Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Nikkei was down 47.02 points at 8,860.56, while the Hang Seng
ended the morning up 172.99 points at 15,774.26.

Crude oil traded down 63 cents at $49.50 a barrel on Nymex.

Happy Monday!

G.

Morning all. Friday's market reports:

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

Saturday

The government must use next week's budget to stem Britain's jobs crisis, according to the Bank of England's arch-dove, David Blanchflower, who warns that unemployment will be a big issue at the next election
Bank of England's Blanchflower says budget should tackle jobs crisis as a priority

A member of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee said that mortgages which leave buyers with an immediate risk of negative equity should not be banned and that bank demands for big deposits from homeowners may have been "overdone."
Bank's Barker backs 'risky' 100% mortgages

Banks are reporting surprisingly good quarterly earnings. But a closer look reveals that the bad times are not quite over.
Citigroup's Surprising Profit: Is It for Real?

Sunday

THE Bank of England is locked in talks with seven British building societies to renegotiate crisis funding measures introduced at the height of the credit crunch.
Bank of England holds crisis talks with seven building societies

Evidence is mounting that Britain's building societies engaged in a splurge of mortgage book buying and risky commercial lending during the property boom that is now threatening the financial credibility of the entire sector.
Building societies face awful truth about boom-time spending spree

The US-based academic will reveal the extent of his estrangement from the rest of the monetary policy committee in a special two-part edition of Dispatches starting tomorrow evening on Channel 4, presented by Observer columnist Will Hutton.
David Blanchflower: Bank drove me to brink of resignation

A group of leading economists is urging the Irish government to ditch its "bad bank" plan in favour of a temporary nationalisation of the financial sector.
Leading economists urge full nationalisation of Ireland's banks

Monday

The US economy is still facing "substantial risks" as the property bust spreads to commercial real estate and the recession engulfs the world, a top White House adviser has said.
US economy facing 'substantial risks'

The aggressive monetary policy of central banks around the world is playing havoc with the structure of the bullion market, creating a chronic shortage of gold that may soon push the metal to fresh records above $1,500 an ounce.
Gold price could hit $1,500

The CBI has also substantially downgraded its forecasts for 2009 and is now predicting that the economy will shrink by 3.9 per cent this year. It had previously expected the figure to come in at 3.3 per cent. The group is also forecasting a much longer-lasting recession than other analysts, including the Government.
Recession has hit the bottom, but no upturn until spring 2010

Seven of Britain's smaller building societies face ongoing negotiations this week over funding measures introduced by the Government at the height of the credit crisis.
Mutuals locked in talks over crisis cash

Oil is too cheap. At around $50 a barrel, it is trading far below the production costs of almost all new sources of crude and energy substitutes.
Funds try to spot the great oil rebound

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.
Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

KOSPI	VIX	GOLD	NYMEX CRUDE

BLND JP Morgan: neutral, tp raised to 405 from 385
CAL JP Morgan: neutral, tp cut to 10 from 60
DLN JP Morgan: underweight, tp raised to 790 from 740
HFD Investec: upgraded to buy from hold, tp raised to 365 from 275
HMSO JP Morgan: downgraded to neutral from overweight
HSBA UBS: reiterated buy, tp raised to 530 from 450
LII JP Morgan: downgraded to underweight from neutral
SGRO JP Morgan: downgraded to neutral from overweight
WOS UBS: upgraded to buy from neutral

Insurance Sector, SocGen: downgraded to neutral from overweight

Morning all. Just a comment about The Times' Bet of the Day: Tesco.

Tesco is doing well - really busy...and for my wife that's a problem. Car parking difficult at all our local outlets, and a nightmare once you get inside. Now she won't go to Tesco, preferring Rainbow (Co-op), which has a smaller selection of products but which is less busy. Also, interestingly, she has accompanied me to several of the 'low-class' supermarkets when I have been buying catfood in bulk for fishing, and she has been surprised at what is available, and how cheap some things can be - they include Aldi, Lidl and Asda.

I can't believe that she is the only one who has given up on Tesco during the day. Also, they can't keep growing. So is it possible that in a year's time the price will start to flag?

Regards to my friends on the Trader's thread. I understand that PFD are doing well! ASC also holding up nicely.

Maggot - it's really all about the international growth with Tesco these days though I think. They seem to have reached saturation point in the UK and market share is slowly declining of course as rivals become more effective at competing - especially MRW with the ex-Safeway stores. Of course the international markets are not a guaranteed thing for TSCO as Fresh & Easy demonstrates - it's clearly been a failure and from what I've read there's no viable path to profitability there as things stand.

Resources - how long will they last?

Midday Market Overview

I selected the share earlier on to move from here ..........

UPS
SEY 1.885p
1.87 / 1.90p
Large volume today with a 500K paying over the offer price a few minutes ago, higly geared company and talking to banks to bring it down, back by assets and production. Company said it had aproaches a couple month back

End-of-day Market Overview