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News Headlines:    US stocks slip as chips, retailers weakened on worse-than-expected retail sales in April which declined 0.9% whereas economists had projected a 0.1 % rise. German economy shrank 0.2% in the quarter threatening to puss the economy back into recession. China's economy is slowing as SARS thumps consumer spending, foreign investment and factory output,Safeway:said sales were stable in Q4 fourth quarter and the first six weeks of its new financial year. They reported profit before tax and of 335 million in line with guidance given in April.BOC: reported a two percent fall in first-half profits, beating expectations and said there was no clear sign of a sustained upturn in capital spending by microchip makers. Pre-tax profits for the half year ended March 31 fell to 191.3 million pounds from 196.2 million but beat analysts expectations of 190.5 million

Bank of Ireland posted a 5% rise in full year profit in line with market expectations and said it was confident of maintaining its performance despite uncertainty in global markets.VODAFONE , MMO2 are considering a claim for a four billion pound refund of VAT stemming from the 22.5 billion pound auction of third-generation licences three years ago, the Times said.Sage: Could rise after U.S. peer Intuit , the maker of do-it-yourself tax preparation software, surged in after hours New York trading on news of higher third quarter profit.Tesco: The CEO said the leading UK supermarket chain could maintain double digit organic sales growth into the medium term. Glaxosmithkline: Global pharmaceutical sales rose six percent in the year to March, the same rate as a month earlier but well below the double-digit levels seen a couple of years back.BP , SHELL Oil stocks could gain after oil prices rose in New York after the U.S. government said fuel stocks had contracted ahead of summer when demand rises. Mccarthy & Stone brickie has renewed bid speculation of a 500 pence a share offer for the company by the end of the week by Persimmon.Shanks pushed ahead as investors speculated that the waste management group had received a bid approach Private equity firm Permira is to hire UBS Warburg to advise it on its 1.5 billion pound bid approach for Debenhams

Logica said trading for the first four months was in line with guidance given in March. It said it expected a small sequential decline in IT services revenue in the first half and some pressure on margins. But it expected margins to improve in the second half as cost savings kick in.

MFI said sales at stores open for more than a year rose by 9% in the first 19 weeks of its financial year and had seen a return to previous levels of activity over Easter following a dip during the Iraq war

LastMinute.com The CEO said "Our model demonstrated its resilience in the last Quarter which was tough for the travel industry. Quarter 3 has started well with a record order bank for Easter departures. We remain confident that we will meet our expectations of continued growth and overall Group profitability for the current Quarter and the year as a whole."

Calendar All GMT	United Kingdom (F)inals (I)nterim	United States (Click Flag)	Europe & World
Thu 15th May	BOC Group (I) PBT 94m exp, Safeway (F) PBT 335m exp. Lastminute.com (Q2), Viridian Group (F), 3I Group (F), Avon Rubber (I), Bank of Ireland (F), Brown Group (F), Capital Radio (I), London Stock Exchange (F) Logica CMG (AGM), Chelsfield (AGM), Eurotunnel (AGM), GKN (AGM), Hanson (AGM), Inchcape (AGM), MFI Furniture (AGM), Rexam (AGM), St James Place (AGM), United Business Media (AGM), Weir Group (AGM), Balfour Beatty (AGM) 10.00 UK Bank of England Inflation Report	GDell Computer (Q1) 13.00 May Empire State Index 7.0 exp. 13.30 Initial Claims (w/e 10/5) 415k exp. 13.30 April PPI m/m 0.7% exp. 13.30 March Business Inventories +0.2% exp. 14.15 April Industrial Production 0.4% exp. 17.00 May Philly Fed 5.0 exp.	Deutsche Telekom (Q1), E.ON AG (Q1)   09.00 EMU ECB Monthly Report
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