A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday to decide whether to keep interest rates on hold. Most economists are forecasting one more rise before the end of the year, but whether it will come next week, after last month's shock rise, is anyone's guess. BP will publish annual results on Tuesday. They are likely to bear out what has been a calamity-stricken year at the company, with quarterly pre-tax profit in the region of $4bn, well belw the $5.1bn generated in the previous year. BHP Billiton will unveil its interim numbers on Wednesday. The world's largest miner is expected to produce a pre-tax profit of $8.7bn for the first six months of its financial year. Analysts will be keen to see additional information on major projects, notably Atlantis, an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico that is set to come on stream producing 200,000 barrels of oil a day by September. Atlantis is a joint project with BP. BHP will also give further details of the effect that the falling copper price has had on its performance. Analysts expect the company to take a $250m hit due to lag between when it brings the copper out of the ground, when it books the value, and when it is smelted and ready to sell three to four months later. GlaxoSmithKline, the UK's largest drugmaker, reports its annual numbers on Thursday, and they will be very good indeed. Broker Charles Stanley expects the company to report 7.8bn in pre-tax profit for the year, which is well ahead of the 6.7bn it earned the year before. Yet there will be no shortage of questions for Glaxo's CEO, Jean-Paul Garnier. Chief among investors' concerns will be whether the company will follow the lead of rivals Pfizer and AstraZeneca by announcing major job cuts. Analysts will also want an update on the health of its pipeline of new treatments. Unilever is expected to reveal a performance largely flat relative to 2005, following a year that began poorly but ended on a high note, as CEO Patrick Cescau's turnaround strategy showed signs of taking hold. The consumer goods company reports on Thursday, as does Reckitt Benckiser, seller of Cillit Bang, Dettol and Lysol cleaners. It will give quarterly numbers. Analysts will be hoping for a positive outlook for 2007 as synergies from the purchase of the Boots healthcare business are pushed through in growth in the overall business remains strong. On the same day, ICI will be publishing its annual results, and BT, BG Group and Yell will give quarterly updates. Amongst others in the spotlight this week will be Pace Micro on Monday; Regent Inns and ARM on Tuesday and Rolls-Royce on Thursday. Good hunting! Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

thanks

Analysis selection for VLR

VLR price 26.50p

Rising volume for the last 4 days

Completed a Cup & Handle last week and BREAKOUT last Friday, with that a new trend is stablished UPTREND

Broker Westhall Capital has a BUY note recomendation for the last few days on this Fuel Cell company, that recently has made a few positive announcements

Remains on target to commercially deliver 1kW fuel cell system by the end of 2007. The low market cap is well supported by almost the same amount in cash

Chart for VLR

Chart for VLR showing the change of direction to UPTREND after completing the CUP & HANDLE

One for the "UPS"

AEX - Mid 17.875p

Reason - Higher oil prices again specialy last week reaching $59 augurs well for this exploration company looking for big oil fiels offshore Africa, on a low market cap 30M. Has been well marked down lately and during las week has bounced as Indicators were at oversold

Chart for AEX

Guide

        JOKE OF THE DAY

You Have A Fatal And Incurable Disease

A guy goes to the doctor and the doctor tells him,
"I have some very bad news for you.
I'm afraid that you're afflicted with a fatal and incurable disease."

So the guy asks, "Well isn't there ANYTHING I can do, doc?"

"Hmmm...
maybe you should go to a spa and start taking daily mud baths,"
he tells his patient.

"Mud baths? Will that help me, doc?"

"Probably not....
but at least you'll get used to being covered in dirt!"

Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
Telegraph (Bloomberg summary)
The Times
The Times (small caps)
FT
The Guardian
The Independent
This is Money

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 2.49 points at 20,566.17, while the Nikkei closed 202.31 points lower at 17,344.80.

New York Mercantile Exchange's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, was up 5 cents at $59.07 a barrel.

Happy trading!

G.

OUTLOOK - UK smaller companies results for the 2 weeks to Feb 16Tokyo shares close lower on profit-takingAustralian shares close lower after metal prices fall last Friday - UPDATEAsian markets summary

BT.A upgraded to buy from hold - target 340 from 245 - Dresdner Kleinwort
RDSA downgraded to hold from buy - Deutsche Bank

Tokyo shares close lower on profit-taking - UPDATE

JMAT upgraded to buy from neutral - target 1800 - UBS

London shares outlook - flat, Sainsbury in focus as consortium mulls bid options

BP upgraded to buy from neutral - target 615 - Goldman Sachs

AFX UK at a glance share guide

UK smallcap opening - Taihua edges up on move into South Korea market

UK smallcap opening - Monterrico Metals higher on agreed by from Zijin