Great stuff as ever, especially the Cherries ;-) very erm , i'd better stop there, Ta Dotty

VOD KPIs out on Mon and AGM Tuesday acc to their website and BATS Q2 on Tuesday

Afternoon all

Not trading at present but a couple of positions on.

Realy gutted to miss the nw traders night out as anyone who has been will know there are some realy treats up north. Now Chocolate ?? theres a lot of people do wicked things with chocolate was that the reason for the name change.LOL

Steph did I win 3 horse 3 race or am I on a looser again.

Well back to the grindstone see you all soon. HGV driving test tomorrow that takes some thinking about after driving for 25 years.

Keep smiling

Beardy

Thanks for the interesting thoughts Chocolat. Shocking that those civil servants in the Deputy PMs office have made themselves eligible for the same loans as teachers and nurses - hadn't realised. Have they no shame?

It's going to be a very active week on the banking front with results, an ANL bid battle between Santander and Citigroup allegedly looming, and AL., BB., and NRK all now being mentioned as bid targets. My main positions are BB., LLOY (seemed like a good idea - now I'm not so sure!), and MRW - all long (still don't believe in Dow crash theory - but it's not going my way at the moment). Not expecting to be doing much trading this week, want to sit things out a bit and see how things go, and it's back to work after my holiday :-(

HCEG's AGM tomorrow by the way, not in the header.

app Brandes are munching at MRW , smart cookies those peeps ;-)

Quelle surprise trouver la dotel a couverte en chocolat. A tr pensle poteau de provocation. Elle fait par bien Chuck !!

That Babelfish is great aint it - you can pretend you know foreign stuff.

mg

Monsieur Grenouille - quelles choses adorables que tu dis, mon vieux crouton ;)

..and cheers guys - beardy, you might have cracked it..

Martini, much hard work appreciated.
Chocolat, good piece of writing and much to think about.

Evening all.

So, dotel is now chocolat. If it wasn't confusing enough having all the pen-names, now the wimmin start changing them - ain't that just typical? ;-)))

Nice set of thoughts "persons". I love the take on Brown and housing. I guess it is indeed all he can say about his successful economic management. It's going to be a great giggle when it all falls apart after he gets the big job!

Have done no research whatsoever, but may play catch-up in the morning.

Currently got longs on AQP (nice!), MRS (nice!), PLR (erm), VTI (nice!) and WBY (yuk!) countering shorts in BFP (nice!) and FTC (bored).

................and we shall see how we fare tomorrow!

BigA - you think you're confused? dotel is actually two of us (although my partner in crime has never posted) It was time for a change..

chocolat

So, in addition to changing your name, now there are two?

Dunno if I can cope. ;-))))

About time your partner in crime posted. We can't have secretive lurking going on you know! lol

You certainly wouldn't, BigA - not when we're together - but worry not, 'tis only little me now...and el will carry on as before ;)

Big thanks to Martini and Chocolat, first port of call ever morning, much appreciated,

Sad old git of Oxon and Chocolat:

Great stuff, I really enjoyed Chocolat's perspective on the general economic outlook. As for mortgages for the boys . . . have they no shame? No, they don't.

A bottle of Mumm Napa Demi-sec to accompany the Chocolat, methinks ;-)

MM

Nice work Martini
Like Ruth says ..an essential read

Nothing unusual.
God was a woman until she changed her mind.
mac

It's all right for you lot with your fancy French - I went to one of those French markets yesterday and came back with a whole load of brown paper bags full of greasy unknowns. Have spent most of today stuffing myself with them trying to figure out what they are, whether they're supposed to be eaten hot or cold, and whether the unusual mushroom fillings are going to make me ill. Have just finished something that looks like a Scotch egg, but isn't. Any ideas? Excuse me while I return to lurking. I may be gone some time...

Martini - Monday's company and economic data for UK, and economic data for USA, shown in the header, doesn't agree with Monday's info in post #2 - I suspect the latter is correct.

Martini and Chocolat many thanks for an excellant read ...........

Thanks Martini and chocolat, for great start to week...

SINGAPORE (AFX-ASIA) - Oil prices were firmer in Asian trade, dealers said.
At 12:30 pm (0430 GMT), the benchmark New York light, sweet crude contract
for September delivery was at 41.73 usd a barrel, up from 41.67 usd in New York
on Friday.

*EGG DOWNGRADED TO 'NEUTRAL' FROM 'BUY' BY MERRILL LYNCH

A very good morning to you all.