A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

Although Hurricane Rita is likely to be the main topic of interest this week, there is also a busy time ahead in terms of trading updates and other corporate news. Insurers will be hoping that the losses from Rita do not match those of Katrina, which could cost the sector as much as $60bn (34bn). There was hope that they would more than recoup their losses from the first hurricane, through higher premiums, but another devastating storm could dampen that optimism. London's International Petroleum Exchange has traded throughout the weekend, the first time in its 25-year history. The New York Mercantile Exchange, where crude is traded in the US, is also open today, and the price of oil on both sides of the Atlantic will be closely scrutinised this week. Food will be of interest when Compass, the world's biggest contract caterer, gives an update on Wednesday. Analysts will be hoping for good news after profit warnings and an accounting adjustment that wiped 20m off operating profit. Also on Wednesday, retailers will be under scrutiny with music store HMV, which owns also Waterstones, providing an update. Annual results in June showed demand for albums had helped boost sales by 3.8 per cent, but the group is still to finalise its takeover of bookstore Ottakar's. Goldman Sachs says profits have been weakened by rising costs in rents and business rates, so analysts will want some reassurance. The following day, Boots will see its update analysed closely after a Q1 update in July revealed a slump in underlying sales. Analysts are desperate for some good news from Boots, and any progress report on the 1bn auction of its drugs arm, Boots Healthcare International. Two of the big dairies, Wiseman Dairies (Tuesday) and Dairy Crest (Wednesday), have trading statements due this week. Both shares fell in August on news that Arla Foods, the country's biggest milk supplier, would miss analysts' profit forecasts. That followed a 1% fall in Dairy Crest's underlying profits when it reported in May. Analysts have predicted that profits before tax will drop this year from 84.2m to around 76m. Wiseman reported in August that profits for the year would fall 20% because of the loss of a 40m contract with Morrison Supermarkets. The deadline for bids for online success story Friends Reunited is this week, and the price is likely to hit around 100m. Reports claim that the media group Daily Mail and General Trust is preparing a bid. BB favourites reporting this week include Entertainment Rights, Torex Retail, SkyePharma and Antonov. There is enough there to keep us all busy, I think. Here's to your continued success! Supermum is taking a break this week, sating her sailing passion at the Southampton Boat Show, but she'll be back next weekend with her chart view. Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Good morning traders!

In Asia, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 19.84 points at 15,163.81 but the Nikkei was thriving, last up 179.78 points at 13,339.14.

With oil markets active over the weekend, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was at $63.27 a barrel after an extraordinary trading session on Sunday when it fell $1.01 to $63.18 from Friday's close of $64.19.

Off to find some UK news....

Happy trading!

G.

End of day market summary