Hello traders!

An interesting night in New York where, at 3:00pm ET, renewed buying interest pushes the blue chip indices to early session highs as bond yields fall to their lowest levels of the day.

With the commodities market now closed, and few other catalysts to push equities in either direction, investors have turned their attention to Treasurys.

However, the recent recovery effort seems to have stalled,

The Dow was down 17 points with the Nasdaq trailing by 4 points. The S&P500 showed a gain of 1.63 points.

See you in the morning with the breaking news of "Fool's Day". :-)

G.

morning all

Morning all. Been away for a few days, noticed this on this morning's newswires - anyone else notice it?

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announces that it is entering into a period of consultation about possible changes to the EPIC system of naming stocks. This is neccessary because of the increasing number of stocks coming to both the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and the other main markets. The purpose is to ensure that the epic naming system represents the true market share, position or company style and is less likely to lead to confusion for investors where similar epics can often be confused.

The conclusions reached so far are that the four letter limit currently in place should be increased. The changes should come into use twelve months from today once agreement has been reached between the company and their brokers. Investors may wish to make representations to the LSE although it is expected that weight will be given to the company preference.

Examples of suggestions so far drawn up by the committee are listed below. For further details or to make suggestions please contact the London Stock Exchange:

ARM Holdings: CHIP
AstraZeneca: DRUGGIE
AWG: WET
Barclays: WOOF
BOC Group: GAS
Bradford and Bingley: BLING
Burberry Group: CHAV
Corus: SING
EGG: SHELL
French Connection: BONK
Geest: BANANA
HBOS: HOWARD
Imperial Tobacco: FAG
ITV: TELLY
LastMinute.com: LATE
Man Group plc: PERSON
Matalan: CHEAP
P & O: BOAT
Pilkington: GLASS
Rolls Royce: POSH
Sage Group plc: HERB
Sainsbury: JAMIE
Scottish Power: CABER
Stagecoach group: TURPIN
George Wimpey: WIMP
Yell Group: SHOUT

Good morning traders!

In the US last night, higher oil prices, some negative corporate news and apprehension ahead of Friday's payrolls data discouraged buyers from fully embracing the day's decent economic data and falling bond yields. Crude oil futures surged 2.5% to $55.40 a barrel.

The Dow closed down 37.17 points at 10,503.76 with the Nasdaq 6.44 points weaker at 1,999.23 and the S&P500 off just 0.82 points at 1,180.69.

In Asia this morning trading is negative across the board.

In non-financial news, the health of the Pope appears to be worsening with reports this morning that he has suffered a heart attack to add to his other problems.

Take care out there today!

Happy trading!

G.

STAGECOACH INITIATED 'UNDERWEIGHT' AT MORGAN STANLEY; PRICE TARGET 105P

RENTOKIL INITIATED 'OUTPERFORM' AT CSFB; PRICE TARGET 185P

Investors Chronicle

TIPS - LARGE COMPANIES: O2 (Sell), SPRING (Buy), BAGGERIDGE BRICK (Sell) - SMALLER COMPANIES: PARKDEAN HOLIDAYS (Buy), African Eagle (Buy), BIZSPACE (Buy) - TIPS UPDATE: CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY (Sell), PERSONAL GROUP (Buy), EUREKA MINING (Hold), BALFOUR BEATTY (Buy)

MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,894.4, down 6.3
FTSE 250 7,130.5, up 46.9
DJIA 10,503.76, down 37.17
Nasdaq Comp 1,999.23, down 6.44
S&P 500 1,180.59, down 0.82
Tokyo: Nikkei ended morning 11,689.98, up 21.03
Hang Seng midday 13,447.94, down 68.94
Gold 431.10 usd (429.50 usd)
Oil - Brent April 55.40 usd (53.99 usd)
BREAKING NEWS
* Mercedes-Benz recalled almost one in three of the 4 million cars it has sold in the past four years to fix electronic problems that have tarnished its reputation for high-quality cars - The FT
* Baugur is preparing a second bid for SOMERFIELD - The FT
* CARDPOINT has emerged as a possible suitor for its smaller rival MONEYBOX which said yesterday that it had received a number of takeover approaches - The FT
PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on COMPASS GROUP (Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has earned much goodwill from his crusade to improve school meals in the UK. Compass Group, the world's largest contract caterer, must wish it could do the same with shareholders), House Prices (The signs of subsidence are increasing. UK house prices fell a seasonally adjusted 0.6 pct in March, according to the Nationwide building society, their biggest drop in a decade), AIG (If there is one lesson everyone needs to relearn from the sorry saga at American International Group, it is the need to focus on what is driving transactions), EUROPEAN TELECOMS (The wedding bells are ringing again. On Thursday, the end of Cesky Telecom's search for a Prince Charming came into sight, with Spain's Telefonica in the lead)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: WOLVES & DUDLEY (However, W&D shares at 11.25 pence are still not over-priced on 13 times earnings and they yield a decent 3.6 pct dividend. Hold.), KINGSTON COMMS (There could be news soon on sales of overseas businesses, but there must be significant evidence of market share gains in the UK before Kingston can be an attractive bet for the private investor), MAIDEN (The election really ought to be just a timing issue for the company but at 240 pence, its shares are trading on a forward multiple of 22 times, which means they are not tempting)
Times
TEMPUS: COMPASS GROUP (Avoid), WARNER ESTATES (Buy), PRELUDE INVESTMENT TRUST (Buy)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: COMPASS (Buy, but don't expect a smooth ride), NATIONAL GRID TRANSCO (Hold for now), ARLA FOODS (The shares haven't gone sour yet, but any further upside is likely to be limited)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: MONEYBOX (Cardpnt seen as potential bidder) - WHO'S DEALING: PATIENTLINE (chief executive and non executive director buy shares)
Investors Chronicle
TIPS - LARGE COMPANIES: O2 (Sell), SPRING (Buy), BAGGERIDGE BRICK (Sell) - SMALLER COMPANIES: PARKDEAN HOLIDAYS (Buy), African Eagle (Buy), BIZSPACE (Buy) - TIPS UPDATE: CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY (Sell), PERSONAL GROUP (Buy), EUREKA MINING (Hold), BALFOUR BEATTY (Buy)

Morning all.

SM - apologies for post 2, but Bullshare is indeed correct in noting the date. ;-)))

ZOO - going wireless
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700034266K.html

RNO - profit warning
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700064359K.html

BGC - trading statement
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700074391K.html

AKT - selling technology to the Germans
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700084416K.html

TLW - they went where others wouldn't. Should be good for a laugh!
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700104437K.html

IXF - Fins owner going along OK
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700104434K.html

OSH - interesting
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700104431K.html

AUW - "higher than current market expectations."
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700104430K.html

CTF - longest trading update in history!
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700124466K.html

TTL - mkt cap's only 10m!
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200504010700164529K.html

Looks like about enough for today

Morning all.

Morning, very little volume if any, on the stocks on my watch list this morning so far.

long BBY 315 s/l on

long CTM 49.50 s/l on