Hello traders!

US stocks closed lower tonight, erasing early gains, as a late inversion in the Treasury yield curve unnerved investors.

The DJIA fell 11 points to an unofficial close of 10,785, with the Nasdaq Composite down 11 points at 2,218 and the S&P500 off 4 points at 1,254.

See you in the morning with the latest...........

G.

(PS Don't forget UK market closes at 12:30pm tomorrow....)

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Nikkei closed its short session down 232.77 points at 16,111.43, while the Hang Seng, which trades a full day today, ended the morning down 161.26 points at 14,884.33.

Oil prices slipped in Asian trade with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, 16 cents lower at $60.16 a barrel from its close of $60.32 in the US yesterday.

Off to track down some UK news.....

Happy Friday!

G.

Good morning all and a Happy New Year. Let's hope that 2006 will be as good as this year. Has the Bull run enough steam? FTSE 7000 - Here we come !!!!

Aus close

Outlook

RPT AFX UK at a glance share guide

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares are expected to be little changed from yesterday's closing levels when the market opens, with activity expected to be light in the last trading day of 2005. The markets will close at 12.30 GMT.
Spread-betting firm IG Index is calling the FTSE 100 2 points lower at 5,636.

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,638.3, up 15.5
FTSE 250 8,821.6, up 75.9
DJIA 10,784.8, down 11.4
Nasdaq Comp 2,218.16, down 10.78
S&P 500 1,254.4, down 3.75
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 16,344.2, up 149.59
Hang Seng midday 14,884.3 down 161.3
Gold 514.2 usd (515.6 usd)
Oil - Brent Feb 60.16 usd (60.32 usd)

TODAY'S PRESS
* Banks may face curbs on selling. Inquiry identifies concerns over sales of loans and credit cards - FT
* Hilton seals 3.3 bln stg deal to reunite hotel brands - FT
* Goldman Sachs executive to be new Bank of Italy chief - FT
* Eurex to pursue plans for a US partner * Santander may buy back Abbey's card operations - FT
* Cost controls cast shadow over pharmaceutical future - FT
* Deutsche Bank hit by double inquiry - Telegraph
* Britain overtakes France as largest broadband user - Guardian
* Consumer confidence falls to lowest level since Iraq war - Independent

PRESS COMMENT The FT's LEX Column asks: "What will happen to Ladbrokes now that the Hiltons have been reunited" Says competition in the UK gambling market is set to intensify and suggests Hilton may opt to keep Ladbrokes in the public domain, gear up its balance sheet and invest in its business. -- Says US banks are now chasing the sort of customers that they would have once turned down for loans as a result of deregulation within the financial services industry.

End-of-day Market Summary

Thank you all for a great 2005! I wish you the best of fortune in the New Year.

The next Traders Thread (for Tuesday) will be kicked off on Monday night.

G.

to all the traders thread team may i wish you all first/ ahappy new year//and second /good fortune also///many thanks for all your effort//

Yes, it's that magical time of the year again when the Darwin Awards are bestowed, honoring the least evolved among us.

Here then, are the glorious winners.


Darwin Award Winner:


1. When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended

victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked...


And now, the Honorable Mentions:


2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.


3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his Vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.


4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.


5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.


6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer...$15. (If someone points a gun at you and gives

you money, is a crime committed?)


7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on

videotape.


8.. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."


9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun,demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast . The man, frustrated, walked away.


A 5-STAR STUPIDITY AWARD WINNER! (Drum Roll Please)


10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.


In the interest of bettering human kind please share these with your friends and family .. unless of course one of these 10 individuals by chance is a distant relative or long lost friend. In that case be glad they are distant and hope they remain lost.

AFX UK at a glance share guide - weekend

LONDON (AFX) - MARKETS (30 Dec)
FTSE 100 5,618.8 down 19.5
FTSE 250 8,794.30 down 27.30
DJIA 10,717.50 down 67.32
Nasdaq Comp 2,205.32 down 12.84
S&P 500 1,248.29 down 6.13
Gold 512.55 usd (512.55 usd)
Oil - Brent Feb 58.98 usd (58.07 usd)

WEEKEND PRESS
* BRITISH AIRWAYS jets have suffered mid-air failures because of "systemic" problems with their maintenance, air accident investigators reveal - Sunday Times
* RANK preparing to return up to 300 mln stg to investors as part of a review of its capital structure in which its dividend will be cut by as much as 30 pct - Sunday Times
* Blackstone, the American buy-out firm, drawing up plans for a flotation of SOUTHERN CROSS, the 1.5 bln stg nursing-home group it has created through a string of acquisitions - Sunday Times
* Supermarkets will kill corner shops by 2015, MPs warn - Sunday Times
* MPs savage power of big four grocers; leaked Parliamentary report warns of 'food deserts' if supermarkets are allowed to expand unchecked - Sunday Telegraph
* Bosses predict year of pain; two-thirds expect 2006 to be most difficult 12 months since economic downturn in Nineties - Observer
* NTL ponders 10 pct lift in VIRGIN MOBILE offer; the cable-television company and its advisers at Goldman Sachs considering increasing the bid to about 360 pence a share - Sunday Times
* LSE: Are bidders 'fit and proper' Leading members of LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE make a desperate plea to Gordon Brown to intervene in the takeover bid by Australian investment bank Macquarie - Mail on Sunday
* Competition Commission to pave the way for a takeover bid for LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE by Euronext by removing the main impediment to a merger of the two companies; later this month, it will announce that it would allow Euronext to lower its 41 pct stake in LCH Clearnet over two years, rather than the typical grace period of six months, following a takeover of LSE - Sunday Telegraph
* The number of public sector workers will pass 6 mln in 2006 for the first time in 16 years, Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates - Sunday Telegraph
* Britain's construction industry recorded its first drop in output for 11 years in 2005, despite government promises of large-scale public investment, according to a report to be published this week; The Construction Products Association will reveal that construction output dropped unexpectedly by 1.3 pct last year, though it is expected to recover by a modest 0.9 pct this year, before picking up to 3.1 pct in 2007 - Sunday Times
* Former chief executive of BPB, Richard Cousins, approached to take the top job at COMPASS, the embattled contract caterer - Sunday Times
* Ferrari's Formula One team to mark its diamond anniversary in 2007 with a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with DE BEERS - Sunday Telegraph
* HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS emerges as favourite to snap up rival fund manager GARTMORE for about 600 mln stg - Mail on Sunday
* Retailer HALFORDS criticised by the Department of Trade & Industry for delaying payments to suppliers by up to four months - Mail on Sunday
* Russia set to cut gas supplies; dispute with Ukraine worsens; Moscow insisting on five-fold price-rise; exports to western Europe could be threatened - Saturday FT
* Gordon Brown secures a 21 bln stg victory after the Office for National Statistics rules that the chancellor does not have to take the Network Rail bailout on his books - Saturday Times
* GLAXOSMITHKLINE wants rule change to fight pandemic; bird flu threat prompts pharmaceutical group to call for companies to be able to co-operate on vaccines - Saturday FT
* Retailers expect a busy holiday weekend after one of the most successful post-Christmas weeks for several years - Saturday FT
* National Association of Pension Funds joins other corporate governance groups in urging investors to vote against an incentive plan that could pay up to 10 mln stg to four directors of PERSIMMON - Saturday FT
* Fitch, the debt ratings agency, pours cold water on the bull run in MARKS & SPENCER shares, saying that its view of the outlook for the retailer remains negative - Saturday Times
* BERKELEY BERRY BIRCH, the struggling independent financial adviser network, says the Financial Services Authority has yet to agree that its capital-raising plans are adequate - Saturday FT
* WPP GROUP buys Bridge Worldwide, an Ohio-based marketing and interactive agency
* French clothing distributor Groupe Vivarte may take control of Kookai's British assets after the fashion retailer failed to renegotiate arrangements with FORMINSTER, its UK franchise partner - Saturday Mail
* GCAP MEDIA, the UK's largest commercial radio broadcaster, receives at least half a dozen offers for the nine local stations it has put up for sale - Saturday Guardian
* Telefonica looks likely to quit Europe's largest mobile phone alliance in order to secure regulatory clearance for its 17.7 bln stg acquisition of its British rival O2 in the new year - Saturday Guardian
* Grupo Santander, the Spanish owner of ABBEY, in talks to buy back Abbey's credit card operations, sold in 2001 to MBNA; analysts say it could pay more than 300 mln stg - Saturday Mail
* APPIAN TECHNOLOGY, a company that supplies automatic number-plate recognition systems for congestion charging and counter-terrorism, preparing to to float on AIM on Tuesday, valued at 5.6 mln stg - Saturday Express

SATURDAY PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on UK economy (Brown can look back on his long boom with pride; but, like the best performances, it appears to be coming to a close), UK housing market (for ordinary mortals, the days of rampant house prices inflating away their massive mortgages are over), Reits (while the conversion charge could prove a one-off deterrent, longer-term concerns are restrictions on gearing levels and on single shareholder ownership) - Opportunities overseas and online see odds improve for the new LADBROKES; the prospects for the gaming company look bright following the 3.3 bln sale of the HILTON hotels business (p.17) - Cash-rich defence groups preparing for the flotation of government's QINETIQ; proposed float is controversial because private investors will make huge profits (p.17) - LONDON MARKET: GW PHARMACEUTICALS (talk it will imminently unveil a deal)

Mail
SHARE TIPS FOR YEAR AHEAD: NEXT, INTEC TELECOM SYSTEMS, EARTHPORT, FORTH PORTS, COMPASS, LLOYDS TSB, PARTYGAMING, WILLIAM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS; 2005 tips: BABCOCK INTERNATIONAL (+70 pct), GB GROUP (+35 pct), GLAXOSMITHKLINE (+20 pct), FORTH PORTS (+19 pct), WICHFORD (+6 pct), INCISIVE MEDIA (+4 pct), LLOYDS TSB (+3 pct), ARMOURGROUP (-54 pct), PHYTOPHARM (-77 pct) - MARKET REPORT: BRANDON HIRE (hopes for agreed bid terms soon from a management team led by chief executive Charles Skinner and finance director Chris Sims)

Express
MARKET REPORT: SAREUM HOLDINGS (hopes that good news is on the way about a couple of major contracts), ABCAM (rumours that a licensing deal might be round the corner)

Times
Directors' dealing: SURFCONTROL (non-executive chairman buys stock for 51,200 stg) - Rumour of the day: 3DM WORLDWIDE (word that JM Finn, its stockbroker, has been sounding out investors on a deeply discounted share placing) - STOCK MARKETS - LARGE CAPS: INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP (talk it could become a target for Starwood of the US) - TEMPUS: CHRYSALIS (investors wanting to bet on a fast recovery could go for Chrysalis), DAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST, TRINITY MIRROR, JOHNSTON PRESS (of the three, DMGT looks the most attractive, because it is investing in new media, while trying to sell out of the regional press), SMG (there must come a point when somebody will try to force change - a break-up - where it is badly needed)

Guardian
Market forces: IQ LUDORUM (dotcom-esque share price rise seems to have been fuelled by the recent appointment of Mike Muscato as chairman), BRANDON HIRE (suggestions that chairman will not sell his 24 pct shareholding for anything less than 200 pence a share)

Independent
MARKET REPORT: PLUSNET (hopes it will be swallowed by a bigger player), HAVELOCK EUROPA (talk of strong trading)

Telegraph
QUESTOR COLUMN - Small cap, big yield; our choices for 2006: LAMBERT HOWARTH, GAMES WORKSHOP, BRAEMAR SEASCOPE, ABACUS, BRITISH POLYTHENE INDUSTRIES, WAGON; how last year's seven performed: ATRIUM UNDERWRITING (total shareholder return 5.7 pct, BPI (72.7 pct), DAWSON HOLDINGS (9.6 pct), KELLER (86.7 pct), LOOKERS (60 pct), MORGAN SINDALL (101 pct), SAVILLS (151 pct) - Financial forecasts: Paul Feeney, Gartmore Investment Management: FTSE 100 6,000, top share WPP, top sector Banking, top country Japan; Gavin Oldham, The Share Centre: 6,200, COSTAIN, Construction, Japan; Mike Warburton, Grant Thornton: 6,100, PROVIDENT FINANCIAL, International Traders with large overseas earnings, Japan; Justin Urquhart Stewart, Seven Investment Management: 5,800, TALARIUS, Pharmaceuticals, Taiwan; Paul Llott, Bates Investment: 5,850, LEGG MASON JAPAN EQUITY, Technology, Japan; Alan Steel, Alan Steel Asset Management: 6,600, NEW STAR FINANCIAL FUND, Financials, America; Julian Chillingworth, Rathbone Unit Trust Management: 4,900, ALLIANCE UNICHEM, Aerospace and Defence, Japan; Jeremy Tique, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust: 5,850, VODAFONE, Pharmaceuticals, Japan; Patrick Evershed, New Star Select Opportunities: 5,500, CLEARSPEED, Technology, China; Mark Harris, Savills Private Finance: 5,800, PRUDENTIAL, Life Assurance, Japan; Trevor Williams, Lloyds TSB: 6,000, DRAGON OIL, Commercial Property, Japan; Hilary Cook, Barclays Stockbrokers: 6,050, PRUDENTIAL, Information Technology, Germany; Edward Bonham Carter, Jupiter Asset Management: 5,850, KINGFISHER, Other Financials, Turkey; Clive Scott-Hopkins, Towry Law: 5,900, NEWTON ORIENTAL, Asia, China; Mark Dampier, Hargreaves Lansdown: 6,000, BT, Leisure, particularly gambling, Russia

SUNDAY PRESS COMMENT
Sunday Times
Sunday Times portfolio for 2006: John Waples (UNITED BUSINESS MEDIA), Dominic O'Connell (EASYJET), Richard Fletcher (ITV), Paul Durman (VECTURA), Louise Armitstead (CENTRICA), Mark Kleinman (CARPHONE WAREHOUSE), Matthew Goodman (888 Holdings), Peter Koenig (BARCLAYS) - HOW OUR SHARE TIPS FOR 2005 FARED: John Waples (HIGHWAY INSURANCE +99 pct), Paul Durman (VANCO +87 pct), Dominic O'Connell (ROLLS-ROYCE) +73 pct), Matthew Goodman (HOMESERVE +68 pct), Dan Box (PREMIER OIL +54 pct), Peter Koenig (UBS +31 pct), Louise Armistead (MYTRAVEL +29 pct), Mark Kleinman (REED ELSEVIER +14 pct), William Lewis (WATERFORD WEDGWOOD -17 pct), Richard Fletcher (AUGEAN -26 pct), Sunday Times average + 41 pct; Sunday Times Judges: Andy Brough (NATIONAL EXPRESS +4 pct), Tim Steer (ARMOUR GROUP -54 pct) - Dogs of the Footsie: the five to buy this year are BOOTS, ALLIANCE & LEICESTER, DSG INTERNATIONAL, COMPASS, SEVERN TRENT - STOCKS FOR A JANUARY BOUNCE: JARVIS, INVENSYS, EUROTUNNEL, NESTOR HEALTHCARE, SVB HOLDINGS, UNIQ, GCAP MEDIA, ACAL, AEA TECHNOLOGY, COMPASS GROUP - INSIDE THE CITY: Richard Fletcher comments on UNILEVER (fudging the restructuring of its archaic structure has angered a number of shareholders and will raise fears that Unilever is still resisting significant change), AIM (brokers expect to see a wave of American companies float on AIM in 2006), HMV (fear is that WH SMITH could step in (for Ottakar's); if HMV chief executive Alan Giles loses out to his former employer, 2006 could turn out to be even worse than 2005)

Mail on Sunday
TAKING STOCK: Simon Watkins says leisure is setting the pace for deals in 2006 (RANK, LADBROKES, WHITBREAD) - COMPANIES AND MARKETS: LADBROKES (in new casinos deal with HILTON hotel chain), NEXT (will deliver the first snapshot of Christmas trading to a nervous stock market on Wednesday), DSG INTERNATIONAL (considering a move into the residential phone market), LOOKERS (will launch its takeover bid for rival REG VARDY within two weeks, sparking a bidding war in the car dealership sector) - MIDAS'S TIPS FOR 2006 - Cautious tips: VODAFONE, LEGAL & GENERAL, GONDOLA HOLDINGS, ANGLO AMERICAN; Courageous Tips: CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY, POLYFUEL, NORTHERN PETROLEUM

Independent on Sunday
Predictions for 2006: COMPASS, ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND, WHITBREAD, ROMAG, TAYLOR NELSON SOFRES, COMPEL

Observer
How our tipsters fared: John Hatherly (FIRST CHOICE +59 pct), Karen Robertson (MARKS & SPENCER +43 pct), Max Ward (REDROW +31 pct), Richard Burns (WESTBURY +25 pct), Robert Talbut (BPP +18 pct), Jim Wood-Smith (ITV +7 pct), Colin McLean (STAGECOACH -3 pct), FTSE ALL SHARE (+16 pct) - What our panel tips for a profitable year in 2006: Colin McLean, SVM Asset Management: COOKSON GROUP, Richard Burns, Baillie Gifford: ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND, Jim Wood, Christows: ENTERTAINMENT RIGHTS, Wesley McCoy, Standard Life Investments: MYTRAVEL, David Jane, M&G: ITV, Robert Talbut, Royal London Asset Management: WILLIAM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS, Max Ward, The Independent Investment Trust: LAND OF LEATHER