Hello traders!

Thanks again to Supermum for her weekly chart view. Thanks also to all of the traders who made the Sunderland day such a success.

I guess everyone who was there will be watching to see how Ruth and Shogun get on with their Monday. Certainly their presentation on Friday gave a great flavour of what they get up to in that "luxury garage" of their's.

There's a bit more in the diary this week than there has been of late, starting with Monday's trading statement from Lloyds TSB. UBM, Dixons, Stagecoach, Hanson and Tesco are amongst others reporting back during the week ahead.

I'll be back in the morning with any breaking new.

Happy Sunday!

G.

US stocks seen extending gains this week

NEW YORK (AFX) - US stocks are poised to retest their March highs this week after the recent bull run, despite higher oil prices and declining industrial productivity, analysts said.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.4 pct at 10,623.07, gaining 1.1 pct on the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained about 0.1 pct to 2,090.11, rising 1.3 pct on the week.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.1 pct at 1,216.96, up 1.6 pct on the week, leaving it within striking distance of its high for the year of 1,229 reached on March 7.
Joe Liro, equity strategist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates, predicted that investors will manage to push prices above the 1,229 mark on the S&P 500 and extend the rally. The Dow industrials and Nasdaq composite also are expected to retest their March highs, he said.
"Volume hasn't been great and the magnitude of the gains has not been spectacular, but they have been consistent," Liro said. "And this rally has happened within the context of higher oil and declining productivity, both of which squeeze profits."
According to Liro, the market is being boosted by investor perception that the Federal Reserve will hike short-term interest rates another quarter-point at its policy meeting at the end of the month then take a hiatus from raising rates.
However, Liro said this perception probably is misguided. His institution expects another percentage point in rate increases in coming months.
Al Goldman, A.G. Edwards chief equity strategist, also expects the bull run to carry over into this week and credits the rally to rising investor confidence in the economy
"There has been a renewed interest in heavy cyclical stocks such as steels, chemicals and paper stocks," he said.
"It is unusual for economy-sensitive stocks to rally in the fourth year of a recovery," Goldman said. "They usually only rally in the beginning of a recovery. That would indicate that folks feel pretty good about the economy."
Next week will be light on Fedspeak as it falls in the blackout period prior to the Fed's monetary policy meeting on June 29 and 30. However, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker is scheduled to speak at a banking conference on Monday.
Data also will be sparse. "Next week we will get a breather before the next data assault the following week," said Lehman Brothers economist Drew Matus. He noted that in two weeks the market will get a steady rain of data, including inflation numbers, manufacturing data, auto sales and a final revision to first-quarter gross domestic product.
On Monday the Conference Board will release leading economic indicators for May. Lehman Brothers is expecting a reading of -0.3 for the headline figure.
Thursday will bring weekly initial jobless claims and existing-home sales figures for May. Lehman expects home sales to rise to 7.20 mln units from 7.18 mln units in April.
On Friday the market will view durable-goods data for May, new-home sales for last month and another University of Michigan consumer-sentiment reading. Lehman forecasts that new-home sales will increase to 1.35 mln in May from 1.316 mln in April
Although second-quarter earnings reports season will not begin in earnest for a few weeks, next week sees profit news from some closely-watched names.
The earnings highlight of the week should be Morgan Stanley, which will report on Wednesday. There should be high interest, following weaker-than-expected results this week from Goldman Sachs. The average analysts' estimate is for Morgan Stanley to earn 92 cents a share.
Tuesday will feature profit news from Darden Restaurants, circuit-boards maker Jabil Circuit Inc and supermarket operator Kroger Co .
According to First Call, there should be fourth-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share from Darden, third-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share from Jabil and first-quarter earnings of 34 cents a share from Kroger.
Retailer Bed Bath & Beyond will report first-quarter results on Wednesday. First Call forecasts earnings of 32 cents a share.
Thursday will bring earnings from Fedex Corp, Rite Aid and A.G. Edwards. First Call is expecting earnings of 1.48 usd a share from Fedex, 2 cents a share from Rite Aid and 67 cents a share from A.G. Edwards.

AFX UK at a glance share guide

MARKETS
FTSE 100 5,077.6 up 32.6 (three-year high)
FTSE 250 7,354.9 up 37.0
DJIA 10,623.07 up 44.42
Nasdaq Comp 2,090.11 up 0.96
S&P 500 1,216.96 up 6.03
Gold 438.15 usd (433.95 usd)
Oil Brent Aug 57.76 usd (56.22 usd)

BREAKING NEWS - WEEKEND
* France Telecom plots 4 bln stg takeover of CABLE & WIRELESS - Sunday Telegraph
* BT to take on Apple for a share of the multi-billion pound music download market; it will launch a new service tomorrow enabling mobile phone users to listen to 50 radio stations over their handsets, and download tracks for a small fee - Observer
* Private equity giant KKR planning to buy CADBURY SCHWEPPES's soft-drinks business and merge it with drinks company Britvic, which it intends to acquire from joint owners INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS, ALLIED DOMECQ, WHITBREAD and PepsiCo International - Sunday Express
* BBC could face an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading if it does not scale back its commercial activities - Independent on Sunday
* America's most feared attorney, Joseph Jamail, hired to demand compensation from BP on behalf of the victims of an explosion in March at the oil firm's Texas plant which killed 15 people - Observer
* European Bank for Reconstruction refusing to fund SHELL's vital 12 bln usd Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off the east coast of Russia until problems with the environmental impact of the pipeline's construction are resolved - Observer
* City regulator cracks down on hedge funds' insider trading - Sunday Times
* PARTYGAMING faces the threat of legal action under the Canadian criminal Code - Sunday Times
* Omega Underwriting, the AIM-listed Lloyd's of London managing agent, makes an approach to HARDY UNDERWRITING, the insurer, about a merger to create a 120 mln stg business - Sunday Telegraph
* Apax Partners mulling over a bid of about 200 mln stg for Postman Pat owner ENTERTAINMENT RIGHTS - Sunday Express
* Blair blocks EU budget deal; British PM leads opposition to seven-year package; summit collapses in acrimony; Barroso warns of 'permanent crisis and paralysis' - Saturday FT
* Blair vows to break up CAP for Africa's sake; European farm subsidies 'must end by 2010' - Observer
* A blanket ban on smoking in public places, including all pubs and restaurants, will form the centrepiece of government health proposals to be launched tomorrow - Observer
* George Soros backing an audacious rescue plan for EUROTUNNEL, which faces bankruptcy later this year; Soros throwing his weight behind a proposal being tabled by Parisian lawyer George Berlioz, one of the channel tunnel operators' legal advisers - Observer
* Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based oil research and consulting company, preparing for an eventual 250 mln stg flotation and strengthens its board with the appointment of three non-executive directors - The Business
* Banking and investment group ING fails to sell its troubled stockbroker Williams de Broe, which last month suspended chief executive John Millarand chief operating officer David Whistance - Sunday Express
* Deutsche Bank clinches the mandate to float CMC, an internet securities dealer owned by Peter Cruddas, one of the City's most colourful characters; Deutsche will manage the sale of 30 pct of CMC at an indicative price valuing the firm at 800 mln stg - Sunday Times
* Growth at o2 'could justify a 17 bln stg bid, according to Arete Research - Sunday Times
* Land of Leather, the furniture retailer, planning to float on the stock market this summer giving the company an enterprise value of around 100 mln stg - Sunday Telegraph
* Banca Popolare di Lodi, the Italian banking group, to launch a 1.5 bln eur (1 bln stg) rights issue on Monday to restore the group's debt to equity ratios and improve its chances of blocking ABN Amro's bid for domestic rival Banca Antonveneta - The Business
* Ford clears road for 6 bln usd float or outright sale of car rental unit Hertz - The Business
* Preparations underway for a 3.5 bln eur (2.3 bln stg) IPO of Eutelstat, the Paris-based telecoms and television broadcast satellite operator that ranks among the top four worldwide - The Business
* A shake-up in the packages offered by BSKYB raises City fears that the money the broadcaster makes from each new subscriber will be cut - Mail on Sunday
* BSKYB will this week unveil plans for a new service allowing customers to download movies and sports coverage over the internet - Sunday Telegraph
* Financial Services Authority investigating trading during Friday's index futures and index options expiry auction, which helped spur the FTSE 100 to a three-year high; trading during the so-called "double witching" caused nearly every blue-chip stock to rise, and produced unusually large trades - Saturday Telegraph
* Britain's leading pub companies facing chaos under the UK's new licensing laws with local councils warning that thousands of pubs could be shut by the end of the year - The Business
* Confidential data drawn up by the British Beer & Pub Association show that in the three months to the end of April, the volume of beer, ale, lager and stout sold through what is known as the on-trade was about four per cent lower than a year earlier - Mail on Sunday
* The race to market between French utility Gaz de France and Italian power plant Enel intensifies as Rome brings forward its 4.5 bln eur (3 bln stg) flotation by a week - The Business
* Constellation abandons its pursuit of ALLIED DOMECQ, paving way for France's Pernod Ricard to secure the UK-based maker of Beefeater gin and Courvoisier cognac - Saturday FT
* CORVUS CAPITAL decides against bid for far larger ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE
* HBOS agrees to buy the life assurance division of MLP, the German financial adviser, for up to 216 mln stg in a move aimed at helping double its sales in Germany
* Hopes of a sale of MG Rover thrown into confusion as it emerges that the failed car company has already sold its main asset - the MG TF sports car - to China, by accident - Saturday FT
* David Jones, independent deputy chairman of WILLIAM MORRISON, privately pushing for Sir Ken Morrison to step aside from the helm of the supermarket group - Saturday FT
* Sir Ken Morrison will spark a full-blown boardrom crisis at WILLIAM MORRISON this week when he refuses to accept crucial director nominations - Sunday Times
* Morrison and Jones in a fight to the death; friends of Sir Ken claim sole non-exec is 'obsessed' with ousting the (WILLIAM MORRISON) supermarket group's founder - Sunday Telegraph
* MORRISON's crisis grows with union strike threat; embattled supermarket faces assaults from workers and the City - Observer
* 'His patience has finally run out': MORRISON' deputy set to resign - Independent on Sunday
* Heinz emerges as the leading candidate to buy HP Foods, the British sauce maker, from France's Danone - Saturday FT
* Heinz to snap up HP Foods for 470 mln stg - Mail on Sunday
* EUROTUNNEL board survives AGM intact; shareholder activist withdraws move to replace chairman; ailing operator still faces tough decisions - Saturday FT
* BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING founder Nigel Newton faces AGM showdown over splitting role - Saturday Independent
* One of the largest shareholders in Corixa, a US group that GLAXOSMITHKLINE is proposing to buy for 164 mln stg, describes the UK pharmaceutical group's offer as "egregiously low" - Saturday Independent
* HOUSE OF FRASER believed to be in talks to buy rival JAMES BEATTIE; HOF could pay up to 170 pence a share for the group - Sunday Times
* Investors have been shocked by the disclosure that REGAL PETROLEUM blew 30 mln usd in Greece attempting - and failing - to increase the production of an old oilfield - Sunday Times

SATURDAY PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on Pernod's bid for ALLIED DOMECQ (barring surprises, this particular party should be over by the end of next month), Music industry, Cruise operators (CARNIVAL and ROYAL CARIBBEAN trade on 2006 price/earnings multiples of 17 and 15 times - cheap compared with US hotel stocks; and Carnival alone will generate 2.7 bln usd of free cash flow over the next three years, after 5 bln usd of investment in new ships; investors of all ages should get on board), Financial supermarkets (Morgan Stanley's problem is one not of structure but of management)- Weekend share watch: NORTHGATE INFORMATION SOLUTIONS (further share price rises depend on how well organic growth goes from here), VICTREX (overall outlook is upbeat), ALBA (drop in the shares could represent an opportunity, but investors should be aware that there is little sign of consumers returning to the shelves)

Mail
PARTYGAMING (Morgan Stanley reckons the shares could be worth as little as 35 pence each if its worst-case scenario of severe margin erosion comes true; however, the US bank reckons the group could be valued at 345 pence a share if it retains its market-leading position) - INVESTMENT EXTRA: JKX OIL & GAS (should have further to go)

Independent
NO PAIN, NO GAIN: Derek Pain concludes that LENNOX and ACCESS INTELLIGENCE look promising enough to replace ALLIED DOMECQ and MERRYDOWN in the portfolio - MARKET REPORT: J SAINSBURY (suggestions the Sainbury family might be tempted to sell their 35 pct stake to a financial buyer)

Express
MARKET REPORT: PETRA DIAMONDS (traders expect a positive update next week), TELSPEC (talk of major contract), MANAGEMENT CONSULTING (talk of strong trading), BRITISH POLYTHENE (talk of strong trading)

Times
STOCK MARKETS: VIANET (whispers of a contract win from a consumer goods manufacturer), XAAR (vague talk of predatory private equity interest) - STELLA SHAMOON'S SHARE OF THE MONTH: JPMF NATURAL RESOURCES (I am buying units in this fund at 342 pence)

Guardian
Market forces: LAND SECURITIES (bid speculation), XAAR (bid speculation), ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT (talk it has won a 200 mln stg investment mandate in Asia Pacific), PETER HAMBRO MINING (rumours that brokers are preparing to increase their estimates of its Russian gold reserves), CORPORA (traders reckon the information management company has recently been winning work in the US market,and there should be some good news on the horizon)

Telegraph
THE MARKET: JOHNSTON PRESS (speculation it could be a takeover target), ASHTEAD (fundraising rumours)

SUNDAY PRESS COMMENT
The Business
THE ALCHEMIST: Clem Chambers comment on gambling shares (casino owners are not known for offering much upside, so you will do well to consider this before investing in new gaming stocks whether you are acting like an investor or a gambler) - SMALL-CAP INVESTOR: DELTRON (share price fall looks overdone), AIM INVESTOR: CODASCISYS (trading at an excellent 12 times prospective earnings for 2005) - BENCHMARK: Grant Clelland comments on Philip Purcell's resignation from Morgan Stanley, PARTYGAMING (certain to attract a huge clientele on its novelty value alone, but I for one will be content to watch this show from the sidelines), Philips

Mail on Sunday
COMPANIES AND MARKETS: CANACCORD CAPITAL (braced for more defections after seven key staff quit), REUTERS (facing legal claims that it short-changed investors over the 512 mln stg sale of its Instinet electronic stock exchange in the US) - MIDAS: PARTYGAMING (sit this one out)

Sunday Telegraph
Equity View - BLUE CHIP VALUES: F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT (sell), ANTOFAGASTA (buy); look who's trading: GRAINGER TRUST (two directors sell stock; investors should take some profits); SMALL CAP COMMENT: HOUSE OF FRASER (with the consumer downturn set to last for at least 18 months, right now we would advise selling the shares), DAWSON HOLDINGS (oversold), GYRUS GROUP (a long-term buy), CRESTON (worth buying) - breaking views: TESCO (still plenty of growth to come), RHM GROUP (at the mid-point of the indicative range, the shares would yield around 5 pct, less than NORTHERN FOODS' 6 pct; that's hardly compelling) - THE NUMBERS GAME: By Tony Jackson's reckoning, INMARSAT shares will not go into orbit

Observer
THROG STREET: Richard Wachman comments on BT (Fusion is just one more way for BT to grow revenues at a time when income and profits from its core fixed-line business are in long-term decline), STAGECOACH (roadworthy once more, thanks to Souter, but it only makes sense to buy these shares now if they are going dirt cheap, which is not the case)

Sunday Express
BROKERS' NOTES: LLOYDS TSB (Merrill has a neutral recommendation at 475-1/2 pence), BURBERRY (Merrill buy at 410-1/4 pence), FIBERNET (Investec hold at 738 pence), NORTHERN ROCK (Lehman underperform at 773-1/2 pence), FIRST CHOICE (ABN Amro buy at 191-1/2 pence)

Sunday Times
JUDGMENT DAY: SHOULD YOU BUY SHARES IN XSTRATA Andy Brough, fund manager at Schroders, and Tim Steer, fund manager at New Star, both say buy) - INSIDE THE CITY: John Waples comments on consolidation in the banking sector, WYEVALE GARDEN CENTRES (Laxey Partners believes it can unlock value from the property estate and increase footfall); MARKET MOLE: BRITISH ENERGY (M&G's manager Tom Dobell has bought 375,000 shares; these purchases have taken the holding of Dobell's British Opportunities fund to 1.6 mln and the M&G Recovery fund's stake to 6 mln)
fjb/bam

Good morning traders!

A mixed bag in Asia this morning with the Hang Seng up 40.5 points at 13,952.53 and the Nikkei trailing by 52.94 points at 11,461.09.

Oil prices rose to fresh record highs on fears about possible supply shortages.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery, was at $59.01, up 54 cents from its all-time closing high of $58.47 in the United States on Friday.

In London, Vodafone Group has been downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy' at ING FM, with a reduced price target of 150p from 160p previously.

Back soon with more......

Happy trading!

G.

MISYS CUT TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' VS 'OVERWEIGHT' AT MORGAN STANLEY

BALFOUR BEATTY WINS 100 MLN STG 5-YR EXTENTION TO SOUTH WEST WATER CONTRACT

Carphone Warehouse Group said David Ross, a director of the company, on Friday sold 6 mln shares at 172p each, 5 mln of which were snapped up by an employee-share-ownership scheme run by the British retailer.

Good afternoon all

So much information and not enough time to digest... :-(

Sunday paper - The Business..
Haven't seen this at all locally in newsagents, which made me wonder
if it's a sub-section of another paper or something? Only it looks
interesting....

stockbunny - The Business is a Sunday publication in its own right. Smallish circulation due to its specialist coverage.

Cunfusingly, the Sunday Times regular company section is entitled "The Business"...

Thanks Greystone - that makes sense now, possibly a special order
situation with the newsagent is required.