Good morning traders!

In Asia this morning, the main markets are trading flat as oil edges up over $51 a barrel. Hong Kong has closed the morning session 10.01 points up at 13,572.07 and, in Tokyo, the Nikkei was last down 2.42 points at 11,012.01.

According to French press reports this morning, Anglo-Dutch specialist publisher Reed Elsevier is set to buy French publishing house Masson for between 250m and 300m.

SIGNET INITIATED AS 'OVERWEIGHT' BY LEHMAN, TARGET 111 PENCE

Off to find some more news.....

Happy trading!

G.

AFX UK at a glance share guide - 2

MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,971.5, down 11.0
FTSE 250 7,019.3, up 17.6
DJIA 10,457.80, down 45.90
Nasdaq Comp 2,050.12, down 11.50
S&P 500 1,190.00, down 4.05
Tokyo: Nikkei 11,027.9,4 up 13.51
Hang Seng midday 13,572.07, up 10.01
Gold 418.15 usd (417.85 usd)
Oil - Brent Jul 50.07 usd (48.82 usd)

BREAKING NEWS
* Blackstone launches a record 11 bln usd fund; latest sign of power of private equity houses - FT
* GUS to sell its 66 pct stake in BURBERRY
* MANCHESTER UNITED board set to tell its investors to sell their shares to Malcolm Glazer - FT
* Chinese coal producer Shenhua Energy plans to raise up to 1.96 bln stg in what would be this year's biggest flotation - FT
* Constellation gets June 29 deadline for its ALLIED DOMECQ offer
* GLAXOSMITHKLINE will consider bidding for Boots Healthcare when documents on the sale are released in July - FT
* Cazenove tries to limit damage; colleagues at JP Morgan joint venture admit departure of rainmaker Nick Miles is a big blow; chairman tells clients it's business as usual - FT
* Honda emerges as a possible bidder for the MG TF sports car and the MG brand after bosses from the Japanese firm are spotted at Longbridge - Mail

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on GUS (cautious optimism rather than exuberance is the appropriate response to GUS's break-up), Dollar, Eon, Societe Generale (the 15 pct discount to its sector looks unjustified) - IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES (it is best to wait and see if those high-graphics mobile phones do start rolling on to the martket this year)
Times
DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: CASTINGS (non-executive sells stock for 28,000 stg) - RUMOUR OF THE DAY: LONDON & ASSOCIATED PROPERTIES (talk it could be the next shopping centre landlord to attract corporate activity) - SCOTTISH & NEWCASTLE (talk it has pulled out of the bid battle for Columbia's Bavaria) - ULTIMATE LEISURE (persistent rumours that Guy Naggar, the Gallic corporate raider, has built a near 15 pct stake) - TEMPUS: GUS (buy), LUMINAR (hold), LOCAL RADIO COMPANY (buy)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: BRITISH LAND (stock should tick up slowly), DE LA RUE (now is not the time to be betting the farm), GREENCORE (a risky buy)
Mail
PARTYPOKER (believed to be well on course for a 3 bln stg-plus float on the London stock exchange)
Guardian
DAVIS SERVICE GROUP (sale of portable toilets and buildings business leaves it vulnerable to a takeover approach) - PURSUIT DYNAMICS (rumours of a Tyco contract win)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: DE LA RUE (look more of a hold now), DAIRY CREST (hold)
Express
SHARE WHISPER: IP2IPO (talk that Commerzbank was offloading more stock) - WHO'S DEALING: MARKS & SPENCER (chief executive picks up 50,000 shares at 339 pence and now holds 400,416)

ERT - AGM statement
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700077693M.html

XAN - still shopping at Tesco
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700077705M.html

RPS - oil sector helping. ;-)
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700077721M.html

RTO - doesn't sound clever
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700087733M.html

DNX - Morocco
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700107743M.html

CHTR - trading ahead
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700287811M.html

COR - interesting
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700357825M.html

MRW - things looking up???
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700477857M.html

DTK - tagging Danes
http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200505260700487861M.html

Have a good day.

Morning all. Barclays trading statement today - will it be good?

Druid2 - Quite the reverse. Getting hammered. :-(

Greystone - yes - but pleased to see that it has started to go back up a little now.

Good Morning all

I presume HBOS is being effected by BARC?

The whole sector getting hammered, lw

good time to buy bank shares?

lw - Usually best to be a little patient in these situations. There is likely to be some fallout in the press in the morning.