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This is Money

There is now more than a one-in-five chance of another asset price bubble implosion costing the world more than 1 trillion, and similar odds of a full-scale sovereign fiscal crisis, a key report warned.
'Significant chance' of second financial crisis, warns World Economic Forum

Three British banks may have to pay more than $10 billion (6 billion) to the US Government as part of its crackdown on financial institutions bailed out by taxpayers.
UK banks face $10bn bill from US over bailouts

Property prices across Chinas 70 largest cities surged in December at their fastest pace since 2008, stoking anxiety in Beijing that speculative bubbles may be forming and that Chinese banks may have issued more than 70 billion in new bank loans since January 1.
Chinas red-hot lending gives an added kick to chilli prices

The bank said gold could face competition for investors' money following the launch of new exchange-traded funds (EFTs) that make it easy to gain exposure to platinum and palladium, another precious metal.
Platinum to beat gold, says Goldman Sachs

Greece's cabinet approved an economic recovery plan today promising to drastically reduce its huge budget deficit to 2% of annual output in 2013, and warned it could introduce additional taxes and spending cuts if necessary.
Greece finalises radical economic recovery programme

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	HANG SENG	SHANGHAI COMPOSITE

KOSPI	SENSEX
NYMEX CRUDE	GOLD	VIX

BARC Deutsche: tp 420
BG. ING: reiterated hold, tp raised to 1215 from 1115
BP. ING: reiterated buy, tp raised to 710 from 670
BWNG Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
DEB Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
DSGI Citigroup: reiterated buy, tp raised to 50 from 45
HFD Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
HOME Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
HSBA Deutsche: upgraded to buy from hold, tp 800
INCH Citigroup: buy, tp cut to 40 from 45
LLOY Deutsche: tp 70
MKS Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
NXT Citigroup: downgraded to hold from buy
RBS Deutsche: tp 70
RDSA ING: reiterated hold, tp raised to 1850 from 1800
SMWH Citigroup: reiterated buy, tp cut to 600 from 630
SPD Citigroup: upgraded to buy from hold

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And Friday arrives. The question is will it be an up or down day. I am currently long BARC and short AGK. Not sure if the short was a good idea but it is a hedge against real shares I have in my portfolio.

At least you've got Deutsche backing you up on that BARC long TT. Mind you, Obama's on the warpath against the banks in the US. I've gone long HMV - I think this is going to be a medium term thing. I was long INTC in the US into the results and it's been a huge disappointment despite the figures last night. SPD seems rangebound 95-100 so may present long-short opportunities until it breaks out.

Kyoto, I would like the Deutsche backup especially if BARC hit their TP of 420. A gain of 100p from here would be most welcome. Just so long as the price doesn't collapse below 410 (my stop) and then rocket upwards.
I was looking at INTC results and they seemed to be very good. I would expect to see a lot more upside on them when the US opens today. From your comments you were looking for a lot more. Are you still holding?

Yes - still holding INTC - actually had been holding for a few weeks but lightened up yesterday before the results. Reaction seemed muted but don't quite know how much after hours trade went through - was in bed rather than watching - the disadvantage of living in Asia. I ought to give up the US trading - not compatible with my time-zone. Arguably there's resistance short of $25 looking back to 2008 - I was hoping to get much closer to that prior to the results, now hoping for some broker commentary into the open today but if it doesn't gather enough momentum then I might exit. I seem to recall that last time I had INTC on some good results the reaction was uninspiring and I'm worried about a repeat. Vague lawsuit/antitrust issues hanging in the air as well though I think they're probably going to be largely immaterial.

If anyone fancies a pairs trade - LAD versus WMH:



LAD waving goodbye to their CEO arguably a positive catalyst... but is the divergence justified?

My system here is telling me the recent analyst target price average on WMH is 216 - LAD (albeit pre the RNS) is 149. MA25 is +9.8% LAD and -1.7% WMH.

RBS has been in auction for a long time.

Amazing, as soon as I posted that, out it popped! RBS that is!!

XTA was another oddly lagging in the auction today.

Looks like JP Morgan is well ahead of concensus - but they missed this morning's whisper number by a cent... so the futures drop :-)

Touchy lot! :o)

HOME has flashed up on my system as now being 10% below it's MA25.

For some reason MAM's MA25 is 286 but mine from raw data is 289.

Kyoto, based upon your graphs for HOME and its current price do I assume that you are looking to place a long on the basis that it will recover back towards the 25 day MA?

Basically yes, wherever the MA25 ends up being... sometimes subject to VOLMA and intraday EMAs usually to pick an entry - or sometimes I just go for it :-)

From the Telegraph:

E-Trade in talks, shop shut up

Word reaches me the online brokerage company is back in talks about a sale, talks that are so advanced it has had to shut down applications for new accounts.

Try to apply for a new share trading or CFD account and the only reply you will get is: "Thank you for your interest in applying for an E-Trade account. Currently we are unable to process any applications at this time. We apologise for any inconvenience."

I put a call in to find out what was going on, but they were too busy to deal with that too.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/citydiary/6998977/E-Trade-in-talks-shop-shut-up.html