SABMiller - Profit taking now...?

Anyone who saw the post about SABmiller a couple of months ago and agreed that the stock was coming off the bottom would be up about 25% now.

Here's the post: http://mdsmarkets.blogspot.com/2008/03/sab-miller-now-looking-for-some.html

Now the price is sitting at about £13.00, and seems to be baulking - or building some weight. For those still in this one you may be looking at volumes now. We're sitting on the 200-day MA, plus have been using the 20 MA as support for the last few weeks. The 20 & 50 MAs have crossed, so we are looking like a strength position. There is a lot of consolidation and M & A activity in this sector as well, so all points for a stronger hold during these turbulant and bearish times. With all this in mind, we'd be tempted to keep hold, but we've actually half closed and will use a break under the 20 MA as a stop. One can always get back in again, of course.

Here's the chart today:

Market Wrap, Friday 30th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed down 14.6 poinst today at 6,053.5, which was down about 58 points off the session's high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 48.9 points at 10,049.3. With the FTSE weighted with oil stocks, the drop in oil price affected those heavyweights, as did the fall in commodity prices, with the metal miners all suffering too.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up just 0.4 points at 12,646.6, whilst the S&P500 was up 2 points at 1,400, and the Nasdaq up 11 poinst at 2,519.5. News from the US government that consumer spending rose in April didn't cause too much of a stir as it was only in-line with rising costs of food and goods etc.

Back here in Lodnon, it was British Airways that was top of the leader board as the drop in oil price to around US$125 bbl helped the airline recover some ground. BA closed up 17.5p at 232.5p, also on the back of news that busienss airline Silverjet has suspended operations with immediate effect, giving BA one less competitor and those business passengers looking for alternatives. Peer easyjet closed up 6p at 301p, also on the back of the lower oil price.

Staying with travel, cruise operator Carnival was up again nicely, 53p higher at 1,918p.

on to the bad news, where the oil stocks were those hit the most. RD Shell closed down 40p at 2,105p, Cairn Energy down 53p to 3,366p, BG Group down 28p at 1,266p, and Tullow Oil down 32p at 890p. News that Origin Energy of Austrlia had turned down BG Group's offer of $15.50 a share didn't help BG, either.

As mentioned earlier, commodities were down, meaning the metal miners were also down. Copper is now sub US$8,000 per ton, whilst gold was also suffering. BHP Billiton closed down 46p at 1,914, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) closed down 22p at 1,459, and Rio Tinto closed down 125p at 6,055.

Insurers were in favour, with Friends Provident up 4.1 pence at 121.1, continuing to
pick up from near a 12-month low earlier this week, as takeover speculation continued. Standard Life, meanwhile, took on 8-1/2 pence to 251.

Carrying on from this morning, Johnson Matthey received a Merrill Lynch positive note, closing up 80p at 2,015, after being added to the Merrills favourite Europe 1 list.

DSG International received a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', helping the Currys & PC World owner to close up nearly 2p at 58.25p.

Morning Market, Friday 30th May 2008

The FTSE was diown about 10 points this morning at 6,058, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 7 points at 10,091. Lower crude and commodity prices hindered the energy and mining companies.

Over the pond, last nigh the DJI closed up over 52 points at 12,646.22, which was down about 80 points from its high of the day. The S&P500 closed up nearly 7.5 points at 1,398.26, and the Nasdaq up over 21.5 points at 2,508.32. With the dollar gaining some strength the price of the black stuff had fallen about US$4 bbl yesterday, down to around US$126 bbl. The US givernment had helped the situationafter reporting that the US economy grew last quarter more than had been estimated.

In the Far East today, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up over 214 points at 14,338.54, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up abgout 136 points at 24,520 by its lunchtime chow time.

Back here in London this morning, as mentioned at the top it was the energy & miners that were under pressure. BP was off 6p at 606.5p, and BG Group was down 37p at 1,257, whilst the miners reacted to lowr metal prices, with BHP down 60p at 19-quid, Vedanta Resources down 50p at 2,481, and Xstrata off 110p at 3,930.

Mind you, this fall in the oil price did help the airlines. British Airways had a decent start and was up 14p at 229p, whilst easyJet was up 20p at 315p.

On to financials, where the banks were also doing ok. RBS, after closing at an all-time low yesterday, was up 4p at 236p despite concerns over its £12 bln rights issue, Lloyds TSB was up 7p at 384p, and Alliance & Leicester was up 9p at 429p.

Johnson Matthey was given a decent write-up by Merrills, and promptly rose 37p to 1,972 as it joined Merrills favourite Europe 1 list.

Staying with financials, the insurers also did well, with Friends Provident up 4p at 121p, Standard Life up 8p at 250.5p, and Admiral Group up 20p at 888p.

DSG International was up 3p at 60p after a Morgan Stanley upgrade to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight', adding a 90p target, up from 57p, as it felt the Currys & PC World owner was getting its house together after the recent announcment on branch closures etc.

On to building, where Taylor Wimpey rose 4p to 89.5p after a Goldman sachs upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell', basically saying that this one had really hit the floor and was now looking like value, with all the bad news built in to the price.

Market Wrap, Thursday 29th May 2008

The FTSE closed only 1.5 points lower at 6,068.1, down about 62 poits from the day's high. The FTSE 250 closed up 40.9 points at 10,098.2.

Over the pond, the DJI was up 40 points at 12,634, whilst the S&P500 was up 7.5 points at 1,398, and the Nasdaq up nerly 14.5 points at 2,501. The US Commerce Department said the first-quarter GDP growth was at an annual rate of 0.9%, which was better than the 0.6% expected, above 4th-quarter figure of 0.6%, although many had hoped to hit the 1% level. On to employment, where the Labor Department said that jobless claims were up by 4,000 to 372,000, which wasn't quite as bad as many feared, but continuing unemployment claims stayed above the 3m level for the 5th week in a row.

Back here in London it was the banks and the housebuilders that had a poor day. With house prices down 2.5%, we're told, and builders moth-balling projects, both sectors took hits.

The banks were down, with HBOS off nearly 17p at 414.25, barclays down nearly 10p at 377.5p, and RBS down over 6p at just shy of 232p. ABN Amro didn't help, either, with their sector review that forecasts a strong reversal in both earnings yield and leverage, which have both helped drive up financial sector returns in recent years.

On to the housebuilders, where Persimmons was down 26p at 487.5p, Barratt Developments down 10.5p at 190p, Taylor Wimpey down 8p at 85.5p, and Bovis Homes down 19p at 429p. The only FTSE 100 memmber, Persimmons looks like it couldget kicked out in the reshuffle next month too. Building materials group Wolseley was also down 19.5p to cose at 537.5 after a Panmure Gordon reminder of their 'sell' stance and 4-quid target.

BT Group didn't have a good day, closing down over 4p at 222.25p after a SG Securities 'sell' stance and 2-quid target was made apparent.

Trying to find some good news, oil heavyweights did well, despite the price of the black stuff down $3 to $4 today, as BP closed up 7p at 612.5p, RD Shell up 28p at 2,145, Tullow Oil up 24.5p at 922p, and Cairn Energy up 104p at 3,419.

On to financials again, where hedge fund manager Man Group closed up 30.5p at 619p after reporting a 60% growth in full-year profit, immediately nudging Credit Suisse to up its target by 30p to 670p.

On to the miners, where Rio Tinto closed up 43p at 6,180p after an upbeat production update, and ENRC was up 71p at 1,481p as those bid rumours are still doing the rounds.

Morning Market, Thursday 29th May 2008

The FTSE 100 was up this morning, around 55 points at 6,125, whislt the FTSe 250 was up 95 poinst at 10,152.

Over the pond, the DJI closed last night at 12,594.03, up 45.68 on the day, whilst the S&P500 closed up 5.49 points at 1,390.84, and the Nasdaq up 5.46 points at2,486.70. It seems US durable goods figures were better than expected. Today in the US we see the GDP figures for the 1st quarter. a 1% figure is expected, up from 0.6%.

In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed up 415.03 points at 14,124.47, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed up 134.48 points higher at 24,383.99.

Back here in London, Anto's results are due this morning, and are expected to be ahead of exepctations, giving the stock a 13p lift to 710p, Revenue should be around the US$830.4m mark. Peer Rio, meanwhile, was up 125p at 6,262p, after saying it expects 8.6% compound growth moving forward for the next 7 years. It added that reckons it will be able to take advantage of an expected doubling of world demand for its metals and minerals over the next 15 years. Other peers also rallied. BHP was up 37p at 1,996p, ENRC up 25p at 1,435p, Xstrata up 43p at 4,059p, and Lonmin up 40p at 3,388.

On to oil, where world oil prices rfell back but remained above US$130 bbl last night in the Far East's trading. The oilheavyweights were up again, with BP up 7p at 613p, RD Shell up 22p at 2,176, and Tullow Oil up 22p at 920p. BG Group also had a good start, up 10p at 13-quid, after the FT said that BG will up its offer for Australia's second largest retail energy supplier.

On to financials, where Man Group was up 17p at 606p after reporting a 60% increase in profits, adding that this year had started strong too. Credit Suisse jumped in by reitereating its 'outperform' stance and rising its target to 670p, up 30p from its 640p previous.

A JP Morgan downgrade caused insurance giant Standard Life to fall 2p to 240p after the broker said UK sales look like suffering. It gave a taget of 230p, down 15p.

The banks were under pressure as well, with HBOS down 7p at 424p, Lloyds TSB down 5p at 380p, Barclays down 4p at 383p, and RBS down 1.5p at 236.5p. ABN Amro said that the sector is due for a strong reversal in both earnings yield and leverage, compared to previous years.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 28th May 2008

The FTSE closed up 11.1 points at 6,069.6, down about 153 points from its peak, whiclst the FTSE 250 closed up 23.1 points at 10,057.3.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about a point at 12,547, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 3 points at 1,383, and the Nasdaq down nearly 6 points at 2,475.4.

Back here in London, with oil now at about US$130 bbl, the airlines were pleased their fuel bills may be dropping just a little. British Airways closed up 3.5p at 218p, whilst peer easyJet closed up just over 17p at 291.5.

Staying with travel, Carnival, the cruise operator, also saw benefits of cheaper fuel, closing up 52p at 1,892.5p.

Supermarket chain WM Morrison was up nearly 6p at just shy of 291p after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral'.

On to insurance, where Friends Provident, received a JP Morgan upgrade which helped a 1.9p rise to 117.75p, with the broker upping it to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.

Rolls-Royce closed up 11.25p to 411.25 after it said it has formed a JV company with GKN Aerospace to carry out R&D for work with composite materials in aeroplane engines.

As mentioned above, oil was down, so the heavyweights fell too. BP closed down 11p to 605.5, whilst exploration group Tullow Oil closed down 12.5p to 896.5p.

UK nuclear power provider British Energy closed down 12p to 725p after posting year end figures, which certainly didn't please Merrills, who reierated it's 'sell' stance. British Energy's EBITDA fell to £882m from £1.2 bln, with blam eon lower annual output as well as lower prices charged. There was also no more news on the UK government's stake in the nuclear group and who, if anyone, may be bidding for it.

In to the high street, with Marks & Sparks closing down nearly 15p at 381p after going ex-div, whilst peer Next closed down 17p to 1,168, and Cobham closd down 3p at just shy of 208p, also both going ex-div.

Morning Market, Wednesday 28th May 2008

The FTSE was up this morning, trading at about 6,070, up over 11 points. The FTSE 250 was actually down about 20 points at 10,015.

Over the pond the DJIA closed up 68.72 points at 12,548.35, whilst the S&P500 closed up 9.42 points at 1,385.35, and the Nasdaq up 36.57 points at 2,481.24. Figures show the US economy is slowing.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 177.42 points at 13,715.89, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 79 points at 24,203 by lunchtime chow time. It seem the priuce of the black stuff falling has triggered a bit of a sell off over there.

In Far East trading there was some profit taking on oil, with concerns on demand from the US falling as the economy slows. Oil was trading sub-$130 again, with light sweet crude (July del) at US$128.80 bbl, and Brent North Sea crude (Jul del) at US$128.20 bbl.

Back here in London, it was the Royal Bank of Scotland that was a little suprise after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underperform' saw the price rise 5p to 246p. Credit Suisse continued with thier sector review by giving peer Lloyds TSB a downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral', causing a 4p drop to 389.5p.

On to insurance, where Friends Provident was up 2p at 118p after a JP Morgan upgrade to 'overweight' from 'neutral'. Peer Prudential liked the news and was up 8p at 652p.

On to the supermarkets, where Morrisons was up 6p at 291p after a Credit Suissse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral', adding a new target of 340p up 20p from its last target. Peer Sainsburys followed the trend, up 7p at 292p.

Some of the FTSE 100 went ex-div today, causing the yield to be taken out of the prices. Those going ex-div included British Energy, Marks & Sparks, and Cobham.

British Energy was actually down 10p at 727p, but this was also due to reporting a drop in earnings from £1.2 bln down to £882m this year, blaming lower full year nuclear output and prices charged.

With the oil price down, the oil heavyweights backed off too. BG Group was down 7p at 1,283, RD Shell down 8p 2,144, Tullow Oil down 4p at 906p, and Cairn Energy down a penny at 3,370.

Commodity prices were also down, affecting the miners. BHP was down 15p at 1,957, ENRC down 25p at 1,385p, Vedanta Resources down 21p at 2,577, and Kazakhmys down 8p at 1,670.

Market Wrap, Tuesday 27th May 2008

Despite bing up at 6,147 at one point, the FTSE closed at 6,058.5, down 28.8 points on the session, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 43.4 points at 10,034.2. The FTSE 100 has had 3 lower sessions in a row, now.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 5 points at 12,475, whilst the S&P500 was actually half a point up at 1,376.5, whilst the Nasdaq was 12 points to the good at 2,444. The US government gave some good news in that there had been a slight gain in new home sales, but added that data showed that consumer confidence was disappointing. The Dow had opened up a little, but backed off, despite oil falling back to about US$130 bbl.

Back here in London, the heavyweight oil companies fell a bit due to the price of the black stuff finally pullng back. BP closed down 13.5p at 616.5p, RD Shell down 10p at 2,152, and Cairn Energy closed down 72p to 3,371.

On to the housebuilders, who suffreed again due to Hometrack reporting that prices were down for the 8th month in a row, with prices this month actually 1.9% down on a year ago. Then Citigroup was reported to have managed to place 7m barratts shares at 208p a go, causing barrats to close down 9.25p at just under 211p. Peer Taylor Wimpey closed down nearly a penny at just shy of 96p. Persimmons, who closed down 5p at 509p, is actually the only housebuilder remaining in the FTSE 100 list, and it may even lose that next month in the reshuffle.

Retailers didn't do too well as a very wet Bank Holiday Weekend caused people to stay at home instead of spend cash, and then weekend press reports said that DIY sales were down 20% on last year. B&Q owner Kingfisher fell nearly 2p to 138.1p in reaction. Other retailers were down too, with Next down 18p at 1,185, and DSG International closed down 2p at 58.5p, not helped by a new Credit Suisse target of 34p, down from 50p.

Vodafone, which had been up this morning, closed down 2.8p at 160.5p after news that chief executive Arun Sarin will be replaced by his deputy, Vittorio Colao. Vodafone's results were good, though, with group turnover at £35.5 bln for year end 31st March, and boasted a 4.2% growth.

As mentioned this morning, SABMiller closed up 85p at 1,309 after bid rumours that InBev were sniffing with intent on a bid. InBev is also looking at Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc. and may consider SABMiller as a target too, depending on progress with Anheuser-Busch. SAB has impressed ING, who raised their target to 1,550p, up from 15-quid.

British Airways did well today as well, helped by the price of oil dropping a bit, closing up 8.25p at just shy of 215p.

Compass Group, the commercial caterer, closed up 11.5p at 373.25p as Credit Suisse upped its target to 425p, 10p higher, saying the recetn results were very good.

GlaxoSmithKline closed down 17p at 1,104 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'. Peer Shire, however, closed up over 10p at 871.5p after its Hunter syndrome treatment Elaprase has now been approved in Brazil.

Morning Market, Tuesday 27th May 2008

The FTSE was up about 21 points in it sfirst hour at 6,181, whilst the FTSE 250 was down about 10 points at 10,067.

Over the pond they were closed yesterday, as we were here in the UK, but on Friday the close there was negative. At Friday's close the DJI was down almost 146 points at 12,479.63, whilst the S&P500 was down nearly 18.5 points at 1,375.93, and the Nasdaq down almost 20 points at 2,444.67.

In the Far East today it was far mre positive, with the Nikkei 225 closing up over 203 points at 13,893.31, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 150 points by its lunchtime chow.

The price of the black stuff has backed off as well, although still around the US$133 bbl mark. With more problems in Nigeria, there were stil, concerns on supply. Both Light Sweet & Brent were just about US$133 bbl for July deleivery, with Brent being 15cents cheaper.

Back here in London the oil price helped the oil stocks. Tullow Oil was up 14p at 935p, BG Group up 15p to 1,325p, and Cairn Energy up 70p at 3,513p.

The miners bounced this mirning after their poor end to the week last week, with the majors all up. Vedanta Resources was up 65p at 2,642, Anglo up 82p at 3,454, Anto up 71p at 711p, and Rio up 107p at 6,406.

M&A rumours in the press at the weekend has SABMiller at the top of the board this morning, up 62p at 1,286, after reports that Inbev sniffing with intent on trying to put together the majors in the market. The reports said they were also looking at Anheuser-Busch as well as SABMiller as targets. ING upped its target to 1,550p from 15-quid.

Vodafone was up 3.2p at 166.5 after posting its results that were received well. Revenue was at £35.5 bln for the year end at March, which is up over 14%. Merrills reiterated their 'buy' stance. News that chief executive Arun Sarin will be stepping down appers to also have been received well. He will be replaced by deputy chief executive Vittorio Colao. Peer Cable & Wireless was up 2.8p to 165.8 after a Goldman Sachs upgarde to 'buy' from 'hold'.

Compass Group was up 5p to 367p, aided by Credit Suisse upping its price target to 425 pence from 415 following the group's results earlier this month.

GlaxoSmithKline was down 10p to 504p after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', citing risk to expectations for US Cervarix approval next year.

On to retailers, where bad weather over the bank holiday added to woes. Home Retail Group was down 6p to 225p, Next down 15p to 1,188, Kingfisher down nearly 2p to 138.1p, and Marks and Sparks down 2.5p to 391p.

Northern Foods was up 2p at 88p after some decetn figures. Full-year pretax profit was just over £50m, which was up from £40m last time.

Market Wrap, Friday 23rd May 2008

The FTSE closed down 94.3 points at 6,087.3, which was the session's low, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 109.3 points at 10,077.6, also at its low.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was about 136 points down at 12,489, whilst the S&P500 was down around 19 points at 1,375, and the Nasdaq down about 31 points at 2,433.

Back here in London, the miners had a poor day as metal prices fell. There was also some profit taking ahead of the 3-day weekend. Kazakhmys closed down 99p at 1,678, Rio down 37p at 6,299, Anto down 38.5p at 693-1/2, Anglo down 171p at 3,372, BHP down a quid to 2,010, and Xstrata down 166p at 4,058.

The heavyweight oil stocks did fall back on profit-taking, as the price of the black stuff took a breather after such a strong rise. The price actually hit a record high at more than US$137 bbl yesterday. BP closed down 16.5p at 630, BG Group down 27p at 1,310, Cairn Energy down 95p at 3,443, and Tullow Oil down 34.5p to 921.5.

FirstGroup closed down 12.5p to 511.5 after Morgan Stanley said it had doen a transport review and issued a note in which it said it was cautious on UK rail. The broker cut its price target for FirstGroup to 650p from 910p but did keep its 'overweight' stance. Morgan Stanley also downgraded Go-Ahead to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight', which fell 45p to 1,525, and cut National Express to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight', whicg closed 19p lower at 860. Stagecoach, though, was upped to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight', but the price still fell 5p to 227.25p.

On to banks, where Lloyds TSB closed up nearly 4p at 395p after a Exane BNP Paribas upgrade to 'neutral' from 'underperform', adding a price target of 495p. Peer RBS closed up 2p top just shy of 247p,

On to insurance, where Aviva ahead 5p at 612, and Friends Provident up 0.9p at 115.1 amid talk Rabobank is set to make an offer for its Lombard division.

Sainsburys shares closed up 1.25p at 346 after an ABN Amro upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold', adding a target of 440p. The broker said the recent 13% fall aftre posting its pre-lim results was too much. Peer Morrisons was up nearly a penny to just shy of 280p ahead of a trading update due in a week or so. Deutsche Bank reiterated its 'buy' stance and 310p target ahead of the quarterly figures.

Cable & Wireless closed up 6.4p to 161.3 after a Investec Securities upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' after it said the telecom firm's full year results posted yesterday were good. Investec said C&W's loked strong for this coming year. Other brokers also upped their targets.

Confectioner Cadbury was down 10p to 688 after an ING downgrade to 'hold' from 'sell', citing pure valuation reasons.

Home shopping firm Findel closed down nerly 8p to 240.25p, extending recent falls following unimpressive full year results last week and rumours and chat about some rather large lines of stock on offer.

Discount airline easyJet lost 14p to close just shy of 266p on concerns with the price of fuel. There was also related sector news that AIM-listed business-only carrier Silverjet were temporarily suspended as its financing remained uncertain.

Market Wrap, Thursday 22nd May 2008

The FTSE closed down 16.5 points at 6,181.6, whilst the FTSE 250 actually closed up just over 21 points at 10,186.9.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was 23 points up at 12,624, whilst the S&P500 was around 6 points up at 1,397, and the Nasdaq up 13 points at 2,461.

Back here in London, it was a bit of a mixed day, with the top loser of the day being the London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE). Yes, we mean the actual LSE share price, which was down 50p on the day at 1,038 as its full year figures failed to excite, and the rather bearish statement that accompanied them gave further reason to move one's cash elsewhere.

The miners had a good day, also helped by some positive tragtes by Goldman Sachs, who did a sector review. BHP closed up 44p at 2,110, Xstrata up 87p at 4,224, and Rio Tinto up 28p at 6,669. However, Vedanta Resources didn't do as well, closing down 64p at 2,648 after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy', and lowering its target to 30-quid, down from £26.60.

Vodafone closed up 4.9p at 163.5 on news that Italy's communications authority (AGCOM) will cut the mobile termination rates by over 30% over three years. This means that Vodafone's Italian income will not be reduced by as much as had previously been expected.

Staying with telecoms, Cable & Wireless closed up 4.1p at 156.6 after its results were better than expected, showing decent, strong cashflow. Peer BT Group did well on the back of C&W, closing up nearly 3p at 228.5p.

Cadburys closed up 16.5p at 698p after rumours that Warren Buffett may fancy a bid for the confectioner. Kraft Foods are also rumoured to be interested.

International Power closed up just over 11p at at 449.25p and Scottish & Southern Energy up 42p at 1,469 as rumours of bids, takeovers, M&As and other tie ups in the sector are expected to occur sooner rather than later.

Tate & Lyle didn't do so well today, closing down 11p at 474 after the sugar and sweetener manufacturer announced its figures, which were just as expected, but had the international sugar trading part showing a loss. With concerns over ongoing food and corn pricing, investors felt this one overpriced and moved out.

Airline EasyJet closed up 17p at 279.5p after saying it is seeking legal advice and asking for a judicial review on the very high increase on charges at LGW airport for the next 5 years, which have been set by the CAA.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 21st May 2008

The FTSE closd up a little today, just 6.5 points at 6,198.1, which was down about 59 points from the day's high. The FTSE 250 closed at 10,165.8, down 84.5 points on the day.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 65 poinst at 12,764, whilst the S&P500 was down 3.5 points at 1,410, and the Nasdaq also down about 3.5 points 2,489. News from the Fed Res on future interest rates cuts is due later and inflation worries causing some concern there.

With oil now at US$131 bbl, mainly due to the dollar weakening again, there is some serious worry on economy matters. It really does look like a recession is just about on top of us, but we are ignoring it.

Back here in Lodnon, the oil heavyweights liked the dearer barrell. BP closed up nearly 22p at just shy of 650p, RD Shell closed up a quid at 2,212, which was a record high and BG Group closed up 72p to the better at 1,394, also a record. Cairn Energy closd up 162p to 3,681, whilst Tullow Oil closed up 35.5p at 969 and Premier Oil closed up 112p at 1,850 with Deutsche Bank reiterating its 'buy' stance and upped its target to 2,070 from 1,880.

Wood Group, the oil services company, closed up over 20p to 474.5p after Goldman Sachs raised its target to 44p, up 30p.

Commodity prices were up, so the miners were too, with Vedanta up 75p at 2,712 on the back of a 31-quid target from UBS, Anglo up 62p to 3,515, BHP up 43p to 2,066 and Rio up 48p to 6,641.

British Land closed up 14p at 810.5p after a SG Securities upgare to 'buy' from 'sell'. British Land also announced it had sold the iconic Willis Building in London for £400m to St Martins, the international property investment and development.

Home Retail Group closed down over 16p at just shy of 233p after going ex-div.

Cruise operator Carnival closed down 82p at at 1,853 after going ex-div too.

Sainsburys closed down 15.5p at 340p after going ex-dividend, and investors still aren't sure the supermarket chain's forecast for 2008 was going good enough.

British Airways was down another 5p at just shy of 203p as the price of the black stuff continued to scare, and the figures released last Friday looked better than they were at first, but now do not appear so good, according to analysts.

The banks suffered again, with RBS closing down 12.5p at 241.5p as rumours that it can't get enough interest in its £12 bln rights issue worried investors, HBOS closed down nearly 20p at 445.5p, and Alliance & Leicester closed down 19.25p at 415.25p.

Wolseley closed down 11p to 525p after an update that said business was suffering, both here and in the USA.

Electricity generator Drax closed up nearly 50p at 724p after a decent update yesterday, and it also look like it could return to the FTSE 100 next month.

Yell Group closed down another 23.25p at just shy of 131p after investors didn't like the 50% cut in dividend payment and a couple of brokers lowered their targets drastically.

Market Wrap, Tuesday 20th May 2008

The FTSE closed down 184.9 points at 6,191.6 today, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 307 points at 10,250. We have been concerned of late at the rally of the FTSE. we're not sure why it has, of course, as there is still lots of bad news out there. The FTSE is about 20% better than it was in January, which has happened at a time of deep concern in the global banking sector, known to most as the 'credit crunch'. This is far worse than people realise. So much so that we believe this has been a bit of a bear market rally. Today's fall is some realism coming back, we reckon, and a time to take some profits, especially if you are back in the black on stuff that wasn't quite at your stop losses, something one doesn't normally get in a bear market.

Today's 125 point fall could be seen as a turning point. A downward step. Especially when one takes in to consideration how weighted the FTSE is towards mining, oil and gas. These stocks do look overbought, and don't forget, oil may be up at US$128 bbl, but if you take cable out of that it is back near a $100.

We suggest putting some of your portfolio back in to cash. Play with Forex, of course, as you should lwaready be doing, but look for 'proper' breaks, where you can go strong. For those stock traders amongst you, we suggest raising cash levels to at least 25% of portfolio value where possible. In a few weeks there may be more attractive opportunities to take advantage of.

Anyway, back to today, and over the pond to Wall Street, where we saw oil actually spike over US$129 bbl. The government didn't help with its report that raised investors' concerns about consumer spending due to the impact of inflation. By the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 205 points at 12,824, whilst the S&P500 was down 11.5 points at 1,415.1, and the Nasdaq off over 31 points at 2,484.9.

Back here the miners reversed some of their recent gains with profit taking looking like the order of the day. Like we said above, there have been some enormous rises in the sector this year. BHP Billiton had a poor day, down 173p to 2,023, whilst Kazakhmys was 151p down at 1,792, Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) down 111p to 1,424, and Rio off 485p at 6,593.

In to the High Street, where Marks & Spencer's results initially looked ok, but on closer inspection showed that margins were lower and worse was to come. After initially having some positive interest, M&S closed down 21p at 396p. Peers also suffered, with Next closing down 64p at 1,220 and Kingfisher down 6.2p to close at 139.85p.

Imperial Tobacco closed down 163p at 2,455 after posting lower than expected 38% rise in H1 sales, but added confiormation of its planned rights issue of STG£4.9 bln in a one new share for two existing share deal to investors.

ICAP shares closed down 43.5p to 626.5p after profit taking after its figures were released and no news of the rumoured bid speculation.

British Land closed up 8.5p at 796.5p after its Q4 figures were better than expected.

On to the banks, where Alliance & Leicester had a better day, closing up 4.25p at 434.5p, whilst HBOS closed up nearly 3p at 465.25p after press reports that Barclays was sniffing with intent as part of its fund raising plans. Barclays responded by closing down 7.5p at 405.5p.

Yell Group fell badly, down 55p at 154 after slashing its dividend in half and the heavy debt laden balance sheet is unsustainable. Numis Securities cut its target to 140p, down from 160p.

Mitchells & Butlers closed up over 14p at just shy of 343p after announcing H1 results that were strong and added with its plans for its conversion to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).

Market Wrap, Monday 19th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed up 72.2 points at 6,376.5, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 103.0 points at 10,557.3, with the oil stocks doing well due to the price of the black stuff being on the up again.

By the time London closed the DJI was actually up about 81 points at 13,068, despite having a lower start. gap traders smiling, of course. The S&P500 was up about 7.5 points at 1,433, and the Nasdaq up around 16 points at 2,545. News over in Wall Street was Microsoft's tie-up with yahoo for their internet gateway portal.

Back here in London it was the oil heavyweights who were popular again, as oil was at US$127 bbl making oil and gas stocks in demand. RD Shell closed up 60p at 2,154, helped by a Deutche bank target rise to 27-quid, up from £25, whilst BP closed up 8p at 643p, Cairn Energy closed up 107p at 3,654, and BG Group closed up 51p at 1,368. Wood Group, the il services company, carried on from yesterday, up another 7p to 470p, with Credit Suisse upping its target 15p to 490p.

The miners also did well, with commodities up again. Anglo closed up 140p at 3,850p after a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold', Vedanta closed up 219p at 2,780 after a similar updrade, and Kazakhmys closed up 110p at 1,943.

Tate & Lyle closed up 14.5p at 513.5p after a Panmure Gordon upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell', but kept its target at 480p.

British Airways, on the other hand, closed down over 10p at just shy of 223p after investors noted the US$127 bbl oil price, and then a Deutche Bank downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' with a 2-quid target, down from 361p. ABN Amro joined in, cutting its stance to 'sell' from 'hold'.

Bradford & Bingley closed down 21p at 112p after investors noted the £300m rights issue and the bank's apparnet over-exposure in the buy-to-let market, where defualts are rising fast.

Banks didn't do well today, Alliance & Leicester closed down nearly 11p to 430.25, RBS down 10.5p to 256p, HBOS down nearly 7p to 462.5p.

Sainsburys closed down 6.5p to 366-1/4 after a ING downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' with a target to 340p, down from 420p saying it wasn't too confident from the rest of the year.

Building materials group Wolseley closed down 21p to 558p after a Merrill lynch downgrade it to 'sell' from 'neutral' blaming worsing trading conditions.

Morning Market, Monday 19th May 2008

The FTSE was up about 16 points at 6,331.3 after its first hour of trading this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was up about 27 points at 10,496.6 by 9am.

On Friday, over the pond, the DJI closed down nearly 6 points at 12,986.80, up about 1.9% on the week, whilst the S&P500 closed up 1.78 points at 1,425.35, and the Nasdaq down nearly 5 points at 2,528.85, although that was 3.4% up on the week.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up just over 50 points at 14,269.61, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up about 185 points at 25,804 by lunchtime chow time.

Staying with Asian trade, oil was now up at US$127 bbl despiute Saudi Arabia saying it would raise production. Light sweet (Jun del) was up over 60c at US$126.90 bbl, whilst Brent (Jul del) was up narly 30c at US$125.30 bbl this morning in London trade, but was off its earlier high of $126.34 reached in the Far East.

Back here in London, and on to stocks, where the oil stocks had a good start because of the price of the black stuff, with BP up 6p at 641p, Cairn Energy up 80p at 3,627p, and RD Shell, who also got a Deutche Bank upgrade from £25 to a £27 target, was up 24p at 2,141.

The miners also started well, with Anglo up 45p at 3,585p, Vedanta up 23p at 2,584, and Kazakhmys up 50p at 1,883p. Anglo and Vedanta were both upgraded to a 'buy' rating by Citigroup this morning.

British Airways reversed some of its gain last week, down 6p at 226.5p after investors were concerned about the oil price, and the fact that Deutsche Bank downgraded the airline to to 'sell' from 'buy', and ABN Amro downgrading to 'sell' from 'hold' this morning, also didn't help.

Sainsburys fell 5p to 368p after an ING downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold', and added a 340p target, down from 420p.

Bradford & Bingley fell 12p to 121p after bad press at the weekend and the right issue news sank in.

Cobham was down 2p at 216.5p after a UBS downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

BAE Systems was down 6p at 461p after the news of the detention of the company's chief executive Mike Turner and a senior colleague in Texas last week.

Against expectations, and on to houses, the Rightmove house price survey was better than expected, showing that house prices were up 2.2% for May, which was 1% better than April. Let's hope we all have been too pessimistic.

Market Wrap, Friday 16th May 2008

The FTSE closed up 52.5 points to day at 6,304.3, which was down about 44 points from its day's high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 115.4 points at 10,454.3.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually down about 85 points at 12,908, whilst the S&P500 was down 9 points at 1,415, and the Nasdaq down 23.5 points at 2,510.

Back here in London it was British Energy that had the best day, amongst bid speculation the company closd up 35.5p at 715.5p after saying it had two bids on the table. Rumours that EDF was one of them and Spainsh giant Iberdrola SA the other seemed to be the word.

With the price of the black stuff up at US$126 bbl the oil stocks gained some strength, with RD Shell up 60p at 2,094 and Tullow Oil up 30p at 954.5p.

Recently pressured and ridiculed British Airways closd up 9p at 233p despite the price of oil being on the up again as it posted profits for last year of £883m. Little Willie, though, said he wouldn't take his ridiculously inflated bonus due to the complete debacle and shambles of the new Terminal 5 opening. How he is still in a job, we don't know. Years in planning, each manager of each department in the airline should have been fully sure that their area would be ready. Where does the buck stop? Not at the man calling the shots. Anyway, we still see BA an opportunity for some gain, despite the oil price, as it seems to be handling its costs elsewhere a bit better, so to offset the extra fuel bill.

Compass Group was up another 11p to close at 367.25p on the back of a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell' after the contract caterer's figures announced on wednesday were seen as very strong.

ICAP closed up 24p at 659p after some bid rumours for the interdealer broker were doing the rounds saying that Intercontinental Exchange, who own London's crude oil exchange, is sniffing with intent.

Sainsburys closed down nearly 5p at just shy of 373p as investors felt that last year's full year figures didn't look as good as they should have done.

Petrofac closed up 25.5p at 654p after saying it was on track for profits as expected for this year, prompting broker Seymour Pierce to reiterate its 'outperform' stance.

Capital & Regional closed up 20p at 355p after a decent tarding update. It said it will also raise cash through a placing and that was going well.

Morning Market, Friday 16th May 2008

The FTSE was up 80 points at 6,279, after an hour of trading this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was also up aboput 80 points at 10,440.6, with the positive feeling in New York travelling to the Far East and then here this morning.

Over the pond last night the The DJI closed up 94.28 points to 12,992.66, whilst the S&P500 was up nearly 15 points at 1,423.57, and the Nasdaq up over 37 po8ints at 2,533.73. A 2nd daily gain was welcomed over there, with a better feeling in the air, we hear, with manufacturing &economic data.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 index closed down 32.26 points at 14,219.48, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed up about 205 points at 25,513.1

Staying in the Far East, oil was rising again, with light sweet (Jun del) up over 70c at US$124.8 bbl, whilst Brent crude (Jul del) was up 75c at US$123.38 bbl. We're not sure Light Sweet will go through the record of US$126.98 that was reached earlier this week, but the price will only get stronger over time now.

Back here in London, recently troubled British Airways popped up with a 16p rise to 245p after a decent set of figures showing nearly a 45% gain in full year pre-tax profits to £883m, up from £611m for 2006. Not bad. They did add that this year would be more challenging, what with fuel price and the Terimnal 5 fiasco. Revenue was up to £8.75 bln, up from £8.49 bln too, and opearting costs were down 0.7% to £7.9 bln.

BHP Billiton was down 26p at 2,148 after some profit taking. The media reports of Chinese interest had caused quite a leap yesterday, after all. Peers were also down, with Rio off 75p at 6,948, Vedanta down 20p at 2,514, Xstrata down 10p at 4,278 and Anto down 5p at 785p.

National Grid was up 8p at 724p after a Credit Suisse reminder of its 'neutral' stance and 880p target after strong results yesterday.

Compass Group, the contract caterers, was up 5p at just over 361p after a Goldman Sachs upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell', saying it liked the H1 figures posted on Wednesday.

British Energy Group was up 46p at 726p after saying it had received a few proposals for a buyout/merger, but said no firm news would be around for a few weeks yet.

Ladbrokes was up 11p at 321p as it announced profits up 13% in the first four months this year.

Rightmove was down 21p at 364.5p after saying it will place up to 16.2m shares so to help its bookbuilding.

Market Wrap, Thursday 15th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed up 35.8 points at 6,251.8, whilst the FTSE 250 ended up 63.6 points at 10,338.9. Most earnings and updates were positive today, which helped the market have a better day than the weather. Mind you, Barclays was under the weather, as they posted £1 bln in write-downs. More further down.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was even at 12,898, whilst the S&P500 was up 3 points at 1,411.6, and the Nasdaq up 6.5 points at 2,503.2. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told the US banks and other financial institutions they need to sort themselves out and be able to foresee problems and have contingency plans and a war chest to cope with situations like the current economic one being experienced. The US weekly jobs report also showed a slight rise in jobless claims, and the Federal Reserve said industrial output was down again in April, for the 2nd month running.

Back here in London, it was BT that was top of the bopard as its full year results were better than hoped, as were the final 1/4 figures, helping the comms giant to close up 12p at 235.25p. Brokers Nomura and Collins Stewart immediately reiterated their 'buy' stances.

Confectionary company Cadburys closed up 25p at 672 after saying that following the recent demerger of its drinks/beverages side of the business they were off to a strong start.

SABMiller closed up 47p at 1,250 after it said its full-year pretax profit increased 15% to $3.64 billion, ahead of expected. J.P. Morgan upped its target to 1,583p from 1,525p.

Cairn Energy rose 144 pence at 3,532, boosted in part by oil prices hovering around $123 a barrel as the weaker dollar continued to support buying, and also by UBS upping its stance to 'buy' from 'hold' with a raised price target of 4,500 pence as part of a positive sector review. Tullow Oil also benefited on the review, closing up 22p at 924.5 as UBS upped its target to 1,050p from 690. AMEC, the oil services firm, also had a good day, closing up 22.5p at 844.5, benefiting from a UBS target of 935p up from 875p.

The London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) closed up 7p at 1,088 after a Sanford Bernstein upgrade to 'market perform' from 'underperform', but gave a lower target of 11-quid.

On to banks, and the bad news, where Barclays closed down 8.5p at just shy of 419p after announcing another £1 bln write down due to the 'credit crunch', a decline in Q1 profits, and added that it still hadn't ruled out a rights issue to bolster its coffers as yet. Peers fell in symnpathy, of course, with RBS down 43.25p at 276p, down a massive 13.5% on the day, although partly due to going ex-rights, whilst HBOS closed down 5p at 465.25p, Lloyds TSB down 1.5p to close at 409p, and Bradford & Bingley down 9p to close at 135p due to the rights issue news earlier this week.

Thomas Cook closed down nearly 14p at just shy of 256p after reporting H1 reults that were as expected, with investors still feeling Tui Travel is the stronger.

Balfour Beatty closed down nearly 15p at just shy of 440p after saying it is placing 43.32m shares. The builders haven't had a good year so far.

High Street electrical giant DSG International closed down over 5p at 64p after saying it will cut the total divvy paid by 50%, adding that there will be some reorganistation in the business, including closing some Currys stores, as we predicted earlier this week. Broker Seymour Pierce didn't liek the news, downgrading its stance to 'sell' from 'hold' in reaction.

Staying in the High Street, WH Smith closed down 15.25p at 402.25p after Citigroup cut its stance to 'hold' from 'buy'.

Morning Market, Thursday 15th May 2008

The FTSE 100 was down about 30 points at 6,185, whilst the FTSE 250 was actually up a little, just nealry 3 points at 10,278.

Over the pond, last night the DJI closed up 66.20 points to 12,898.38, whilst the S&P500 closed up 5.62 points at 1,408.66, and the Nasdaq up 1.58 points at 2,496.70.

In the Far East today, the Nikkei 225 closed up over 130 points at around 14,250, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 132 points at 25,401 by lunchtime chow time.

Oil prices were trading lower in the Far East too, with light sweet (Jun del) down over 40c at US£123.77 bbl, whilst Brent North Sea crude (Jun del) was down 30c at US$121.56 bbl.

Back to here in London, the banks weren't looking good, with Barclays told of a further £1 bln write-down and RBS went ex-rights issue. The banking stocks dominated the loserboard early on, as Barclays was down 5p to 42 after saying Q1 profits were down and that they'd written back another £1 bln due to the credit crunch. As we said earlier, RBS was no trading ex-rights, and was down about 53p this morning at 266p, whilst Lloyds TSB was down nearly 10p at 401, HBOS down 23p at 447p, and Alliance & Leicester down 15p at 430p.

The miners also fell thsi mroning, but have had a good run, with Vedanta down 55p at 2,477p, BHP down 60p at 2,058, Rio Tinto down 150p at 6,731 and Anto down over 12p at 761p.

Supermarket chain Sainsburys was down over 8p at 366p after a Deutsche Bank downgrade it to 'sell' from 'hold'.

Investors also cheered results from SABMiller posted some decent results, and was up 35p at 1,238p after its figures were better than expected.

BT posted some decent Q4 and final numbers and was up a penny early doors at 224p.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 14th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed 4.1 points to the good at 6,216.0, although this was down about 37 points from its high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down nearly 97 points at 10,275.3.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 116 points at 12,948, whilst the S&P500 was up about 10 points at 1,413, and the Nasdaq about 23 points up at 2,518.

News on inflation, where the consumer price index (CPI) for April was up 0.2%, 0.1% lower than analysts feared, whilst core CPI (which excludes food and energy costs) was up 0.1%, compared with an expected 0.2% increase. The the Bank of England gave a rather worrying outlook, when it said that it expected inflation to hit 4% this year, before finally retreating back to Gordon Brown's target of 2%. Well, Dinky Darling's target now, but you can bet your last dollar that Brown is in his ear. The climb down on the 10p tax rate hasn't been made big enough really, in our opinion. I mean BIG & loud enough. They couldn't organise a whip round. They could empty everyone's wallets, though. Errr, sorry, we digress.

Back to the market. Mining issues dominated the FTSE 100 riser board, amid talk of stake-building and sweetened takeover offers, and further helped by pleasing production figures. BHP Billiton added 98p to 2,118, on the back of market talk Chinese state-owned Chinalco is considering raising its stake in the Anglo-Australian miner. Rio was also doing well, still on the back of BHP's renewed interest, closing up 236p to 6,881 as BHP's bid looks like being another rung higher. But Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) topped the board, up 99p to 1,476 after its produiction figures pleased everyone, and their significant Q1 rise in revenue made investors smile even more. Peers were trying to keep up, with Vedanta Resources ending up 109p at 2,532, Xstrata up 63p at 4,283p, Anto up 16p to close at 773.5p, and Kazakhmys up 74p to close at 1,809, boucing somewhat from the negative day it had yesterday when ENRC said it had changed its mind on a bid.

Phrama giant AstraZeneca closed up 39p at 2,130 after announcing the US FDA has approved its Seroquel drug, which is for patients with bipolar I disorder.

Compass Group closed up nearly 16p to 358p after poting nearly a 30% rise in H1 profit, all helped by this in-house management and performance programme, plus it said it would continue with its share buy-back program. A Seymour Pierce upgrade follwoed to 'hold' from 'sell'.

Banks didn't fair as well today, with Barclays closing down 10.5p a just over 427p, HBOS down 15p to 470.25p, Lloyds TSB down 7.5p to 410.5, Alliance & Leicester down 13p at just shy of 446p, and Bradford & Bingley down 15p at 144p after saying it will be raising £300m in a rights issue at 82p per share, nearly a 50% discount to the close price yetserday. The rights issue will be a 16-for-25 ratio.

But FirstGroup was the biggest FTSE 100 faller, closing down 37.5p at 561.5p down over 6% on the day after accompanying its full-year results with news it is launching a share placing of up to 10% of the current issued capital, just so it can bolster its coffers, but in the name of strengthening its capital structure and to 'increase its flexibility'. Not short of cash, then...?

AMEC also had a poor day, down 10.5p to close at just shy of 823p following its rather trading statement, which prompted Seymour Pierce to downgrade to 'sell' from 'hold' saying that any good news was already in the price.

Sainsburys was also down over 15p at 374.25p after its year end results didn't excite. Merrills chirped up that they were just as they expected, but didn't paint anything rosy for the future. Then Seymour Pierce said it is still wary of the whole consumer outlook and rteckoned that Sainsbury's share price was only where it is now because the Qataris were sniffing a couple of months ago. Not to feel left out Panmure Gordon reminded everyone that it was still standing by its 'sell' rating on the supermarket group. Even giant peer Tesco dropped 7.5p to 429.25 after it said it has 'acquired' 36 Homever stores, which are in South Korea, from the E-Land Group for £958m, but they take on the debt. We'll have to see what sort of debt there is, I suppose.

Johnston Press closed down 20.5p at 115.25p after the regional newspaper publisher announced a £212m rights issue to pay off creditors and liabilities, as it looks like running in to default on bank loans and commitments as advertising revenue is falling away.

Morning Market, 14th May 2008

The FTSE was quite flat this morning. It was up about 6 points at 6,218 after an hour, whilst the FTSE 250 was down about 16 points at 10,355.

Over the pond last night, the DJI closed down 44.1 points at 12,832.2, whilst the S&P500 closed down about half a point at 1,403.04, whilst the Nasdaq actually closed slightly up at 2,495.12, 6.63 better on the day. The price of oil over US$126 bbl and the state of the economy isn't giving much confidence to investors over there. Or here.

In the Far East today the Nikkei closed up nearly 165 poinst at 14,118.55, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 360 points at 25,195 by lunchtime chow time.

Back here in London, it was concerns about inflation that was in the air. The Bank of England reports later, but the CPI figure was said to be 3% for April. Not good, and 50% worse than the government is looking for. The BoE is expected to be telling of woes and strife for the UK economy, and will be adding that interest rates won't be rushing any lower in the near future.

On to the market, where BHP had a good start, up 90p at 2,110p after rumours of some Chinese interest in the mining giant was becoming stronger. The state-owned Chinalco is apparently considering upping its stake in BHP. BHP's own target, Rio, was also enjoying some investors' interests this morning, up 160p at 6,805 as it looks like BHP will raise its offer. Peers were also up, with Kazakhmys up 25p at 1,760, and ENRC up 15p at 1,392.

On to oil where Tullow Oil was 12p better at 917 as oil was still up at record levels and its production figures looked very good. Tullow reported that production was where it should be. RD Shell was down 7p at 2,015 after going ex-div.

British Airways was affected by the price of the black stuff, down another 3p at 225.5p.

Compass Group was up 2p at 344p after the contract caterer posted nearly a 30% increase in H1 pre-tax profit, helped by in-house incentives and saying it will continue with its share buy-back program. A Seymour Pierce upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell' followed.

Pharma giant AstraZeneca was up 21p at 2,112 after announcing the US FDA has approved its Seroquel drug, which is for patients with bipolar I disorder.

The banks weren't doing as well, though, with Barclays down 8p at 430p, Lloyds TSB down 9p at 409p, HBOS down 14p at 471p, Alliance & Leicester down 22p at at 437, and Bradford & Bingley down another 11p at 148p. Bradford & Bingley said its looking to raise £300m in a rights issue at nearly 50% discount to the current share price.

FirstGroup was down 39p at 560p after its full-year results also said of a share issue of up to 10% of the current isued stock so to help the gruop's coffers.

AMEC dipped into the red, down 4 pence at 829-1/2 following its trading statement, which prompted Seymour Pierce to downgrade the company to 'sell' from 'hold'. The broker said AMEC's first-quarter numbers were slightly better than expected, but it thinks the company's recovery is already in the price.

Market Wrap, Tuesday 13th May 2008

The FTSE 100 ended the day down 8.7 points at 6,211.9, but this was up nearly 70 points from the session's low. The FTSE 250 closed down 159 points at 10,372.1.

By the time London was closing, over the pond the DJI was down about 77 points to 12,800, whilst the S&P500 was down about 5 points at 1,399, and the Nasdaq down 13 points at 2,475. This all despite some decent news from Wall-Mart who gavce some Q1 figures that were up, with a $3.02 bln earnings figure, up from $2.83 bln last year, but did add that Q2 wouldn't be as good.

Back here in London, news that inflation was at 3% wasn't received well. This is the highest level for 13 months, and it looks like we won't be getting another 0,25% cut in interest rates next month, either.

The banks had a poor day, mostly blamed on Alliance & Leicester's trading update, which mentioned another £192m write-down on bad loans, causing the bank to close down nearly 52p at just shy of 459p, a record low. Peers also suffered, with some hearing concenrs about Barclays update due on Thursday. With some expecting a bad update, Barclays fell 7p today to close at just shy of 438p. Other peers were also down, with HBOS down 20.5p at 485p, Lloyds TSB down nearly 7p to 418p, and Bradford & Bingley closed down over 14p at just shy of 159p, which is also a record low, after Credit Suisse reduced its target to 135p, down from 190p. One bucked the trend, though, and that was the biggest, with HSBC closing up 13.5p at 895.5p after investors still liked that update yesterday.

ITV closed down 2.3p at 64.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.

Sainsburys, meanwhile, closed down 8.5p at just shy of 290p, also after a Goldman sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

Mining stocks did well, with the BHP rumoured to be sniffing at Rio again. Investors moved in to Rio, who closed up 236p at 6,645, whilst BHP was also up 27p at 2,020. One or two peers followed, with Vedanta closing up 73p at 2,423, and ENRC rose 41 to close at 1,377. However, Kazakhmys closed down 38p at 1,735 after compatriate ENRC (Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation) said it would no longer be making a bid for Kazakhmys after the recetnt 1,550 bid was rejected.

Premier Foods closed up 2.5p at 133p after a decent trading update. Greggs', the High Street popular sausage roll outlet (amongst other foods!), closed down 345p at at 4,355 after it gave a tarding update saying sales had slowed during March and April. A broker Brewin Dolphin downgrade followed to 'hold' from 'add'.

On to the builders, where Redrow closed down over 22p at 270.5p after saying things didn't look brilliant, causing peer Persimmon to close down 19.5p at 580.5p, and Barratts to close down over 18p at 257.25p.

ITE Group was up nearly 9p at 164p after an ABN Amro upgrade to 'buy' from 'add', with the target upped 5p to 180p.

Yell Group closed up 8p at 202.5p after a Lehman Brothers upgrade to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight'.

Morning Market, Tuesday 13th May 2008

The FTSE was up about 26 points this morning at 6,247, whilst the FTSE 250 was up around 40 points at 10,571, probably due to investors returning to the Wall Street markets last night.

Last night over the pond the DJI closed up over 130 points at 12,876.31, whilst the S&P500 closed up 15 points at 1,403.58, and the Nasdaq closed up nearly 43 points at 2,488.49.

In the Far east today the Nikkei 225 also liked what was happening in the US and closed up over 210 points at 13,953.73, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed up nearly 490 points at 25,552.77.

Staying with Asian trade, oil was up again, briefly breaking US$126 bbl again, but pulled back on profit taking and the horrendous earthquake in China looked like causing a reduction in demand for a while.

Back to the UK, where inflation will probably rise again, with 2.6% looking to be the figure. One can see why the Bank of England held off on any further interest rate cut for another month.

On to stocks, where TUI Travel was having a good start, up 9p at 268p, after a decent set of interim figures for 6 months. This prompted Deutsche Bank to reiterate its 'buy' stance and raise its target 20p to 390p. ift its target to 390 pence from 370 pence. Peer Thomas Cook also liked the news, up 7p to 285.5p.

The banks didn't start as well, though, with Barclays down 3p to 442p, Lloyds TSB down 5p to 419p, HBOS also down 5p to 5-quid, and Alliance & Leicester down a worrying 25p to 485p after its trading statement this morning which told of another £192m write-back on bad loans.

Schroders was up 28p at 961p after saying that after receiving regulatory approval it moves into China with a couple of products.

ITV was down 1.3p at 65.5 after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', but kept its 66p target, blaming too optimistic hopes for the broadcaster.

Sainsburys was down 7p to 391p ahead of its results tomorrow, with Goldman Sachs doengarding the supermarket chain to 'neutral' from 'buy', and a 410p top target.

On to builders, where Redrow was down 8p to 284.5p after a downbeat trading update. Peers also followed, with Persimmon down 4p to 596p, Barratts down 7p to 268.5p, and Bovis also down 7p to 475.5p.

Market Wrap, Monday 12th May 2008

The FTSE ended the day down up 15.9 points at 6,220.6, which was down 32 points from its high of the day, and up 36 from its low. The FTSE 250 closed up 93.8 poinst at 10,531.1.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up nearly 80 points at 12,825, whilst the S&P500 was up 6 points at 1,394 and the Nasdaq up 19 points at 2,464.5. Oil prices falling a little helping there.

Stayiong with oil, Brent (Jun del) was down 75cents at US$124.65, off $1.30 from its all-time high on Friday.

Back here in London it was the energy stocks doing well, with financials not to good.

Oil heavyweights still liked this oil price, though, with BP closing up 6.5p at 619.5p, BG Group up 7p at 1,348, Cairn Energy up 135p at 3,481 and Tullow Oil closing up 10p at 917p after a Dresdner Kleinwort upgarde to 'hold' from 'sell'. News from Centrica that gas prices will be rising helped them reverse early falls to close up nearly 8p at 295.25p.

Onto retail groups, where Kingfisher closed up nearly 8p at 151.7p on rumours of a private equity bid coming in from the States near the 2-quid mark. Other High Street stocks were also stronger, with Next up 19p to 1,309, and Marks & Sparks up nearly 7p at 405.5p.

On to financials, where insurance giant Standard Life closed up nearly 4p at just shy of 261p after a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' and upping its target 20p to 290p.

On to the banks, where, bucking the trend, HSBC closed up 16p at 882p after posting a smaller write-down figure than expected, with Q1 profit actually up on last year. Broker Collins Stewart reiterated its 'buy' stance and gave a 999p target. Not sure why they didn't round it up to a tenner. Peer Barclays didn't fait a s well, though, down nearly 7p to close at just shy of 445p after Citigroup cut its target to 350p from 4-quid, blaming weaker revenue expected from Barclays Capital and other write-downs due to bad loans etc. It seems the cash was switche dinto HSBC. Alliance & Leicester was also down 4.5p to close at 510.5p and Lloyds TSB closed down over 8p at just shy of 425p.

On to the miners where Kazakhmys closed down 13p at 1,773 carrying on from the news that the ENRC bid of 1,550 had been rejected on Friday. ENRC closed up 29p at 1,336 as investors liked their cheek at bidding £2.30p less than the current price.

Morning Market, Monday 12th May 2008

The FTSE was up about 46.5 points in its first hour, at 6,251.2, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 106.5 points at 10,543.8.

Over the pond on Friday, the DJI closed down 120.9 points at 12,745.88, whilst the S&P500 closed down 9.4 points at 1,388.28, and the Nasdaq down 5.72 points at 2,445.52. The Dow was down 2.4% on the week, the S&P500 down 1.8% and the Nasdaq down nearly 1.3%. The falls were blamed investors worrying about the credit crunch and also fast-rising energy prices. Also, news that insurance giant AIG (American International Group) was to blame for about 120 points of the week's fall of the Dow painte some more gloom for investors.

Today in the far East, the Nikkei 225 closed up just over 88 points at 13,743.36, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was having a holiday.

In Far East trade the price of the black stuff was still above US$125 bbl, but had pulled back slightly.

Back here in London, with oil still strong it was the oil heavyweights who started well. BP was up 6.5p at 619.5p, BG Group was up 15p at 1,356, Tullow Oil also up 15p at 922p, Cairn Energy was up 36p at 3,382p, and Centrica, depite a trading statement with concerns on gas margins, turned up after a drop on opening and was at 294.5p, up 7p on the day. Dana Petroleum was up 154p at a new high of 1,934p after announcing another discovery in the North Sea. More details coming on that one, we feel.

The miners were also up, with Xstrata looking happy, up 26p at 4,212 after Deutsche Bank reminded us all about its 'buy' stance and upped its target to 47-quid, up from 4,140p, saying it expectes earnings to grow strongly this year. Peers were also up, with BHP up 24p at 1,999, Rio up 70p at 6,472, and Anglo up 36p to 3,418.

One mention on the banks is HSBC, who were up 10p at 876p ahead of a Q1 figures and trade update due last this morning.

Staying with financials, Standard Life insurance group was up 5p at 262p after a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold', and added a 290p target, up 20p from 270p.

DSG International, owners of PC World & Currys, were in the press as they are apparently closing 200 of their 700 stores, nationwide. They will be making a few suprstores, that will house both Currys and PC World, but are closing many that aren't making profit. They have been discounting goods trying to intice people back in, but this has affected the bottom line.

Southern Cross Healthcare was up 29p at 390.5p after its interim figures were better than expected. Broker Brewin Dolphin reiterated its 'add' rating.

British Energy was 15p lower at 686p after news that there had only been one bid for the companmy, which was from EDF.

Chloride Group was up 41p at 250 after rumours of a bid for the firm were doing the rounds.

Market Wrap, Friday 9th May 2008

London closed down 66.1 points today at 6,204.7, although there was a late rally up from 6,168 level. The FTSE 250 closed down 112.5 points to close at 10,437.3. The FTSE has actually ended the week down less than 11 points on what it started at.

By the time London closed the DJI was down about 95 points at 12,772, whilst the S&P500 was down around 8 points at 1,329 and the Nasdaq down about 4 points at 2,447. On from this morning, as we reported then, AIG, the US insurance giant (who sponsor Man United) had said it lost about $7.8 bln in Q1, and added a small matter of trying to raise $12.5 bln to boost its coffers as its reserves were a bit light. Then we heard that Citigroup is looking at non-core assets and parts of the business and reckons there is about $400 bln it could possibly raise there.

Then oil hit US$126 bbl. Yep, 126-bucks a barrel. A new record.

With all the shock from AIG's news last night sinking in here in London today, its UK insurance peers fell in response. Aviva closed down 8p to 639, Friends Provident was down 1.2p at 117.8, Prudential closed 7p down at 702.5, and Old Mutual down 4.2p to close at 120.6p. Not a good week for them.

Staying with financials, the banks were all off too. Barclays closed down 11.5p at 451.5p, RBS down over 10p to 347p, HBOS down 8.5p at 505p, Lloyds TSB down nearly 11p at 433p, and HSBC down 15.5p at 866p after a Morgan Stanley downgrade this morning to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'. HSBC reports its Q1 figures and trading update on Monday.

Despite gold and platinum prices rising, most of the miners were down. Vedanta closed down 97p at 24-quid, Xstrata closed down 121p at 4,186, Anto down 32.5p at 777p, and Kazakhmys was down 128p at 1,876 on news it had rejected an informal approach by ENRC, its national peer, who had basically offered 1,550 a share, over 3-quid less than the current price. ENRC was up 19p at 1,307p on the news. Shares rose 19 to close at 1,307.

Carphone Warehouse closed down 21p at 268 as the 50/50 JV deal with US Best Buy sank in. Broker Citigroup reitereated its 'sell' stance, despite there being a £1.1 bln cash purchase of the busienss sold.

Did I mention oil was at US$126 bbl? Well British Airways knows all about it, and didn't like the look of their fuel bill. Their fuel expenditure was over £2 bln last year, so expect worse this year. The airline closed down 10.5p at just over 228p. Peer easyJet closed down 15p to its lowest level for 12 months at 285p, also affected by the price of the black stuff.

WPP Group also received a downgrade, but from ABN Amro, who now gave it a 'hold' rating. They had reviewed the whole media sector and reckons advertising expenditure will be cut by firms, meaning revenues will be lower. The shares closed down 8.5p at 630p.

Sage, the financial software giants, closed down nearly 13p at just shy of 214p on some profit taking after recent gains and also on the back of a Investec Securities downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'.

Johnson Matthey closed down 41p at 1,916 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight' blaming high mineral/metal costs, a possible slowdown in global automotive production, amongst other requirements.

Unilever ignored the gloom, though, and closed up 23p at 1,775 after a decent Q1 update. On eof the rare FTSE risers on the day.

Morning Market, Friday 9th May 2008

The FTSE 100 was down this morning, off about 8.5 points at 6,226.90 in its first hour, whilst the FTSE 250 was down about 14 points at 10,497.80. This was expected, really, despite the US having a half decent day in the end, the insurance giant AIG posted a worrying Q1 loss. Also, on a technical view, on checking the FTSE 100 daily chart we can see that the FTSE RSI was at the 70 line, despite the world's problems. Maybe a fall back to the 20-MA at least is coming.

Over the pond last night the DJI closed points up 52.43 points at 12,866.78, whilst the S&P500 closed up 5.11 points at 1,397.68, and the Nasdaq up 12.75 points at 2,451.24. It was a mediocre day as the energy and commodity stocks having the better day. There was a lack of economic news, though, so it was fairly lack-lustre.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed down 287.92 points at 13,655.34, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed down 386.62 points at 25,063.17.

It was oil that was away again. Up, up and away. Now over US$134 bbl, there must be a check soon. OPEC have blamed speculators for the rise, saying that there is enopugh oil around. Light sweet (Jun del) was up about 60c at US$124.3 bbl, whilst Brent (Jun del) was up nealry 80c at US$123.62 bbl.

Back here in London, there was mostly red on the board, with the insurance sector taking pressure after Man Utd sponsor US insurer AIG said due to some credit swops and some mortgage related problems it was posting a Q1 loss of something like US$7.8 bln. It added that it plans to raise some US$12.5 bln to prop up its reserves. maybe they can ask Man United to sell Ronalso, that should cover it. UK peers were down, with Aviva down 8p at 639p, Friends Provident down 1.2p at 117.8p, and Prudential down 8p at 702p.

Staying with financials, the banks were also down. Barclays was down 10p to 453p, RBS down 6p to 351p, Lloyds TSB down 7p to 437p, HBOS down 7p to 506p, and HSBC down 14p to 868p after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from equal-weight'.

Carrying on from yesterday, recently MP-rollocked British Airways was down another 5p at 233p now oil was above US$124 bbl.

On to the High Street, where Next was up another 15p at 1,317 after an SG Securities upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell'.

Johnson Matthey was down nearly 40p this morning at 1,919 after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'.

More broker downgrades were around, with WPP Group down 10p at 628p after an ABN Amro downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'.

Trying to find something positive ended us looking for a smoke. (pun intended). Imperial Tobacco Group was up 9p at 2,493 after a Credit Suisse upgrade to 'outperform' from 'neutral'.

Market Wrap, Thursday 8th May 2008

The FTSE closed up nearly 10 points at 6,270.8, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 101.2 points at 10,549.8, and the Bank of England left interest rates alone 'cos they are more worried about inflation that Gordon Brown's popularity. Ok, I added the last bit - but it's just a small dig.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up just over 60 points at 12,877, whilst the S&P500 was up just 4 points at 1,397, and the Nasdaq up 15.5 points at 2,254 as investors saw oil pull back a little from US$124 bbl and thought it a good idea to buy some shares, despite retail figures from their High Streets (err... Malls) still being downbeat, albeit not as bad as expected.

Back here in London, the banks suffered due to the BoE keeping rates at 5% and rumours that UBS could be banned from operations in the USA, which was a suprise. Barclays was down 12p at 463p by the close, whilst RBS was down nearly 7p to 357.25p, HBOS off 6p to close at 513.5p, and Lloyds TSB down nearly 6p at just shy of 444p.

Carrying on from this morning, Carphone Warehouse closed down over 10p at 289p after the new 50/50 JV deal with US retailer Best Buy was digested, and the Vodafone bid hopes melted on news that home line business TalkTalk would be sold off. Best Buy will pay £1.1 bln cash for 50% of operations, though, so we can't knock it all that much.

Also on from this morning, Enterprise Inns closed down 11p to 499p after a double broker downgrade, with Morgan Stanley and Numis Securities both downgrading their recommendations to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight', and down to 'hold' from 'add' respectively as the news yesterday regarding converting to a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) was digested and yesterday's 30% jump in the share price was now considered a bit much for one day.

With oil still ridiculously expensive in green back terms, airline British Airways closed down 3.5p to 238.5p ahead of its full year figures due next week. The Terminal 5 debacle still on people's minds as now the MPs jumped in with some rollockings to the carrier's heirarchy. Maybe a few of them have also lost bags. Unthinkable. And Wee Willie didn't know they (BA) weren't ready to move, he said. Shame.

We also mentioned Old Mutual this morning, who ended the day down 1.4p at 124.8p after reporting some mediocre numbers, which were less than expected, and included a downbeat statment. The insurance group said that it reckons it will struggle to reach its target of £300 bln of funds under management by the end of the year.

On to some positives. The miners had a good day in general, with Gold turning up again and the dollar backed off a little. Rumours of a bid for Kazakhmys from ENRC for 25-quid a share also helped the sector. Kazakhmys closed up 176p at 1,914p on the day, up over 10%. ENRC closed up 72p at 1,288 as investors liked the sound of the possibility of a deal being struck. Xstrata closed up 79p at 4,307 on further rumours it was sniffing with intent near Brazilian Alcoa, and Lonmins closed up a very healthy 196p at 3,408p despite some mediocre figures announced.

On to the High Street, where Next closed up 74p at 1,302p and gave a Q1 report that was as roughly as expected. Probably due to my wife's obsession with ordering what seems like half the Next catalogue on a weekly basis. Broker Seymour Pierce gave it an upgarde from 'hold' to 'buy', and Landsbanki reiterated its 'hold' stance.

Unilever closed up 90p to 1,752 after Q1 sales better than expected and also adding that it reckons it'll manage the 3% to 5% growth forecast for the full year.

Financial software group Sage closed up 15.5p at 226.5p after better than expected H1 pre-tax profit and an upbeat statement for the rest of the year.

ARM Holdings closed down nearly 5p at 105p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

Renishaw closed up nearly 40p at 769 after a decent trading update and a UBS upgrade to 'neutral' from 'sell', with a rise in target to 740p from 570p.

Enodis, the food equipment maker, closed up 18%, or just shy of 45p higher at 288.25p, after saying it had agreed to roll over and be taken over by FNI Ltd, part of Illinois Tool Works, in a £1 bln cash offer.

Morning Market, Thursday 8th May 2008

The FTSE was down, as expected, as the US had a poor day last night, although not down by as much as expected. The FTSE 100 was down nearly 20 points 6,241 in its first hour of trading, recovering from a gap down and low of 6,217, whilst the FTSE 250 was also down 20 points at 10,429.

Last night over the pond the DJI closed down over 206 points at 12,814.35, whilst the S&P500 closed down nearly 26 points at 1,392.57, and the Nasdaq down nearly 45 points at 2,438.49. With oil now nudging US$124 bbl, concern is apparent that fuel and energy costs will start to spiral.

In the Far East this morning, the Nikkei 225 closed down almost 160 points at 13,943.26, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng recently closed down just over 160 points at 25,449.79. Both carrying on from the US, it seems.

Back here in London, the feeling was that the Bank of England will keep interest rates at 5% again this month. We'll hear at lunchtime. With Gordon Brown's popularity at an extremely low level, and we're talking low, he may try and do what he's not allowed to do and try and see if another 25 point cut could be swayed, just to gain a housepoint from the public, whoc are increasing fed up at the government's performance. The problem with lowering rates again is that it will cause another little blip on the inflation figure, which also needs checking. But with house prices falling, some help is needed somewhere. Maybe they will come down next month, when the housing market is generally quiet for a few months. Let's see what they say.

On the stocks, where the oil price has affected British Airways' price again. The flag carrier was down another 5.5p at 236.5p as this oil price will hurt the airline, which spent over £2 bln on fuel last year as it was. Next week the airline gives us its results.

Royal & Sun Alliance was down 3.5p at 137p despite posting a 15% rise to £1.7 bln on sold premiums for Q1, and said it still remained confident for this year and beyond, although they expected challenging markets ahead. Peer Old Mutual was down 2.5p at 123.7p despite also posting sales figures up 2% on Q1, but added that funds under management were down 6.5% to £260.8 bln.

Enterprise Inns was down 20p to 490p on some profit taking. The company, which was up nealry 30% yesterday, said yesterday it would convert to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Broker Morgan Stanley also helped the pull back as they gave it a downgrade to 'equal-weight' from 'overweight' today as all the good news was already in the price.

Carphone Warehouse was nearly 12p down at 287.5p after the company said it will sell 50% of its retail operations to American JV partner Best Buy Co Inc. for £1.1 bln in cash, but will form a new company with each of the two parties owning 50% each. Hopes of a full buyout didn't materialise, as many hoped.

On to the High Street, Next was up 95p at 1,323p after atrading update that wasn't as poor as feared, with just a 3.9% fall compared to last year for Q1.

Unilever had a good start, up 83p to 1,745 after decent figures for Q1 sales growth, and added that it expects to beat its 3%-5% forecast for the year. Sales for Q1 were up over 7% on last year.

Sage Group was up 5p to 216p after the financial software group gave better figures than expected for H1 and said full year would be good too. Pre-tax profit was £122.6m on £640m revenue for interims to 31st March, which was up from £108.6m on £574.7m for the same period last year.

Many of the miners did ok this morning too, with Lonmins up 20p at 3,232 after the platinum specialist posted a 61% rise in H1 profit.

Smith & Nephew - Are Goldman Sachs Right?

Smith & Nephew looks like it could be on support? Hmmm... but they were a 'sell' today, we were told. Shame the divvy wasn't higher, agreed.

We may wait for a break here too. Goldman Sachs gave this one a downgrade to ‘sell’ today, with a 530p target (down from 710p) as they expect 2008 to be weaker, but maybe it’s strong enough. The chart shows they got their mates out first. Allegedly. Actually, no, probably not, as that sort of thing doesn't happen.

Is medical supplies stuff affected by a weaker economy? The comapny's debt is at £1.45 bln, which is high, and I suppose that the pharmas have been weak, which would affect this one, but a quick swing up could be possible.

Another one to wait for a break on, maybe...

Housebuilders - Taken a Pasting

Just looking at the housebuilders and noticed Barratts.

Maybe if interest rates do come down 0.25% tomorrow then the housebuilders will have a little flurry.

I was looking at the BDEV chart and it really has taken a pasting this last year. House sales aren’t anywhere near where they should be, of course, but this chart is showing a support level. In fact, we seem to run back up to the 20MA and 50MA from time to time, and now we have had 4 days of higher lows, albeit small figures, and a break thru' 4 or 5 days' highs, we could be having some upside, in our opinion. On a 15min chart there has already been 8% rise since the group of indicators.

With Gordon Brown and the BoE worried about inflation rising, interest rates may stay put, but Brown is having a mare of a month or two, so may try and do some back door nodding for a cut at the Bank of England, just to win some sort of support. A 'forget inflation for now', sort of thing.

With this in mind maybe we’ll get 10% on Barratts and like. Just a thought...

BUT, to sit on the fence, it could be a bit of a gamble, as a margin (CFD) trade in the morning could come unstuck if rates stay put at 5%. Still, there you go. That's what stop losses are for.





The 15 minute chart shows some decent buying 2 or 3 days ago, and a nice swing run since, but now interest rates seem to hold the key. If they stay the same the traders who have been in this week may take profit, but if rates are cut then we could see some more interest in the housebuilders.

Market Wrap, Wednesday 7th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed up nearly 46 points at 6,261.0, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up nearly 120 points at 10,448.6, but these were down on their highs of the day. the US was down, so this pulled London back.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 65 points at 2,965.90, whilst the S&P500 was down about 7 points at 1,411, and the Nasdaq qlso down around 7 points at 2,476. Second hand home sales in the US were down again by another 1%, causing investors to return to being cautious again. Then news that the Fed Res may have to raise interest rates again as inflation was rising also added to the woes, as did nearly US$123 for a barrel of the black stuff.

A quick note there, here at Bytes HQ we all rolled our eyes with amazement over Xmas, just 6 months ago, when we heard 'experts' and 'analysts' at these top name brokers forecast 90 bucks a barrel for the end of 2008. We reckon US$150 by the end of this year. Whether production goes up, or things calm down next year, we don't know. if not then look for US$200 a barrel, especially if the green back is still plus 2-bucks to a quid. Just our opinion.

Anyway, back here in London, as oil is so weighted in the FTSE 100, that hel;ped its strength today. RD Shell closed up 26p at 2,063, BP closed up 8p at 618p, and BG Group closed up 20p at 1,370.

Byut at the top of the sector leader board today were the Pub operators. Fancy a pint? Investors did, as many were up about 10% on the day - not a bad day's trading. Enterprise Inns did the best, closing up over 115p at 510, whilst Marston's closed up 34.5p at 234p (helped by Merrill's verbal support, although it did remain with its 'neutral' stance), Punch Taverns up 60.5p at 6-quid, and Greene King, who are the owners of my mate's pub, closed up 55.5p at 590.5p. Probably because of the amount of money he takes of me. Mitchell & Butlers was in the news again too, about a merger approach from Punch Taverns, and promptly saw a jump in its share price to nearly 341p, up 15.25p on the day. There were also rumours that M&B's biggest shareholder, Robert Tchenguiz, has offloaded 12m shares - buyers not known.

InterContinental Hotels were up 26.5p at 852 after the hotel group announced results better than expected.

British American Tobacco closed up 56p at 1,994 after some decent 1st quarter results, with sales and earnings 4% better than expected.

With hopes of another 1/4% cut in interest rates from the BoE tomorrow, the High Street did some anticipating. Carphone Warehouse closed up nearly 19p at 299.25p, partly due to a large holding being moved by someone, which prompted some bid speculation. Home Retail Group, who own Argos, closed up over 13p at 268p, Kingfisher was up 6p at 140.8p, and Next was up 50p to 1,228 ahead of its news and tarding update tomorrow.

Some of the FTSE went ex-div, which always causes a quick lull in price refelcting the divvy yield level, or thereabouts, with some of those sufering including Liberty International, Anto the miner, Old Mutual, and Rexam. Liberty closed down over 30p to 942.5p after its Q1 figures weren't very good.

Standard Chartered bank closed down 24p at 1,860 after news at its AGM that it had written down $97m on its asset-backed securities portfolio, but did say it was doing ok across the board.

International Power closed down nearly 12p to close at just shy of 423p after a poor update and news of a €500-€600 bonds issue, as we reported this morning.

Smith & Nephew lost 6.5p to close at 550p after a Goldman Sachs dowbngrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' and a lower target of to 530p from 710p. A weaker 2008 was expected.

Housebuilders were strong, also hoping for another interest rate cut tomorrow, with Barratts closing up 15p at 282.5p, Bovis Homes up 24.5p at 482.5, Redrow Homes up 18p at just shy of 290p, and Bellway up 32.5p at 751p after press reports that Bellway has approached Redrow with plans for a £1.3 bln merger.

Financial services group Savills closed up nearly 12p to 280p after posting an expected update, but added that it expected the 2nd half of the year to still be on target, as it usually is. Broker Numis Securities reiterated its 'buy' stance.

Gambler Group (!) 888 Holdings was down 7.5p at 151.5p as investors wonder if there is still enough cash in people's pockets to have a fluetter, maybe.

Rightmove, the nationawide property site, closed down 14p at 397 after a cautious update yesterday.

Yell Group shares were up 13.5p at 189.25p after a US peer rose 30% yesterday, as we reported this morning.

Rank Group closed down 5.25p at 89 after a trading update showed that smoklers had talked with their feet in England and Wales after the smoking ban. Broker Landsbanki reiterated its 'reduce' stance.

Morning Market, Wednesday 7th May 2008

The FTSE 100 was up about 13 points at 6,228 in its first hour of trading, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 12 points at 10,331.

Last night over the pond, the DJI closed up 51.29 points at 13,020.83, back through the 13k level, whilst the S&P500 closed up 10.77 points at 1,418.26, and the Nasdaq up 19.19 points to close at 2,483.31. The Indicies had been down early doors, but rallied later on as investors felt that some recovery is now in place and most of the big write-downs etc are now out in the open.

In the Far East this morning the Nikkei 225 had a bumpy ride today but closed up over 53 points at 14,102.48, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down about 550 points at 25,710 by lunchtime. It seems concern over oil was around in Hong Hong, as prices were up at US$122 bbl in Asian trading.

Back here in London, Cairn Energy had a great start, 125p up at 3,348 due to this price of the black stuff, and the added snippet from Goldman Sachs that oil could reach US$200 bbl in 2 years. We agree. The oil majors rallied, with RD Shell up 10p at 2,047, BP up 3p at 613, and Tullow Oil up 3p to 947. Tullows has topped out according to Credit Suisse, though, who downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'outperform'.

British American Tobacco was top of the leader board today, though, up 47p at 1,985 after it announced an 18% rise in 1st quarter profits to £807m. Citing price rises and currencies moving the right way, profits were up £54m. Merrills said they liked the figures, which were 4% better than expected. Peer Imperial Tobacco also liked this, and investors piled in there too, moving them up 35p to 2,476.

InterContinental Hotels gave some decent figures too, with the stock up 10p to 835p after the hotel chain posted results that Merrills also liked, although said they were only a little better than expected, with a pre-tax profit of £42m for the 1st quarter, down from £56m last year, but growth was up 3.5% for occupancy, even though Easter fell just after Xmas this year. Well, it seemed that early.

British Land also enjoyed a strong start, up 15p to 845p after a Lehman Brothers upgrade to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight', and added a target of 959p. The broker said British Land shares look oversold relative to those of Land Securities Group, which was also up 5p this morning at 1,548.

United Utilities was also in demand, up 5p at 709 as investors liked the news its 4D consortium with Costain and MWH has secured a contract extension to its contract with Southern Water through to March 2015. Peer International Power wasn't doing so well, though, down 15p, to 419p after announcing it will issue around €500m in convertible bonds. It said that it does still remain confident that 2008 will be another year of growth, and explained the €500 to €600m proceeds from the bonds will be used to acquire additional shareholdings in Portugal's Turbogas and Portugen as well as several other investments.

Liberty International was down 15p to 958 after announcing a pre-tax loss of £335m for last quarter, which is in significant contrast to the same quarter last year which showed a £293m profit. It blamed revaluation of its property assets for much of the loss.

With money moving elsewhere, the miners saw some profit taking. Anglo was down 22p at 3,455, Xstrata down 40p to 4,264, and Lonmins down 21p to 3,222. Nothing to concern, we feel, but a big rise yesterday gave excuse to pocket some upside.

Yell Group jumped about 10% this morning, up 16p to 192p, after US peer Idearc had jumped 30% yesterday after reporting 1st quarter profits much higher than expected.

easyJet reversed some of yesterday's fall to rise 4p to 302p after the airline's pre-tax loss was smaller-than-expected at £57.5m for the last 6 months, compared to a £17.1m loss the year earlier.

Rank Group fell 4p to 90p after a negative trading update that said revenues have been affected quite badly by the smoking ban. Broker Landsbanki reiterated its 'reduce' stance.

Savills was up 10p to 278p after saying its 1st quarter was still tough but it reckoned that the second half of this year would be much better, just as it had ben in previous years. Investors believed them.

Market Wrap, Tuesday 6th May 2008

The FTSE had a fairly mediocre day, basically playing rollercoasters, down and then up, and ending up near where it started. It had been down earlier on, but there was no panic around, and it recovered back to almost where it started. At the bell the FTSE was just 0.3 points lower at 6,215.2, up nearly 60 points from the low of the day, but down about 18 points from the high. Waste of time, really, unless you are an intra-day trader. :-) The FTSE 250 closed up over 38 points at 10,329 after a better day. Oil and commodities did the best, helping the financial sector, which had a poor day again.

Over the pond, oil was strong again, pulling down share prices. News from top rung mortgage lender and builder didn't help the markets there, as both reported losses for their last quarter trading. Even UBS, Swiss monster bank, with all that respect, posted a loss. By the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 54 points at 12,916, while S&P500 was down about half a point at 1,407, and the Nasdaq down nearly 3 points at 2,461.

back here in London, as oil was up so were those looking for it. Tullow Oil had the best day, up nearly 25% close at 943.5p, up over 183p on the day, after reporting a significant oil hit at its Mahogony-2 field at Ghana. ABN Amro liked the news, upping its target to 835p from 7-quid, and then reminded everyone that they already had Tullows as a 'buy' rating. Davy Stockbrokers also upped their target to 920p from 820p with their forecast that there could be 1 bln bbls of the black stuff for Tullows to stick into 1/3rd mile long ocean tankers. US$120 bbl was surpassed, as we said this morning, and remained strong.

The miners were also strong, with Vedanta up 116p at 2,474p, Rio up 248p to 6,354, Kazakhmys up 66p at 1,739, and Xstrata up 113p to 4,304 despite being lower early on due to an avreage production report for the 1st quarter. Xstrata announced a 2% rise in 1st quarter copper output, but then added a 15% fall in its nickel production, although did say that it still remained positive about its prospects and targets this year. Randgold Resources closed up 74p to 2,349p after it said that 2nd quarter gold production will be up from both of its operating mines, and added that it is well on track to meet its full year figures and production.

British American Tobacco closed up 18p at 1,938 as investors felt that tomorrows financial announcement will be at the top end of expectations.

British Airways didn't do so well, though, down nearly 10p to close just shy of 255p after it said it carried 7.9% fewer punters last month than it did in the same month last year. It did say that freight traffic was up, though, but investors didn't listen. Oil at US$120 bbl put pay to that. JP Morgan jumped in with a downbeat forecast for the airline's earnings too, saying that no-one should expect a yield for the next 3 years, and it remained 'neutral' on the stock. Peer EasyJet fell nearly 27p to 297.5p after being downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' by Deutsche Bank.

Financials were also out of favour as Lloyds TSB mentioned in its interim trading statement that it would be writing down £387m in the 1st quarter, but did say that it was tarding in line with market expectations. lloyds blamed its wholesale and international banking units for most of the write-down. Lloyds closed down over 13p at 439p as a result, and peers were also weaker, with Barclays down 2.25p to just shy of 474p, Alliance & Leicester down 11p to 529p, and HSBC down 13.5p to 876. HSBC was also a target of UBS, who downgraded its stance to 'neutral' from 'buy' as feers over the bank's trading update next week, although did mention a price target up to 920p from 880p.

Shire phrama had a poor day, down 42.5p at 876.5p as investors showed concenr over the U.S. committee hearing on Thursday about its consumer ADHD drugs.

Bellway Homes has definately approached Redrow Homes, as we mentioned yesterday. The possible £1.3 bln merger could be a goer, it seems. Share prices were up 2p to 718.5p and 8.5p just shy of 272p respectively. Peer Bovis Homes had no such luck, though, down 13p to 458p after it announced that its interim results would be significantly lower than expected. Merrill Lynch said they were grim and reiterated its 'sell' stance on the builder.

Aberdeen Asset Management closed down 4.25p to 145p after very mediocre 1st half results.

Imperial Energy closed down 23%, or 259p lower at 863p after going ex-rights.

Morning Market, Tuesday 6th May 2008

The FTSE 100 was up a little this morning, trading about 7 points better at 6,222, whilst the FTSE 250 was up 100 points at 10,391. This despite New York, who didn't have a bank holiday yetserday, falling last night.

Over the pond the news of the day was Microsoft pulling out of their offer for Yahoo, which actually gavce Microsoft shares a 2-3% boost, whilst yahoo shares fell rather badly. Some suggest that the 25% rise in Yahoo's share price since Microsoft showed interest will all be wiped out now Microsoft said it isn't interested. Microsofty are determined to match Google, somehow, in the search engine arena, so we'll have to see what they do now.

The DJI closed down nearly 89 points at 12,969.54, back under the 13k level. The S&P500 closed down 6.4 points at 1,407.49, and the Nasdaq closed down nearly 13 points at 2,464.12.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 was having a day's holiday, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up slightly, maybe 10 or 11 points at 26,195, by lunchtime chow time.

Staying in the Far East, oil was now back up again, reaching a new record level above US$120 bbl. Light sweet crude (Jun del) reached an all time high (in electronic trading) of US$120.23 bbl, breaking the last record of $120.20 reached yesterday. Brent North Sea crude (Jun del) was up a quarter of a dollar at US$ 118.25 bbl.

Back here in London, and with oil prices in mind, the oil stocks had a decent start. Tullow Oil was actually top of the board today, up 120p to 880p after also announcing it has 'a significant column of light oil' at its Mahogany-2 well. Nice. Peers also thought so, with BG Group up 20p at 1,281p and Cairn Energy up 57p at 3,130p.

Miners were also strong, with Copper also hitting a new high yesterday. Xstrata, who said their production was better than last year, was up 40p at 4,231p, whilst Rio was up 190p at 6,296p and Vedanta up 80p to 2,435p.

The banks weren't fairing as well, though, with Lloyds TSB down 4p to 448p after an in line tarding update but mentioned some significant write-downs, whilst Alliance & Leicester was down 8p at 532p and HBOS down a penny at 494p.

British Land was down 20p at 709p after a Morgan Stanley downgrade to 'underweight' from 'overweight', whilst peer Land Securities was down 35p to 1,533 after also being reduced to 'underweight' from 'equal-weight'. Peer Brixton was down 3p to 302p after also getting downgraded to 'underweight' from 'overweight'.

British Airways was down 8p to 241p ojn the back of the oil price jump, whilst peer EasyJet was down 13p to 311 after a Deitche Bank downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'.

Housebuilders did better than the land companies, as rumours that Bellway Homes is sniffing for a £1.3 bln merger with peer Redrow Homes was doing the rounds. with plans for a 1.3 billion pounds merger. Redrow was up 13p to 276 and Bellway up 20p to 737p as a resule. Peer Bovis Homes didn't fair as well as a tarding update failed to impress and the price was down 15p to 456p.

International Power was down 9p to 435p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral'.

Market Wrap, Friday 2nd May 2008

Not a bad end to the week, then. The FTSE finished up 128.2 points at 6,215.5, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 217.8 at 10,290.8. Do we think this is the climb back up...? No, we don't.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 41 points at 13,051, whilst the S&P500 was up about 9.5 points at 1,419, and the Nasdaq down about 5 points at 2,476. This was all due to the encouraging non-farm employment figures and factory order data that was out - some optimism returning for the US economy. Don't hold your breath.

Back here in London, we saw the High Street trying to muscle back in to the news. Clothing chain Next was up nearly 80p to 1,225 aead of next week's results. Peers were also popular, with John Lewis telling us this morning that it's first 3 or 4 months of the year it had sales up by 1.1%. Not to be sniffed at. Marks & Sparks was also up, 18p to the good at 399p. Kingfisher closed up nearly 8p at 138.9.

On to the financial sector, where some gains were also in order. carrying on from this morning, the rumour that texas Pacific Group, the US private equity outfit, was sniffing with intent for a bid on bank RBS gained some stregnth. The share price was up over 19p on the day to close at just over 365p, as rumors of the £8 bln bid looked like it had some truth. Otehr banks liked to news too, with HBOS up 30.5p at 495.5p, and Lloyds TSB up nearly 22p to close at 452.5p.

Wolseley had a decent day, as confidence returned to the US housing market, the UK plumbing supplier became popular, closing up 41.5p at 541.5p on hopes we were all buying houses again that needed bathrooms fitted.

Insurers were also up. Press rumours that Germany's Allianz may be sniffing with intent to bid for one of the UK major insurers gained momentum today, helping Aviva rise 28.5p to 660p on hopes that there could be some truth. US style retirement savings products are a speciality that we don't have here, and Allianz does like these products.

Whitbread closed up 58p to close at 1,277 after a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold'. They said it looked cheap.

Moving to the downside, British Energy slumped 29-1/2 pence to 728-1/2, after reports that RWE has abandoned a bid for the whole of company.

Thomson Reuters lost some of its gain that it made yesterday, and closed down 37p at 1,578.

Rentokil Initial closed up 2p at 96.5p on the back of some decent 1st quarter results. Merrill Lynch reiterated its its 'buy' stance.

UK Coal closed up nearly 11p at 465.25p after 50% owned Coal4Energy said it had acquired a 86.2% stake in Maxibrite Limited, a welsh fuel maker, for £4.7m in cash.

Morning Market, Friday 2nd May 2008

The FTSE was up nearly 60 points this morning at 6,146, whilst the FTSE 250 was up about 160 points at 10,232.

Last night over the pond the DJI closed up almost 190 points at 13,010, which prompted some cheers as the 13k level was broken again. The S&P500 closed up nearly 24 points at 1,409.34, and the Nasdaq closed up about 68 points at 2,480.71. Investors feel that with the dollar gaining some strength again it was a good sign. However, the non-farm payroll figures are out today, and another 75k-80k jobs are expected to be lost in the US for April. The unemployment rate for last month is expected to be up at something like 5.2%, up another 0.1% on March's figure. But it is expected that factory orders for March will be up 0.3%, this after a 1.3% drop for Feb.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 282.4 points at 14,409.26, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up nearly 500 points at 26,248 by lunchtime chow time.

Oil was down again as the dollar got stronger. Light sweet (Jun del) was down nearly 60c at just shy of US$112 bbl.

Back here in London this morning, RD Shell was down 6p at 1,995 due to the drop in oil, but BP held its ground at 605p

On to the banks, where RBS bounced up 11p to 357p as rumours that US private equity group, Texas Pacific Group, may be making a bid of something like £8 bln for the bank's insurance business. RBS owns the Direct Line & Churchill insurance brands, and the Texas Pacific Group fancy the whole lot, press reports claimed. Other banks liked this as well, with barclays up 8p at 473p, HBOS up 15p to 480p, and Lloyds TSB up 10p to 441p. There are also rumours around that Barclays' COO, Paul Idzik, may be stepping down due to a boardroom row. This was not confirmed.

Plumbling supplies group Wolseley was doing well this morning, up 23p to 523p as investors liked the positive feeling returning to the US, with hopes that the housing market will pick up.

Whitbread was up 40p at 1,259 this morning after a Citigroup upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold'.

Cadbury Schweppes is now just doing sweeties. The confectionary maker strarted trading today as just that, solely a confectionery group, after the de-merger of the Dr Pepper Snapple (and poor old Schweppes) drinks business was completed today. Shares were at 631p, with brokers giving the stock a 'hold' rating for now. The Dr Pepper company starts trading on 7th May in New York. Every $1 move in the price of Dr Pepper Snapple will be worth about 10p to the Cadbury share price, analysts said.

Carnival was down 15p thgis morning at 2,014 after an SG Securities downgrade to 'sell' from 'buy' and added a target down to US$32 from $53. Concerns on US economy and customer confidence blamed there.

Market Wrap, Thursday 1st may 2008

The FTSE closed even at 6,087.3, which was down about 31 points off the day's high, and up about 21 points from its low. The FTSE 250 closed down over 49 points at 10,073.

By the time London closed, over the pond the DJI was up about 41 points at 12,861, whilst the S&P500 was up 7 points at 1,393, and the Nasdaq up 38 points at 2,451.

Back here in London, it was airline British Airways that did best, closing up 16.5p at 243p after its news yesterday of the possible tie-up with the two major US carriers, American & Continental Airlines. Broker Collins Stewart reckons any deal could be worth an additional 20p-40p per share.

The fact that oil had falled also helped British Airways, with Brent crude (June del) was down about US$2 to US$109.35 bbl. Light sweet crude (Jun del) was down about $2.50 at just under US$111 bbl on Nymex.

A quick mention of currency, where one €uro bought $1.5515, down from $1.5642. The US dollar's rise against the €uro and other currencies has pulled the price of oil back a bit this last week or so. When the dollar gains stregnth then commodities such as oil lose their attraction as a hedge against inflation, which causes selling, and then the price falls. Don't forget, a stronger US dollar will make oil more expensive to overseas buyers and investors. We think that the decline in the price of oil could be temporary, and the US dollar's decline has been a major factor of oil's rise up from the US$65 this time last year, and that if the dollar gets weaker again then the price of the black stuff will be back nudging, and even surpassing US$120 bbl.

Back to stocks, where Thomson Reuters closed up 52p at 1,615 after reporting 1st quarter figures of US$579m profit on US$3.25 bln. These results are both companies, pre-merger, added together.

The miners were up today with Kazakhmys closing up 33p at 1,615, Xstrata up 86p at 4,032, and Anglo up 65p at 3,334.

Dana Petroleum closed up 59p at 1,788 after UBS gave an 18-quid target, up from 1,425p, and gave a short-term 'Buy' stance.

Smith & Nephew, the medical devices company, closed down 85p at 570p, despite a good start to the day as 1st quarter results didn't excite investors. Broker Cazenove said they were disappointed, and though tthe share price would fall.

The retailers also did poorly, with Kingfisher down 1.8p at 131 after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral', while Home Retail Group, the Argos owner, closed down 7.25p at just shy of 257p.

Rexam was up 19.5p at 467.25p after a decent trading update causing broker Seymour Pierce to reiterate its 'buy' stanace and upping its target 10p to 510p.

Land Securities was down 23p to 1,517 after a Deutsche Bank downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'. Peer Hammerson fell too, down 13p to 995p, after saying that it felt the UK real estate arena 'remained restricted' and prices were down this year. "

Rank jumped nearly 6p to just shy of 95p after broker Evolution Securities reiterated its 'buy' stance on news that the parliamentary debate yesterday confirmed UK government is considering some help to the bingo industry, which has recently suffered.

Morning Market, Thursday 1st May 2008

The FTSE was down about 9 points at 6,078 this morning, whilst the FTSE 250 was off about 67 points at 10,055.

Last night over the pond the DJI closed down nearly 12 points at 12,820.13, despite being up about 180 points after the Fed Res gave their decisiopn on the predicted further 1/4% rate cut. The S&P500 ended up down over 5 points at 1,385.59, and the Nasdaq down over 13 points at 2,412.80, despite both running higher after the Fed announcement. The Fed said that it still feels the economy is weak, and that inflation is rather uncertain, but it was definitely less worried than it was. It said that the interest rate cuts down to 2% should 'help promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity'. The markets initially reacted positively, but tailed off to small losses by the end of the day.

In the Far East the Nikkei 225 closed down 83 points at 13,766.86, whilst in Hong Kong they were having a holiday for Intnl Labour Day, so the Hang Seng was shut. Central European markets are also closed today.

Back here in London, the banks were under pressure again, with concerns that the RBS rights issue won't be the only one. RBS was down 4p to 341p, Barclays down 4p to 452p, and Lloyds TSB was down 4p to 429p.

With the price of the black stuff coming down a little, the oil majors followed. RD Shell was down 7p to 2,020, although news that the group may have pulled out of a major offshore wind farm deal haven't been confirmd as yet. Peer BP was down a penny at 610p after a HSBC downgrade to 'neutral' from 'overweight', and Tullow Oil was down 6p to 747p after a KBC Peel Hunt downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy'. Dana Petroleum was up 3p to 1,732 on the back of UBS 'buy' rating and 18-quid target, up from 1,425p as drilling has been progressing well. UBS added that if the latest drilling should be good, then another £2.50 per share in NAV will be warranted. News and success results should be with us before the end of May.

Major DIY retailing group Kingfisher was down 2.4% or 3.3p to 129.5p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to 'sell' from 'neutral' and gave it a 110p target, down from 137p.

News from ENRC (Eurasian Natural Resources) that it had taken up an option to buy 50% of Bahia Mineracao from Zamin BM NV for US$300m in cash wasn't taken as well as one would think as the shares were down 5p to 12-quid.

Recent merged media group Thomson Reuters was down another 12p at 1,551 ahead of 1st quarter figures later on.

On to British Airways, where the fdrop in oil price was helping a little, together with further M&A activity or JV arrangements with other airlines, saw a decent rise of 7p to 233p this morning, up 3%. The FT reported that BA is apparently 'exploring opportunities for co-operation' with American Airlines and Continental Airlines, two major players in the US.

Rexam, the drinks can manfacturer was up 9p to 455p on the back of a Seymour Pierce reiteration of its 'buy' stance and 510p target. The groups figures for 1st quarter were as expected and the year's outlook still looked unchanged. Rexam said its annual pre-tax profit will be up by about £20m due to current forex rates.

Smith & Nephew was up 1.5p at 656.5p ahead of some numbers last this morning.

Rank was up 6p to 95p after broker Evolution Securities reiterated its 'buy' stance on the back of a parliamentary debate yesterday that confirmed the government is considering some help for the recentrly pressurised bingo industry, which has been affected greatly by the smoking ban and economic downturn.