A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

The markets seem to defy the signals to fall, with indices continuing to rise on the slightest bullish sign. I guess the bubble is bound to burst eventually. Hope you are all ready when it goes "pop". A busy week ahead for corporate reporting, added to which the ongoing sagas of Resolution and Scottish & Newcastle will undoubtedly keep their respective sectors humming. Watch out on Tuesday for numbers from Schroders and Friends Provdent; likely to be respresentative of both ends of the financial spectrum. On Wednesday, Tate & Lyle seems set to reveal figures more sour than sweet and, on the same day, Antofagasta will do its darndest to keep the miners strong. Taylor Woodrow should put some meat in the bones of the building sector skeleton. Later in the week, the medical world is highlighted with AstraZeneca and Smith & Nephew giving an insight into their progress...or otherwise... Also, another of the big UK oilies, BG Group, will reveal warts and all. Stalwarts such as BAT, ICI and Unilever will also update with their latest visions. Friday sees high-flying British Airways on the block and BSkyB will be hoping to illustrate that its recent renaissance is not just a blip on the screen. Quite a week in store! A good profit there somewhere and a good few sandtraps to get stuck in for the ill-prepared. Good haunting! Greystone Thanks, as always to Supermum and Kyoto for their invaluable input to the Traders Thread (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Morning all. Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

HBOS has found new sources of funding for the 18bn financing vehicle that it was forced to take back on to its own balance sheet at the height of the credit crunch. Grampian, which was refinanced by the bank when the market for commercial paper loans dried up, is now being funded entirely from the markets once more.

Grampian funded fully says HBOS

Victoria Mortgages, which specialised in loans to sub-prime borrowers with poor credit histories, has been dissolved. The company became Britain's first failed sub-prime lender earlier this year after it was forced to call in administrators. The Sunday Telegraph has learned that KPMG has now sold the remnants of the lenders' 600m loan book to three investment banks. The book has been sold in tranches to specialist debt desks at UBS and Morgan Stanley and to Dresdner Kleinwort's sub-prime mortgage operator, Livingstone.

Victoria reaches end of the line

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is poised to make a second emergency cut in interest rates this Wednesday, as the chaos from the sub-prime mortgage fiasco ripples through America's economy, exposing hundreds of thousands of families to the threat of losing their homes. Wall Street investors are betting on a quarter-point reduction in borrowing costs at the Fed's two-day meeting this week; but with the news from the collapsing housing market worsening almost by the day, Julian Jessop, of Capital Economics, said Bernanke and his colleagues could even go for a half-point cut.

Credit chaos to force fresh US rate cut

NIKKEI	AUSTRALIA	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Nikkei closed up 192.45 points at 16,698.08, while the Hang
Seng ended the morning up 1,086.75 points (3.75%) at the session's high of
31,491.97.

Crude oil for December delivery rose as much as 74 cents to $92.60.

Happy trading!

G.

BROKERWATCH Cairn Energy cut to 'neutral' vs 'buy' by UBS in sector reviewTokyo shares close higher on US rate cut hopes - UPDATEThe Monday Press Roundup

BROKERWATCH RBS resumed as 'sell' at Citigroup; previous 'buy'; tgt 450p vs 800

Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide

London shares outlook - Seen up after NY gains; Fed rate decision key this week

BROKERWATCH Boliden upgraded, Antofagasta downgraded at JP Morgan

STOCKWATCH Bayer lower after shelves plans for 500 microgram dose for BetaferonUK smallcap opening - Max Petroleum resumes trading lower

STOCKWATCH Vodafone rises; price target upped to 212p from 190 at Merrill LynchUK smallcap opening - Lok'n Store climbs after hefty increase in FY profits

UK smallcap opening - EMED Mining rises on Slovakia drilling successUK smallcap opening - Real Affinity adrift on share issue

UK smallcap opening - Absolute Capital up as shareholders approve restructuring

UK smallcap opening - Cambridge Mineral edges up on Bulgaria JV

UK smallcap opening - Metalrax slides on FY warning

STOCKWATCH Resolution firmer as takeover saga takes new twist amid Pearl move

UK small caps higher in early deals; Tristel gains on bumper FY resultsMetals - LME inventory data (Monday)

Metals - Gold nears 800 usd as dollar plunges, oil prices top new record

Supermum,

What charting package do you use?

STOCKWATCH Pearson firmer amid break-up talk sparked by asset sale report

Metals - Copper surges towards 8,000 usd as dollar plunges; gold, oil spike

Metals - Gold nears 800 usd as dollar plunges, oil prices top new record UPDATE

RPT Metals - Gold nears 800 usd as dollar plunges, oil tops new record UPDATE

Metals - Copper nears 8,000 usd as dollar plunges; gold, oil spike UPDATE

London shares - mid-morning features

WALL STREET OUTLOOK Higher open seen amid Fed-rate cut hopes; Merrill in focus

BROKERWATCH F&C up after ABN says fund manager better off without Resolution

OUTLOOK Shire Q3 pre-tax profits expected down because of R&D charges

Precious Metals Summary - London AM Fixings

STOCKWATCH Media group Impresa outperforms ahead of expected solid Q3 results

London shares - midday features

Midday Market Roundup

STOCKWATCH Xstrata higher after agreed 3.1 bln aud offer for Jubilee Mines

UK small caps stay up at midday; 1pm top riser on sustained share demand

STOCKWATCH Cairn Energy lower midday after broker downgrades; DK cuts to 'hold'

OUTLOOK BAT Q3 results expected to show slowdown after strong H1 growth

Metals - Copper off day highs but still underpinned by strength in oil, gold

Precious Metals Summary - London PM Fixings

London shares - midafternoon features

STOCKWATCH Vinci gains on rumours of Zaleski stake hike

TFN economic and business calendar to Monday Nov 12

Precious Metals Summary - London Close

End-of-day Market Roundup