MARKETS
FTSE 100 4,937.3, up 3.8
FTSE 250 7,20.0, down 28.5
DJIA 10,470.50, down 94.90
Nasdaq Comp 1,989.34, down 18.17
S&P 500 1,171.70, down 12.10
Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 11,739.12 down 102.85
Hang Seng midday 13,620.22, down 156.25
Gold 431.12 usd (431.65 usd)
Oil - Brent April 54.59 usd (55.65 usd)

BREAKING NEWS
* Tube line fraud trial collapses; six men accused of corruption are acquitted; debate over use of juries renewed; inquiry into debacle that may have cost 60 mln stg - FT
* Fair trade probe gives supermarkets a clean bill in dealings with suppliers - FT
* Fed raises primary rate and signals inflation concerns
* A "secret list" of companies receiving subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy, disclosed for the first time today under freedom of information rules, is dominated by big food processors and manufacturers, led by TATE & LYLE, which received 127 mln stg in 2003-04 - Telegraph
* Insurers in talks with government over plans to establish a state-backed fund to pick up the bill for claims from the next generation of industrial diseases - Times
* Another suitor emerges for Lara Croft as games publisher SCI ENTERTAINMENT makes a 76.1 mln stg share offer for EIDOS
* BRITISH VITA recommends a 668 mln stg bid from Texas Pacific
* Recovering DRAX POWER plans stock market listing - FT
* LONMIN to pay 100 mln stg for Southern Platinum, a lossmaking Canadian group, having bowed to shareholder demands not to diversify - FT

PRESS COMMENT
FT
THE LEX COLUMN comments on BANK OF IRELAND (looks a good investment - and a tempting morsel for a greedier rival), MANCHESTER UNITED (the Irish duo se themselves as long-term investors; but cold cash may yet win out over misty-eyed notions of the club's future), General Motors, Ski makers - ELECTROCOMPONENTS (looks expensive) - DAILY MAIL & GENERAL (dearer than other quoted publishers; nothing from yesterday will change that view) - BRIXTON (there are worse ways to gain exposure to the industrial property market) - TELEWEST/NTL (former seems more attractive) - EVOLUTION (do not look cheap) - OYSTERTEC (looks cheap, given the expected benefits from restructuring) - SPRING GROUP (have further to go) - TAKING STOCK: A revival in demand helps lift recruitment (ROBERT WALTERS, HARVEY NASH, SPRING GROUP, GLOTEL, PSD, WHITEHEAD MANN)
Telegraph
QUESTOR: ELECTROCOMPONENTS (avoid), BRIXTON (hold), EVOLUTION (avoid)
Mail
MEARS (profit-takers will regret it)
Times
RUMOUR OF THE DAY: INVENTIVE LEISURE (tipped as sector's next bid target; GI Partners could be interested) - DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: SECURE TRUST BANKING (two directors buy stock) - TEMPUS: 02 (buy), ELECTROCOMPONENTS (hold), BRIXTON (buy)
Guardian
o2 (management miffed) - MECOM GROUP (market debut today) - POLAND INVESTMENT FUND (market debut today)
Independent
THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: JOHNSON MATTHEY (buy and tuck away), BRIXTON (sell), CHESNARA (buy) - IBS OPENSYSTEMS (floats on AIM today)
Express
INVENSYS (renewed fears it will have to tap investors for cash in the face of growing competition from Asia) - SHARE WHISPER: DELLING GROUP (watch out for acquisitions) - WHO'S DEALING: STATPRO GROUP (chairman picks up 25,000 shares at 44 pence in two separate transactions)

STOCKWATCH Cookson started as 'buy' by Citigroup Smith Barney, 50p target

Morning all.

Morning all , bright & early so i can get some fishing done.

Morning all,
Its turned out to be a beautiful day now in Hampshire. Its a shame I'm not a home
as I now have wireless broadband and could be out in the garden and on the
internet......

HBOS - in free fall or will it bounce back off 7.80?

Hello Little Woman, how are you these days? Yes great in the summer when you can sit outside in the fresh air and the sunshine with a glass of wine and still do some work.

What an awful day on the markets. :-(

Hi GD, I'm OK - and you, enjoying your retirement from the Teas rooms?

Its time like this I wish I was a "shorter"!

I'm having a mixed, confused good and bad week so far thankyou on all fronts? Regarding the Tea rooms, well yes it's nice to go and sit in someone elses place and enjoy their food and drink without worrying about the costs!! and rats. Lambykins is cool.
:-)

I seem to have a lot of "blues" this afternoon!

HBOS Now?