30. Positive and reassuring comment from the government on assisting those in problems with their home loans helped a lot. Especially as it was George Dubya that was giving the reassurances.

In the Far East today the Nikkei closed up 82.29 points at 15,956.37, and in Honkers the Hang Seng was up about 190 points during the session at 29,748.

Staying in the Far East, the price of the black stuff was still above US$90 bbl as OPEC left production rates unchanged. Light Sweet (Jan delivery) was up 20c at 90.35 bbl and Brent (Jan delivery) was also up 20c at US$90.38.

We'll also all be watching for the US non-farm payroll figures for Nov, which are due this afternoon. Analysts are hoping for a decent set of numbers. Be careful if holding currency positions.

Back here in the UK this morning, it was the housebuilders who were smiling this morning. Barratts was up 11p at 459, Taylor Wimpey up 10p at 209.3, and Persimmons was up 23.5 at 774. Berkeley Group was 70p up at 1,321 on its report of 11% rise in profits for the first 6 months.

The banks were also doing well, with RBS up 11p at 490 on broker upgrade and a 540p target, whilst Barclays was up 11p at 564. HSBC was also doing ok, up 16p at 860.

Telephone & advertiting outfit Yell Group was up about 9p to 390 after it assured investors all was still on track with its outlook for this year.

BskyB was down this morning on news that Uncle Rupert will step down from his place on the board and his son, James, will take his chair as non-exec Chairman.

Market Wrap, Thursday 6th December 2007, 7pm

The FTSE closed won today, but not by much. An 8.7 point fall on the day, closing at 6,495.6, which was 106 points off the session high. The 0.25% cut in interest rates helped the market have a better start, but profit taking and other concerns soon took over. The FTSE 250 closed down 15.7 points at 10,495.8.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was was up about 30 points at 13,476, whilst the S&P500 was up just 4 points at 1,487 and the Nasdaq up 12 points at 2,678.

Back to UK stocks, the banks were all smiling on the rate cut news. RBS closed up 13p at 478.5 with a decent update for investors, confirming that profits will be ahead of forecasts this year. This was good news as RBS's share price has fallen by about 20% in less than 3 months. The bank said it would be writing down debts of nearly £1 bln, but double that is feared by analysts, we are informed. Its peers also liked the rate cut, with HBOS up 13.5p to 813, HSBC up 14p to 844 and even Northern Rock up 3p to 103.0, reversing yesterday's 3p fall.

UK land and property sector also had a good day on a general broker upgrade on the sector itself. Hammersons also received a direct upgrade and rose over 20p to 1,060. Peer Land Securities was also up, closing 14p to the better at 1,521.

The housebuilders decided to turn down again after some positive action earlier on with the rate cut news. 0.25% not being enough for now, it seems. Persimmons was down 45.5p at 750.5, Taylor Wimpey was nearly 4p lower at 199.25, Barratts fell 19.5 to 448.25 and Bellway fell 13p 13 to 887.5. Bellway had said that reservations were down 12% on last year.

BskyB fell 5.5p 604.5 on a target cut to 750p from 800p on broker downgrade, as did Kingfisher, who wer also down 7p to 151 on broker downgrade.

By the way, one to note was Clapham House, the restaurant firm. Since the price has now fallen down about 60% from its high, it should be noted that directors have been busy buying this week. £200k has been spent by the company's board, with one buying £70k worth of stock himself. They must be sure their firm is going to do well.

Morning Wrap, Thursday, 6th December 2007, 9am

The FTSE was up early doors this morning, and aftre an hour of trading was 25 points to the good at 6,520. This after finishing up 179 point hike yesterday. The FTSE 250 was up 69 points at 10,580.3.

Last night over the pond we also saw a strong day, with the DJI up 1.5% - 196.23 higher at 13,444.96, and the S&P 500 up 22.22 to 1,485.01. The Nasdaq rose 46.53 to 2,666.36 on the day too.

In the Far east this morning the Nikkei 225 closed up 265.20 points at 15,874.08, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up 210 points at 29,555 earlier on.

back here in london, RBS was up 31p at 497 after a very upbeat statement that said they'd be well on track for profits up on expectations this year. Today's rise is a fightback on the 20% loss in shareprice in the last 3 months, mainly due to a near £1 bln write down on debt related assets on its 2nd 6 months. Rumours of a £2 bln write down for the year. Peers were up as well on the news, with Barclays up 20p to 574, HBOS 29p to 831 and Lloyds TSB 12p to 498.

Housebuilders continued yesterday's gains with Persimmon up 8p to 803, Barratts up 4p to 472 and Taylor Wimpey 7p to 210.

With oil output remaining even for now, RDShell was down 17p at 1,987, BP down 2p at 607, and Tullow Oil slid 9 to 654

Miners reversed some of the very healthy gains yesterday as some took profits, with Rio down 105p at 5,609, Xstrata down 30p at 3,428 and BHP 13p lower at 1,634.

Land & Property heavyweights had a good start, with Hammerson up 31p to 1069 on broker upgrade, British Land up 18p to 958 and Land Sec up 30p to 1,537.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 5th December, 7pm

The FTSE closed up today, bouyed by the almost certain interest rate cut tomorrow (0.25%, is the feeling), as well as the Chinese interest in Rio, which has given them a big boost, thus dragging the FTSE up too. The FTSE closed up a very healthy 178.6 points (nearly 3%) at 6,493.8 - this was the high of the day. The FTSE 250 closed up 242.6 points at 10,511.0.

By the time London closed the DJI was up about 180 points at 13,429 and the S&P500 was up nearly 18 points at 1,481. The US was helped by news of an extra 189k jobs added last month.

Rio closed up 205p at 5,720 on the news that the Chinese may will try and block the BHP bid. BHP closed up 84p at 1,647 as well. Peers Kazakhmys closed up 36p to 1,336 and Xstrata was up 110p at 3,430. Anglo up 146p at 3,264, and Vedanta up 120p at 2,344.

British American Tabacco was up 15p to day to 1,895 on broker upgrade, whilst peer Imperial Tobacco was up 47p to 2,586 on another broker's upgrade.

News that house prices here in the UK fell last month, for the 3rd month running, by the biggest amount for well over a year gave strength to the feeling that there will be a 1/4% cut in interest rates tomorrow. Even if the Bank of England doesn't cut rates tomorrow, it's certain for Jan or Feb, say economists. On the back of rate cut hopes the house builders did very well today, reversing the falls yesterday, with Taylor Wimpey up nearly 16p at 203.25 (up nearly 8.5%) and Barratts up 26.5p at nearly 468p. Persimmons closed up 36.5 to close at 796 today, and it appears that Persimmons may be the only one of the major builders to stay in the FTSE 100 next shuffle.

DSG International, owners of the Currys and PC World chains, closed up 6.6p to 115.5, bouncing from weakness. Its chances of remaining in the FTSE 100 after the reshuffle are not expected to be very strong.

With oil rising a little again, back through US$90, BP rose 21 to 608.5 and RD Shell up 67p to 2,004.

British Airways ended the day nearly 6p up at 328.5 on its reported 2.4% rise in traffic for November, against last year's November.

Banks had a good day too, with Asia-related Standard Chartered closing up 46p at 1,893 after an upbeat trading statement, Barclays up 15.5p at 554, HBOS up 27.5p 799.5 and RBS up 26.5p to close just shy of 466p.

However, Northern Rock was down again. Now sitting on a quid, down 3p on the day.

2nd liner Stagecoach closed up nearly 16p at just shy of 245p on a 24% rise in profits to £100m.

Colt Telecom closed up 21p at 206p on further weight to the recent speculation that AT&T are looking to bid.

Dow Jones Breaks Channel...

The Dow Jones has shown great resiliance since last tuesday and after small consolidation for the last 4/5 days we have seen a perfect channel breakout this afternoon. So far the Dow is up over 175 points today.

FTSE Powers 150 points...

The FTSE has had a strong recovery day, which is a great sign for the market and a certainty that the rate cycle is coming to it's end.

The Green conductor alerted us to the move yesterday and as the index found support off the 200MA we have seen a solid 150 points today.

I know a lot of you traded this move. Well done...

Currency Report - Wed 05th September

So is the cycle finally turning? Interest rates have been on the rise for quite some time now but it looks increasingly likely that the rate cycle will start to turn. GBP has fallen across the board today and huge profits have been taken. The BofE are looking to lift the stock market and with the squeeze on the credit market the pressure is really on lower rates maybe once or twice in the next 12 months.

GBPCHF had a cracking run down yesterday and this morning continued a further 200 points. Take a look at the red conductor on the chart below on London opening.





GBPUSD has fallen out of its support from August this year. The Daily showed me the cross and the red conductor late on monday night gave me the entry level. A perfect trade (with the trend) from 2.0600 and now trading below 2.0400...






GBPJPY has contined its down trend and the Daily came in with a perfect red conductor yesterday showing us the direction for today. As the candles broke below 226.50 GBPJPY then fell 200 points to 224.60. Keep the MA's behind you and combine them with the pre alerts to get the direction.





Good luck...The next few weeks b4 christmas will be very interesting and fantastic opportunities will arise.

Morning Market, Wednesday 4th December 2007, 9am

The FTSE bounced back from it's fall yesterday and was up 75 points at 6,390 by 9am. The FTSE 250 was up 125 points at 10,394.

Last night over the pond the DJI fell nearly 66 points to 13,248 and the S&P500 was down nearly 10 points at 1,462 and the Nasdaq was down 17.3 points at 2,619.83.

In the Far East today the Nikkei closed up nearly 129 points at 15,608.88 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 65 points by its lunchtime at 28,954.

Oil was up nearly 40c at US$88.7 bbl for Light Sweet (jan delivery) and Brent was up nearly 50c at US$90 bbl.

The FTSE was helped early doors by Rio, who were up 110p at 5,626 due to the Chinese interest that surfaced yesterday. BHP was also up 38p at 1,601. Other miners followed, with Xstrata up a quid at 3,420, Anto up 17p at 759 and Anglo up 80p at 3,198.

feeling that British Airways would be announcing some decent passenger traffic numbers later today helped them get to a good start, up 8p at 331.

Housebuilders also had a good start, with Taylor Wimpey was up 8.5p at 196, Barratts up 13p at 454 and Persimmon was 13.5p up at 351.

Northern Rock was down again this morning, sitting on 97.5p, down 5.5p on news on JC Flowers was chatting to the troubled bank's advisers. Press coverage reported that the Government may decide to nationalise the bank if there is no deal done by February. Peer Standard Chartered fell 30 to 1,817 after a non-exciting trading statement.

SABMiller was down 6p to 1,343 as its interest in Scottish & Newcastle was received by the press. S & N was up 7p at 747.

Water company Severn Trent was down 15p at 1,522 on broker downgrade.

Market Wrap, 3rd December 2007, 8pm

The FTSE closed down today, off 71.4 points at 6,315.2. The FTSE 250 was down 291 points at just under 10,269.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 44 points at 13,270. The S&P500 was down 5 points at 1,467 and the Nasdaq was down 12.4 lower at 2,624.

Back here in London, British Airways was down over 21p at 322p as brokers speculated that traffic figures wouldn't be as good as expected when reported tomorrow, and negative vibes from US airline Delta contributed to a negative day for the airline.

The banks also did poorly today, with RBS down 24.5p at 439 on broker downgrade and a 420p target, and Lloyds TSB also downgraded as well, closing off 16.5p at 474.25 and a 495p target. Peer HBOS also fell today, down 28p at 772, whilst Barclays fell 22.5p to 538.5 and Alliance & Leicester was down 33.5p to 689.

Meanwhile Northern Wreck, sorry, Rock, was down another 6p at 103p as the supposed bidding war continues. To those of us following this, and looking at fundamentals and the whole package, we can't see any value for shareholders at all, no matter who comes in, what with the small matter of £25 bln to pay back to the Bank of England.

Builders were down today as well, with Taylor Wimpey off over 14p to 187.5, Barratts down nearly 28p at 441.25 and Persimmons down 29p at 759.5.

The restaurant & pub sector also took a bit of a pasting today, with Mitchell & Butlers off 28.5p at 518 with traders noticing a large stock offload in the market, together with the unwelcome news of the plan to sell off the company's £5 bln property assets. Sector peer Greene King was down 69p to 747 on a poor update, really, as it said it should be 'near' targets.

Tesco, the supermarket king, fell 3.5p to 484 on a fairly fence-sitting comment from the firm's FD, who said he had his 'fingers crossed' that Xmas would be ok this year.

One good story of the day was Rio, which we mentioned this morning. They were up 72p to 5,515 as everyone expected a bidding war for the Anglo-Aussie mining giant, with the Chinese taking a close look, we hear.

Currency Report - Tuesday 4th December 2007

The USDCAD has seen a fantastic recovery from its low at 0.9050. Take a look how the candles have crossed back above the MA's and looking for a good pull back to the 200MA. The green conductor came in at midnight on the hourly chart and as london opened, USDCAD rallied over 100 points...





GBPCHF has continued its falling trend after a retracement back up to 2.3300. Yesterdays low was 2.3154 so as london opened all eyes were to watch this break. The 60 min chart clearly shows the break below the MA's, looking for a pullback of over 200 points to the 200MA at 2.3000.





Good luck... I know a lot of you are doing very well. Keep up the good work!!!

Morning Market, Tuesday 3rd December 2007, 9.30am

The FTSE was down again this morning, and by 9:30 was at 6,342, down 44 points. The FTSE 250 was at 10,400, down 160 points.

Over in the Far East the Nikkei 225 index closed down 148.78 points at 15,480.19 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index ended up 264 points at 28,922 by its lunchtime.

Positives here in London were very thin on the ground, but mining heavyweight Rio was up 40 points at 5,477 on the comments yesterday by the CEO saying that BHP's valuation for their bid was way, way under what will be needed. A bidding war looks like it's on the cards there. BHP was also up a little - 5p up at 1,583. Other heavyweight miners were all down.

Vodafone was also in positive territory, up nearly a penny 182.7 on broker upgrade and a 2-quid target.

To the negatives, of which there are many, we can start with the stricken bank, Northern Rock, who are down again this morning, now trading at just over 104p, down nearly 5p on the day. Uncertaincy on who's bidding, who's acceptable to bid, and even if they are acceptable can they raise the money? Dilution will be enormous, whatever happens. Other banks fell too, with HBOS down 31p at 769.25, Lloyds TSB down 18p at 472.75, RBS down 15p at 448.5, Alliance & Leicester was down 22p at 699p, Standard Chartered down 56p at 1,808 and Barclays down 18p at 543.5.

Mitchell & Butlers was top of the loser board, down 26p at 520p. Peers were also all having a poor morning, with Enterprise Inns down 15p at 492, Punch Taverns down 16.5p to 798, Smith & Nephew was down 5p at 562 and SABMiller down 21p at 1,351.

The bid rumour for Barratts the builder yesterday must be just that as the house builder fell 12p this morning to 457.5p. Land firm Hammerson was off 39p at 998p, Land Sec was down 38p at 1,483, and British Land was down 22p at 908.

2nd line mining favourite Burren Energy was up another 9p to 1,242 as it seems the Korean's might try and trump the Italian giant Eni's £1.74 bln takeover bid. Korean giant Korea National Oil Corporation are apparently more than intersted.

Market Wrap, Monday 3rd December 2007, 7pm

The FTSE closed down almost 46 points at 6,386.6. The FTSE 250 was down nearly 189 points at 10,560. Profit taking seems to blame.

Worst performer today was Northern Rock, down 9p at 109p. Uncertaincy over its future cited as the main reason. There is going to be a bidding war for the troubled bank, we all think, and JC Flowers is now back in the mix too. He has been given the green light as a 'qualifying bidder', whilst doubts have now been raised against preferred bidder, Sir Dick Branson, who may not be able to raise all the finance after all, we hear. Still, he had some decent publicity over the last few weeks at very little cost. He may yet sprout the cash, so let's not be too cynical.

A poor day for the breweries and pubs. Regent Inns gave an update that can only be described as pessimistic for the coming year, now England are all on summer holidays instead of watching the team play in the European Championships. The failure to qualify (thanks, MacLaren) will cost the trade hundreds of millions. Regent Inns also blamed regulatrory intrusion for stifling the coming year's business, but we're having none of it; MacLaren gets the blame in full. Regent Inns owns Walkabout, the Aussie theme sports bars, Jongleurs and Old Orleans pub/bar chains. It said sales were down nearly 3% on last year for the same recent period. The share price fell nearly 18p to 25p - that's a massive 40-odd percent.

Peer Clapham House also warned of its 2nd half not meeting expectations and Enterpise Inns fell 25p at 507 as well. Mitchells & Butlers fell over 30p to 546.5p with a broker downgrade, with a new target of 581, down from 638p to swallow too. Again, targets not looking possible, especially as England didn't qualify for the European Championships next year (did we mention that already...?). Others in the game also faired poorly today, with Whitbread down 36p to 1,405 on broker downgrade and new lower target of 1,620, down from previous target 2,026.

Other broker downgrades included Bank Standard Chartered, who fell 49p to 1,865.

The miners were off today, with Rio down 197p to 5,443, Xstrata down 71p to 3,348 and Anglo down 95p to 3,191. Lower oil and commodities seems to be to blame. Talking of oil, Tullow was down nearly 20p at 651.5p due to the price of the black stuff now being sub-US$90 bbl.

Trying to find some positives saw us notice Tesco, who were up nearly 9p on the day at just shy of 488p as further expansion news was in abundance, with the USA being the next target. Xmas is coming too, we suppose. My missus will be giving them her annual December near-700-quid, I expect. Peer Morrison ended 6.5p to the good at 315p. Maybe they think she's going there as well.

Still in retail, as we mentioned this morning, Home Retail Group were in positive ground, closing up 11p at 358 on positive broker comment. Kingfishers also had a good day, up 6p at 158.3, and Next was also up, finishing 12p to the good at 1,752.

Builder Barratts was subject of some speculation of a 6-quid-a-pop bid, closing up nearly 4p at 469p.

Aicraft maker BAE Systems was up nearly 8p at shy of 468 on more broker upgrade.

Bingo and Casino operator Rank Group was also subject of some stake building talk as reports that Malaysian outfit Genting had accumulated some 10% of the firm. Rank closed up almost 9p at 109.25 on the news of a possible takeover. There was similar speculation of a Rank takeover last week from US outfit, Harrah's Entertainment.

Light Crude - 03rd Nov 07

Light Crude has been another excellent market to trade and has found a large resistance level at $100. The red conductor alerted us to the move and so far we are $12.00 lower in 6 days. The report last week has really had an effect on the Crude market so look out for more volatility in the next couple of weeks.

The 60 minute chart shows a clear entry level as it fell out of its support at the $96.00 level. Both retracements back to the 200MA were met with two red conuctors and a few days of heavy selling.

Keep looking out for these key reversals to maximise your profits...

Wheat Trade - November 07

Good afternoon everyone...

The commodity prices have been stormimg away and if you had missed the move it was always going to be hard to buy at these high levels. However in September and October we had a perfect retracement and the down channel started to form which would give us the option to get back in...

The retracement indicator's and the accumulators started to appear and we knew the trend reversal was about to happen. Look how they found support at the 740 level, with the market conductor's starting to turn green.

Now the entry point was found on the 60 min chart with the crossover of the 200MA over 12 days ago. Since then we have had 3 green conductors, as entry points to build on our position...

We have had a large rise, so be careful of a small retracement back to the MA's.

FX to follow...

Morning Market, Monday 2nd December 2007, 9am

The FTSE started the week by falling about 12 points in the first hour to 6,420. The FTSE 250 wqas down 70 points at 10,678.

On Friday the DJI closed up about 60 pouints at 13,371, the S&P500 up 11.4 to 1,481 and the Nadaq fell a little - 7 points to 2,661. This despite belief that there is a further interest rate cuts to come over there in the USA.

This morning in the Far East the Nikkei 225 closed down nearly 52 points at 15,629, and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng closed up nearly 15 points at 28,658.42, which was actually down about 460 points on the day's high.

Oil is still under US$90 bbl, despite a small rise on Far East trading this morning. OPEC meet this week to chat about whether they need to raise output. British Airways was up 5p at 346 this morning as a result of the lower oil price.

Top of the leader board this morning was Home Retail Group, who were up 3.3% or 11p at 358.

Mining giant ANTO were also doing well, up 23p at 785, but other miners weren't doing so well, with all the other majors all down. Anglo were down 85p at 3,202, Rio down 140p at 5,500, BHP down 24p at 1,583, Xstrata down 68p at 3,352 and Vedanta down 35p at 2,265.

Colt Telecom were up nearly 15p at 197p on broker upgrade, this on top of 14% rise last week. Colt are up again on rumours of an AT&T bid from the US.

A few fallers this morning worth mentioning start with Standard Chartered, who had an excellent week last week, but were down 45p to 1,869 on broker dowengrade this morning. The bank is apparently issuing a trading statement on Wednesday.

Whitbread was down 30p at 1,409 on broker downgrade too.

WPP Group, the advertising giant, was up 10p at 624 on news of a decent deal strike with Dell Computers.

Market Wrap, Friday 30th November 2007

The FTSE closed up 83.4 points today at 6432.5, about 23 points lower than the high of the day, and up about 170 points this week, but down nearly 290 points on the month of November. The FTSE 250 was up 84.1 points at 10,748.8.

Over the pond, as London was closing the DJI was up about 48 points at 13,359, down about 107 points from its session high, earlier on in their morning. The S&P500 was up 10 points at 1,480 on London's close too.

Oil is now just sub US$90 bbl.

Back to stocks, and the miners were leaders today. Anglo was up 132p higher at 3,286 on rumours it may even be involved in the ongoing BHP/Rio drama. Vedanta was up 112p at 2,304, still boosted by yesterday's 25-quid bid rumour.

Banks did ok today, with RBS up nearly 16p at 459 and Barclays up 23p at 563. Alliance & Leicester were up again, this time with 44p to close at 730, that's up 20% in 3 days. Standard Chartered also had a good day, up over 6.5% or 118p to close at 1,914. Northern Rock closed slightly higher despite news that JC Flowers may be pulling out his bid for the troubled bank.

Insurers were smiling. The Pru closed up 21.5p at 679 and Standard Life closed up 12.25 at 262.5.

There were a few fallers, with Mitchells & Butlers down 8.5p at 577 on broker downgrade. BSkyB was also down nearly 10p to 625 on broker downgrade and a 600p target reduction from 720. Kingfisher fell another 5.4p to 152p after its non-exciting 3rd quarter results.

London Stock Exchange was up 10p at 1,780. The LSE will move into the top 100, replacing Invesco, on Tuesday. Invesco is moving to the NYSE.

Italy's ENI is buying Burren Energy for £1.74 bln, or 1,230p per share. Burren closed up 107p at 1,249. Other peers rose on the news, with Tullow Oil up 35.5p at 671, Cairn Energy closed up 37p at 2,349; Dana Petroleum was up 23p at 1,325.