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10 Year Bond

The FTSE futures seem rather high considering the Far East falls and negative US futures, I would not be surprised to see a 20 point + fall at some time this morning.

Capita Group said it was pleased with its current trading and expected 2003 results to be in line with expectations. It said it had won 615 million pounds worth of new work and contract extensions in 2003 and was working on bids worth another 2.4 billion pounds.

MITIE Group which maintains & cleans properties such as the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye ferris wheel, said it was confident of a successful year as it posted a rise in first-half profits in line with expectations. Profit rose 16 percent to 18.5 million pounds on turnover up 14 percent to 316.3 million pounds.

Alliance & Leicester mortgage bank said its performance this year was in line with market expectations as it increased revenue growth.

Canary Wharf The founder said there was no certainty he would bid for the property company

AstraZeneca said that new data supported the safely and efficacy of its Exanta treatment for blood clots. The firm said a study involding 2,303 patients in five countries showed Exanta was more effective than standard anti-coagulant treatment warfarin, with no significant difference in bleeding experienced by patients.Ultra Electronics defence and aerospace electronics firm said it was on course to meet market expectations for its performance in 2003. The firm said it had continued to trade strongly in the second half of its fiscal year, with higher sales in airport systems and electronics for armoured vehicles more than offsetting a slowdown in airborne anti-submarine warfare products.

Cable & Wireless announce exit route from the US

International Greetings (I), Jarvis Hotels (I), Medisys (F), Mitie Group (I) PBT ?18.1m exp.

Royal Bank of Scotland Trading Statement 8:40am

Alliance & Leicester Trading Statement

Capita Trading Statement Corus. Rights Issue Scheme of Arrangement EX Date. Subscription Price is 23.5p. Terms are 5 for 12.

00.01 Nov BRC Retail Sales Monitor Europe: SAS Traffic Figures 09.30 Nov PPI Input  m/m ?0.2% exp. US: CMGI Inc (Q3) 09.30 Nov PPI Output m/m 0.1% exp. 09.30 Oct Industrial Production m/m 0.4% exp. 09.30 Oct Manufacturing Production m/m 0.4% exp. 09.30 Oct ODPM House Prices y/y 13.30 Nov NIESR GDP Estimate

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com

International Greetings (I), Jarvis Hotels (I), Medisys (F) Mitie Group (I) PBT 18.1m exp.

Royal Bank of Scotland Trading Statement

Alliance & Leicester Trading Statement Capita Trading Statement Corus. Rights Issue Scheme of Arrangement EX Date. Subscription Price is 23.5p. Terms are 5 for 12.

00.01 Nov BRC Retail Sales Monitor Europe: SAS Traffic Figures 09.30 Nov PPI Input m/m 0.2% exp. US: CMGI Inc (Q3) 09.30 Nov PPI Output m/m 0.1% exp. 09.30 Oct Industrial Production m/m 0.4% exp. 09.30 Oct Manufacturing Production m/m 0.4% exp. 09.30 Oct ODPM House Prices y/y 13.30 Nov NIESR GDP Estimate

First Choice Holidays (F) PBT 83.1m exp.

Greene King (I) PBT 38m exp. Victrex (F) PHS Group (I) PBT 21.5m exp, Severn Trent (I), First Technology (I), Grainger Trust (F), Halma (I), ITE (F), Phytopharm (F),

HSBC Trading Statement Denistron (DSN) Rights Issue Ex Date. Sub Price is 10p, Terms are 1 for 1

09.30 Oct World trade Balance -2.0bn exp

Alby (Q3), Analogic (Q3), CostCo (Q3)

15.00 Oct Wholesale Inventories 0.2% exp. 19.50 FOMC Rate Announcement

Lufthansa Traffic Figures

10.00 Dec German ZEW Economic Sentiment 70.7 exp.

Blick (F), Burndene Investments (F), DS Smith (I), Hardys & Hansons (F), Henlys Group (F), iSoft Group (I), Kingfisher (Q3), Mentmore (I), Northgate Info Solutions (I),

Numis Corporation (F), Photo-Me International (I), Stagecoach Group (I)

BAA Nov Traffic

12.30 Chancellor Gordon Browns Pre-Budget Report

Digex (Q3), Joule (Q3), Novadel Pharma (Q3)

07.00 Nov German Wholesale Price Index flat exp. 07.00 Oct German Trade Balance 13.9bn exp.

Ex Dividend: AbacGroup (6.8), Aberdeen Asset Management (2), Acal (7), Aggregate Industries (1.13), BSS Group (4.15), Bellway (13.8), Business Post Group (5.95), Castings (2.38), Country and Metropolitan (2.6), De La Rue (4.4), Dyson Group (1), East Surrey Holdings (4.75), Emap (7.6), Ennstone (0.35), Fenner (3.85), Fuller Smith & Turner (5.1), Goldshield Group (1), Headlam Group (3.6), Helphire Group (2), Jarvis (4.5), JD Sports (2.86), Luminar (3.67), Northumbrian Water (2.32), Pillar Property (2.4), Quintain Estates (2.75), Richmond Foods (5.5), Telecom Pl(4.5), VP Plc (1.6), Wincanton (3.48), Yates Group (1.65)

Daejan Holdings (I), MyTravel Group (F), NHP (F)

Alliance Unichem Trading Statement

Standard Chartered Trading Statement LogicaCMG Trading Statement

09.30 Oct New Construction Orders 11.00 Nov CBI Industrial Trends

Amrep Corp (Q3), Datatec Systems (Q3)

13.30 Nov Import Price Index m/m 0.2% exp. 13.30 Nov Advanced Retail Sales 0.6% exp. 13.30 Oct Business Inventories 0.2% exp. 13.30 Initial Jobless Claims (w/e 6/12) 355k exp. 19.00 Minutes of Oct 28th FOMC Meeting

Mittel SpA (F), Fox Kids Europe (F)

07.00 Nov Final German CPI m/m 09.00 ECB Monthly Report

Anite Group (I), British Energy (I), McKay Securities (I)

Bradford & Bingley Trading Statement

Travis Perkins Presentation to Analysts

Adobe Systems (Q3), Piedmont Natural (Q3)

13.30 Nov Producer Price Index m/m 0.1% exp. 13.30 Oct Trade Balance -$41.6bn exp. 14.50 Dec Pre Michigan Sentiment 96.0 exp. 19.00 Nov Monthly Budget Statement -$38.0bn exp.

11.00 3rd Quarter Current Account 16.4bn exp

Eckoh Technologies (I), Windsor (F) East Surrey Holdings (EGM) Premier Direct (AGM) Inchcape (Trading Announcement) Royal Bank of Scotland (Trading Announcement) Wimpey (Trading Announcement)

Image Scan Holdings (F), Slimma (F) Actif Group (AGM)

HBOS (Pre close statement)

00:30 RICS Nov house prices 09:30 Nov RPI  

Homestyle (I), Kleeneze (I) Scipher (I), Vantis (I), Baggeridge (F) Misys (Trading Announcement)

09:30 BoE MPC Dec meeting minuets 09:30 Labour market report

Ex Dividend:

Smart (J) (AGM)

 09:30 CML Nov mortgage lending 09:30 BBA Nov mortgage lending 09:30 BSA Nov mortgage lending 09:30 Nov retail sales 09:30 Nov PSNCR

Ensor Holdings (I), Leeds Group (F),

Michael Page (EGM), The Medical House (AGM)

Trading updates from RBS and Alliance & Leicester on Monday kick off a busy week for banks. Updates follow from Standard Chartered on Thursday and Bradford & Bingley on Friday. British banks have underperformed in recent weeks on fear the start of interest rate rises may bite into the profits of mortgage lenders and increase the number of bad loans on their books.British Airways is expected to receive a boost with confirmation it will return to the FTSE 100MondayCapita Analysts want assurance that outsourcing specialist will meet its 2004 earnings forecasts, after contract wins such as the 110m deal for the pension administration for Prudential and St James's Place failed to dispel doubts .Having secured the Transport for London congestion charging contract the market expects Capita to focus on improving its cash flow, raise dividends or pursue a share buyback programme. SCi Entertainment Computer games publisher is expected to report a 20% rise in pre-tax profits to 3m when it reports full-year resultsTuesday

First Choice Holidays post full-year results, In October the company said they would be in line with expectations, suggesting pre-tax profits of 84m on sales of 2.2b.Stagecoach's interim results should provide investors with an opportunity to analyse the company's debt position. At the start of the year, Stagecoach was burdened with net borrowings of 560m. Since then though, the company has generated some 200m from the disposal of its North American operations.Halma safety products company has 6 month figures and are expected to be in line with forecasts but profits are not anticipated to show much improvement, due to a higher launch cost for new products.Severn Trent is expected to report a 9% rise in pre-tax profits to 139.2m as well as increases in earnings and dividends.

U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate decision could have a bigger impact on equities.Wednesday

Kingfisher will shed light on the health of the retail sector in the key Christmas trading period and is expected to show better-than-expected sales at its DIY chain in the third quarter when it issues a trading statement reporting 2.7% growth on a like-for-like basis.Phytopharm is expected to report a loss which could widen from 3.8m to over 5m after it was dealt a cruel blow when Pfizer decided to discontinue a joint developmental appetite suppressant drug

Stagecoach Bus and rail group  may give a progress report on Virgin's two rail franchises, in which it has a 49% stake, in its interim results, the two franchises would be profitable in the first six months, but were only expected to break even in the full year. The group is expected to post pre-tax profits of 65m against 75m last time.

Chancellor Gordon Brown pre budget report will give updates on growth and public finance forecasts and the switch to a new inflation target,Friday

Bradford & Bingley's comments on the current state of the mortgage market should be interesting

Thoughts

On of the big questions is 'will the DOW reach 10,000 before XMAS?' Historically the answer is 'yes'. Looking at the 5 year US chart below we can see a similar situation with the  11,000 point being tested on many occasions, As soon as the market rose within 100 points of this level it acted like a magnet and pulled it towards it.

But I feel like many of you that the US market has become overbought with it now recovering 93% of its value 3 years ago. Incidentally the FTSE has only recovered 70% of its value over the same period!

As you know I am a firm believer in computerised trading systems leaving tell tale markers on charts which  I call 'Lines' & 'Blobs'.  These often do not correspend to the normal charting trend lines but can be very significant. Using charts that extend back 5 years it is possible to draw these trend lines in 100 different ways to prove anything that you wish. However I find the ones shown this week to be quite interesting. Although the charts are noisy you can see the pattern and the horizontal parallel support lines do work quite well.

They give a trading range not as extreme as some models and suggest that we are towards the top of the channel on US & UK markets with support on the DOW above 9000 and the FTSE at about 3900.

One problem is that the DOW has recovered most of its 3 year losses and the FTSE is still 23% behind. Perhaps ths discrepancy will simply continue but if not my guess is for a sharp drop on the DOW after it has reached its 10k target.

As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the week ahead!  David (Crocodile) David@SnappyTrader.com  www.SnappyTrader.com

All the above comments are purely a personal opinion and no investment advice is intended.  Please do your own research.

Congratulations to all posters for winning the MoneyAM thread of the year!

Headlines Sunday 7th December

Shares in Canary Wharf jumped amid hopes that a fresh, cash-spinning bid war could break out for the property firm. Its directors have already backed a 1.55bn, 265 pence-a-share bid from investment bank Morgan Stanley. US unemployment data jolted sentiment that has been buoyed in the past few months by positive economic figures, particularly out of America.

SUNDAY TIMES Robert Wiseman Second share sale for millionaire milkmen BT Group Hi-tech revolution aims to give NHS new life

British Airways, BAA Airlines fear Labour will hike flight tax William Morrison Less cash for Safeway Slump takes sparkle off Wedgwood stock MyTravel fears for survival over losses of 600m Less cash for Safeway Amvescap Special Report: Timing scandal lands in London Maiden calls the end of recession for advertising

Directors' Deals:Business Post Group Boss posts big gains after mail strikes Glaxo needs pill for credibility gap

Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in Grainger Trust?

Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in UTV?

Standard Chartered UK firms sign up for Iraq Tony Froggatt's working day Scottish and Newcastle Sharewatch: Cambridge Antibody Dickens of a difference in two tour firms Sharewatch: TT Electronics Dickens of a difference in two tour firms Sharewatch: Stagecoach Up in the air BAA Working Space Scottish and Newcastle HSBC UK firms sign up for Iraq First Choice Sharewatch: Dickens of a difference in two tour firms

Cable and Wireless Ciao to Ebitda at last

M&S revolution

Carlton Investors must probe Michael Green's severance terms

Amvescap Billion dollar scandal BAE Systems It is now safe to unfasten your seat belts - maybe SCi bags new Lara game

OBSERVER Carlton, Granada Anger at Green's 1.4m pay-off Sky's EC penalty shoot-out Collins Stewart Tullett Ex-Collins broker heading down under

Fidelity boss backs Safeway in bid to up Morrison's offer BAA Airport plans face legal flak Fidelity boss backs Safeway in bid to up Morrison's offer

INDEPENDENT  Convicted businessman takes nuclear waste from BNFL The Lowdown: Why legal rivals are lambs to Slaughter Marks & Spencer Group

The week ahead: HSBC leads the charge of the banks BT loses Norwich - locals not amused

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY  300m loss is more trouble for MyTravel High interest in Canary Wharf as investors scent upturn Harvey Nicks takes brickie's brew to new high  

International Greetings to find place on investors' lists Deal is a Big Yin for Belhaven Stagecoach hits the road with electric bus

THE BUSINESS

Stagecoach has had a positive year after its restructuring plans. The shares (81p) have made a strong recovery but how much further do they have to go? Analysts expect first-half profits before goodwill and exceptional items of 50m to 60m, but since the group gave a positive trading update in October most of the good news is already priced into the shares.

INVESTORS CHRONICLE Tips: Tips: Buy William Hill (WMH) at 398p - Ashtead Group (AHT) at 16p - Celsis (CEL) at 34p - Capcon at 54p - Fulmar (FMR) at 80p - Halladale (HDG) at 55p.Updates: Buy Vodafone (VOD) - Cobra Biomanufacturing (CBF) - Hyder Consulting (HYC). Hold Bizspace (BIZ). Alexon (AXN) is good value.Company Results: Buy Compass (CPG) - Paragon (PAG) - Nord Anglia Education (NAE).

SHARES MAGAZINE Plays of the Week: Buy Host Europe (HER) at 1.375p - Royal Doulton (RDN) at 4.25p - Speedy Hire (SDY) at 370p - Winchester Entertainment (WIE) (suspended) at 28.75p.Updates: Buy Actif Group (ACT) - Berkeley Berry Birch (BBB) - Lawrence (LAC).Profits from Climate Change: Buy Richmond Foods (RFD) and Domino's Pizza (DOM). Sell Thorntons (THT) and Northern Foods (NFDS). Hold Greggs (GRG) and Geest (GET).

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com