In the UK shares closed weaker today but finished well above session lows as Wall Street's morning decline proved less than feared although ongoing worries over strong crude prices continued to weigh on global markets, and a sharp post-results fall from BSkyB seemed to catch many traders out as they looked to find the bottom that did not come.

At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 21.6 points lower at 4,408.1, well above a late morning low of 4,376.8 but having stayed in the red all day.

All the broader FTSE indices dropped back as well, with the FTSE 250 index the day's biggest casualty, down 74.8 points at 5,951.8.

Volume was strong, swollen by a placing of 45 mln shares in Egg (109 mln shares traded). In total 2.93 bln shares changed hands today in 201,304 trades.

In the US after spending most of the day well down the markets rallied as the price of oil dropped from its highs and investors turned their focus to some stronger-than-expected economic data.

The major indices all closed well off their lows for the day but struggling to get into positive territory - The DOW up + 6.27 at 10126.51 The S&P down - 1.06 at 1098.63 The NASDAQ down - 4.36 at 1855.06.

So is it still going to be oil that dominates the Markets or will the US Initial Jobless Claims take center stage?

Good Hunting
Well oiled and jobless of Oxon

Which ever it the least favourable scenario...

Well that is the way the market is reacting at the moment..

very good results, hmm, where is the bad bit... ah.... 'very'... that often goes with challenging so the results must be 'very' ......
Hmm, can't find that c word, never mind, very will do.

Lets short them.


Bad results... ah, no problem... lets short them.... even more....

Jumpin

Good plan! ;-))

Hi all,

Jumpin, you've summed things up well. I'm sitting tight at the moment - things
are too unpredictable at the moment for my likeing.......

Martini :- Thanks again. This gives me a great feel for where things are.

Best

Many thanks once again, morning all.
regards

morning all,

long ARM BLND CS S&P DAX US&UK OIL/GAS SECTOR INDEX

mainly trading the S&P at the moment:-)

me thinks it could be a BLUE DAY after oil prices come off there highs!!!

have a gooden,will pop back in later

Mega...

What`s happening with LPY this morning, I can`t get a price??

Morning all.

BES - Italy and the USA and FY results.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700026290B.html
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700106460B.html

ULE - contract with MOD should keep it ticking along nicely.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700026283B.html

ROR - can't see any ogres; a few ifs and buts looking ahead.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700046391B.html

IMG - not had a good recent run and nothing new for the AGM
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700056418B.html

IXF - currency trading anyone?
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700056414B.html

PSD - acquisition
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700066423B.html

OXS - mine has record production, decreasing costs.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700076431B.html

FWY - looking good. The only computer company which has been a long all year.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700086447B.html

ITH - TFC's younger sibling?
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700096455B.html

HIV - small outfit, quite a discount to NAV
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700096456B.html

WGT - new contract, but recent performance very poor.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700106471B.html

AAP - interesting.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700116473B.html

SNR - reasonable, but can't say outlook is stunning. Could get punished on that.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700126474B.html

LMC - Q3, but it's had a shocking run since Martha left. ;-))
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700136475B.html

SPT - another hit by currency
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700156478B.html

BARC - well, we all know what happens when you post record results!!
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700226485B.html

AAL - another record.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700196484B.html

FP. - looks very nice indeed.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700236486B.html

BDEV - disposal across the pond.
http://moneyam.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200408050700336509B.html

And don't forget there's BoE at midday folks. I guess we're generally looking for a rise.

I've got longs on AQP, ASC, DVO, HTG, MPH, MRS, PCI and SFL. Don't seem to have a short. Hmm.

Have fun!

Morning all. Good to see we are optomistic (ish)!

Morning folks. BARC up atm(478) following interim results and bid rumours this morning.

Market forces

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bid rumours boost Barclays

Richard Wray
Thursday August 5, 2004
The Guardian

Since the bid for Abbey National, traders ignore a rumour about a takeover in the banking sector at their peril which goes some way to explaining the sudden rise in Barclays' shares in late trading yesterday.
Barclays ended up 9.25p at 470p having come from nowhere in the last 45 minutes of the trading day. Dealers whispered excitedly about a 700p per share bid for the bank as early as this morning from the US financial powerhouse Citigroup.

Citigroup, which had a stab at buying Abbey, has long been expected to move into the UK market and approaching Barclays would not create too much of a regulatory headache. Bank of America was also being suggested.

But wiser heads blamed a hedge fund for putting the story around the market to clear a position. "I would not be surprised if Citigroup did buy Barclays at some point, but this is probably not the right time," said one market old hand. A deal now is unlikely as Citigroup's shares are languishing and any offer would be in paper.

Barclays was also boosted by talk that today's interim results will be good.

It has made something of a habit of releasing downbeat pre-closed trading statements then releasing better than expected figures.

The FTSE 100 closed the trading day down 21.6 points at 4408.1 with volume of 2.7bn shares swollen by activity in BSkyB and Egg.