A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

It is widely predicted that Alan Greenspan is planning to go out with a bang at the end of his 18-year tenure at the helm, with the Fed preparing to announce another increase US increase rates on Tuesday. This will undoubtedly be a major factor on Wall Street this week, with the resultant fallout hitting London's markets. The Office of Fair Trading is set to announce its much-anticipated decision on Alliance UniChem's 7bn rapprochement with Boots this week. Most pundits predict the deal will be passed on to the Competition Commission, which would mean a further six-month delay. BSkyB is seen revealing a strong interim profit on Wednesday, having met its target of eight million direct-to-home subscribers in 2005. Its 393m pre-tax profit forecast is up 18% on last year. On Thursday, Rio Tinto will reveal how soaring commodity prices have resulted in a bumper year. Analysts are predicting a pre-tax profit of $7.1bn, double that of 2004. In addition to a positive outlook statement, analysts will be looking for clues on what Rio Tinto will do with its growing horde of cash. On the same day, Shell is expected to publish record earnings for a UK company, although the extended hurricane season and a fall in the price for Brent crude is seen capping the company's Q4 profit. Analysts are forecasting net income of $5.4bn. Also Thursday, top-end results are expected from AstraZeneca. New CEO, David Brennan, is set to report pre-tax profit growth of more than 40% to $6.6bn. Investors will be keen to hear news of new acquitisions as the company seeks to revive its portfolio of drugs. British Airways is back on centre stage on Friday, posting Q3 numbers. Expectations are high with market consensus of a pre-tax result of 145m, compared to last year's 151m. However, the mid-term outlook is unclear. As well as surging fuel costs, the April deadline for BA's pension fund proposal to regulators is looming. It has a pension deficit of around 2bn and industrial relations remain a major issue. Also, the draft EU/US open skies agreement is expected to hit BA's profitability. Among others in the limelight in London this week will be Filtronic on Monday; ARM on Tuesday; Wolfson Electronics on Wednesday and Caffe Nero on Friday. It should be a very busy week, with Thursday a particular focus. Good hunting! Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Press comment

Times diary

Good Evening all

Morning all,
Rumour has it that MDW's Interim Report is out today.Not sure what to expect but should include some details on the Medtronic (MDT) distribution deal.......that's all really.

Good morning traders!

The Nikkei finished up 90.55 points at 16,551.23 this morning, its highest close`since September, 2000. The Hong Kong market is closed.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for March delivery, was up 43 cents at $68.19 a barrel from its close of $67.76 in the US on Friday.
Early broker notes:

BELLWAY, BOVIS, TAYLOR WOODROW CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' AT MERRILL LYNCH
BSKYB CUT TO 'NEUTRAL' VS 'OUTPERFORM' AT CSFB
HAYS CUT TO 'UNDERPERFORM' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT CREDIT SUISSE
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL DOWNGRADED TO 'SELL' FROM 'HOLD' - ING

Happy trading!

G.

Share guide

Morning all.

Morning all

Currently short PSN and FTSE and my Long BT.A from Friday is still in place!

I just got my Statement for Friday - lost 93p - just as well it was 1p bets rather than 1!

Decided not to do any stop losses today - although I may put some in later, just incase!

put the stop loss on the PSN so if it pull back, I'll still make a profit - this time @10p a point - I should make my Fridays losses back!

Midday Market Summary

On a completely different note -VRD - held this for the dividend nearly 15 years - still certificated to stop me being tempted to sell.

Share price nearly 3% up on the day - can't see any reason - does anyone know something?

BDEV short

Anyone else playing over here today?

LW - it's been busy on the traders BB

G

G - Too busy for me!

Any other small fry over here - or have they all gone over to the traders BB?