Good evening Alan,
I see you are still doing excellant job with this thread. Have been away for quite a while but intend to get back in, with a little help from yourself:-)

Morning all. Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Independent
The Guardian
This is Money

Saturday

Britain's banks are forecast to report bumper profits of more than 42bn for 2007 despite being forced to stomach
losses caused by the credit crunch. But with a backdrop of worsening economic conditions, there are suggestions that 2007 could be the last record year and that the profitability of the banking system is facing its greatest risk in a decade.
British banks set for bumper profits

The two banks are still reeling from the meltdown in the US sub-prime market. The crisis is percolating through the whole of the German banking sector; politicians are increasingly nervous that at least one German bank may go under, which would send a devastating signal to the markets.
Sub-prime fears at WestLB and IKB threaten German banking

The G7 group of rich countries will not seek coordinated action to boost growth, despite growing fears of a global economic slowdown prompted by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, Alistair Darling said today.
G7 'will not seek coordinated action on fears of global economic slowdown'

House repossessions are expected to hit a 12-year high this year, with 45,000 owners seeing their homes taken away, experts warned yesterday.
Increasing home repossessions to hit 12-year high

But perhaps AIMs greatest obstacle is that, taken as a whole, it has not been effective in creating value for shareholders
Tempus analysis: Bad AIM

Sunday

Investors should prepare for the global credit crisis to get worse before it gets better, the world's leading financial policymakers warned this weekend.
Credit crunch will intensify, says G7 forum

There is still $300bn of bad debt out there, and Japan could be hiding most of it.
Japan is the next sub-prime flashpoint

The FSA is alarmed at a rapid increase in the number of errors discovered by investment banks when it comes to reconciling their trading positions. These "mismatches" now amount to billions of pounds and regulators blame the increasing complexity of the trades undertaken by banks, combined with a chronic under-investment in back-office technology.
FSA urges global action as bank trading 'mismatches' escalate

The reporting season kicks off this week to the backdrop of sliding shares, the sub-prime crisis and a housing slowdown.
Britain's battered banks pray for deliverance

TWO in every five employers plan redundancies over the next three months, according to an influential survey to be published tomorrow. It comes as two leading business groups warn of weak business confidence and a sharp slowdown in growth. British Retail Consortium (BRC) figures will show, however, that consumers remain resilient in spite of economic worries.
Britain facing huge job losses

No more rate cuts: there'll be no UK recession

The Bank of England is set to come under renewed pressure to make further interest-rate cuts with reports from both the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors painting a grim picture of the UK economy. The BCC's forthcoming quarterly economic survey will predict a fall in the UK's GDP growth from 3.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2007 to just 1.1 per cent by the end of the year.
Bank of England urged: cut base rate now before it's too late

Losses at Egg, the crisis-hit financial services firm, soared to about 250m last year due to ongoing problems with customer bad debts, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
Egg fried by bad debt loss of 250m

The troubled Goldfish credit card business has yet another owner - and it comes just weeks after its US owner, Discover Financial Services, wrote off 204m from the value of the business.
Barclaycard nets Goldfish for a bargain 35m

A flurry of companies on London's Alternative Investment Market are seeking listings with Euronext in a bid to attract investors uncomfortable with the junior market.
AIM companies bid for dual listings on Euronext to boost liquidity

Monday

Traders in the City of London are steeling themselves for extreme market volatility after a meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers at the weekend hinted at a worsening outlook for the global economy and even more sub-prime banking losses.
Anxious time ahead for markets as G7 hints at worsening global gloom

Bob Hall, the academic responsible for officially declaring whether the United States has fallen into a recession, told The Times yesterday that current economic conditions looked very close to those experienced in 1967, when the worlds biggest economy suffered a slowdown but narrowly avoided a recession.
Business cycle expert Bob Hall holds out faint hope of US escaping a recession

The Bank of England will use this week's closely-watched Inflation Report to warn of a high probability that it could miss its inflation target in the coming months.
Bank of England likely to miss inflation target

As the City awaits the industry's results, banks are recapitalising as fast as they write down sub-prime loans.
UK banks make debt provision to reassure markets

Hopes that China will rescue the world economy from suffering a major slowdown have been dashed by an authoritative new study which reveals that growth in the Far Eastern tiger is heading downwards.
China faces downturn, says OECD

The credit crunch may have hampered the private equity industry since the summer, but buyout groups are playing the long game.
Masters of the universe prepare for the sequel: The Empire Strikes Back

NIKKEI	AUSTRALIA	HANG SENG

Shanghai is closed for the Chinese New Year.

OUTLOOK New CEO of Smiths Group to outline strategy in trading updateOUTLOOK GCap chief executive to reveal new strategyAustralian shares close lower after RBA warns of further rate hikes - UPDATEThomson Financial Europe AM at a glance share guide: Stocks mixed; oil risesAustralian shares close lower after central bank warns of further rate hikes

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed the morning down 355.96 points at 23,113.50.
Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, rose
35 cents to $92.12 per barrel.

Happy trading!

G.

TFN economic and business calendar to Friday Feb 22

TFN UK calendar and forecasts for todayTFN economic and business calendar to Friday Feb 22 UPDATE

Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide - weekend

London shares outlook - down after US slide on Friday; Smiths Group in focusThomson Financial UK at a glance share guideThe Monday Press Roundup

BROKERWATCH GlaxoSmithKline upped to 'buy' from 'neutral' at UBS

BROKERWATCH Hochtief, ACS upped to 'buy', FCC cut to 'sell' at Goldman Sachs

UK smallcap opening - Empyrean Energy down on well plug and abandonment

UK smallcap opening - Oilexco higher on positive oil column newsUK smallcap opening - Silverjet dives on convertible loan blowUK smallcap opening - Aminex falls on well plugging blowUK smallcap opening - Synchronica up on mobile to e-mail product boost

London shares open lower after Wall Street slide; Smiths Group down after update

STOCKWATCH BT cut to 'underperform' from 'neutral' at Credit Suisse

STOCKWATCH Smiths Group top FTSE 100 casualty; H1 update reveals lower margins

BROKERWATCH Tesco started as 'buy' tgt 475p, Sainsbury as 'hold' tgt 420p at ING

Metals - Platinum at record near 2,000 usd as South African mining woes continue