Hello traders!

US stocks fell sharply in afternoon trading as oil's stab at $60 and a weak earnings report from Fedex raised concern about the drag on the economy of higher energy prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 147 points at 10,440, putting the benchmark index on track to post its biggest triple-digit decline in more than two months.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 17 points to 2,074 while the S&P500 dropped 12 points to 1,202.

Oil futures briefly tapped $60 a barrel, a new record. August-dated crude-oil futures climbed as high as $60.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- just 3 cents above the contract's all-time, intraday high from Monday. The benchmark contract finished out the session, up $1.33 at $59.42.

See you in the morning with updates.......

G.

Good morning traders!

The US market closed near session lows, erasing much of last week's strong performance in just one day, as surging oil prices helped fuel broad-based consolidation efforts that closed virtually every sector in negative territory...

The Dow closed down 166.49 at 10,421.44 with the Nasdaq 21.37 weaker at 2,070.66 and the S&P500 off 13.15 at 1,200.73.

In Asia this morning, the Hang Seng closed the morning down 25.21 at 14,165.23 with the Nikkei last trading down 47.42 at 11,529.33.

Oil stood at $59.74 a barrel, up 32 cents from its overnight close of $59.42 in New York.

Off to find some UK news.....

Happy trading!

G.

TATE & LYLE CUT TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' VS 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' AT LEHMAN BROTHERS

AB FOODS UPGRADED TO 'OVERWEIGHT' VS 'UNDERWEIGHT' AT LEHMAN BROTHERS

NEXT CUT TO 'IN-LINE' VS 'OUTPERFORM' AT GOLDMAN

MYTRAVEL UPGRADED TO 'BUY' VS 'HOLD' AT DRESDNER

Investors Chronicle :-

TIPS - LARGE COMPANIES: EMI (sell), ALFRED MCALPINE (buy), BIG YELLOW (sell)

TIPS - SMALLER COMPANIES: CHORION (buy), DWYKA DIAMONDS (buy), NEXT FIFTEEN COMMUNICATIONS (buy)

TIPS - UPDATES: IDEAL SHOPPING DIRECT (good value), REAL GOOD FOODS (fairly priced), HBOS (keep buying), UK COAL (good value)

Good Morning all

HBOS - keep buying? I been looking to sell sooner rather than later, should I rethink?

little woman - IC is always right, as you know.... ;-)

GWP
The chart is looking very positive at the moment, specialy after yesterday's rise.

Indicators rising as is the share price, MACD is the one now almost in play as the "blue" line is ready to cross over by Monday on he way UP.

Today's share price drop, could be a "T trade" sale to be reported later, otherwise there is no reason for it as the buys outnumber sells by 3 to 1.