US stocks soared to a higher finish Wednesday on bargain hunting after previous heavy losses on the markets.

Northern Rock said it expected annual pre-tax profit for 2003 to come in at the top end of analyst expectations of between 356.2 - 378.7 million pounds. They said it expected house price inflation in the booming British market to ease over the next nine months. The group said in a trading statement that net residential lending was up 41 percent on the year to date and it had new business in the pipeline of over 4.4 billion pounds at September 30.

New Look Group fashion retailer whose founder wants to buy the chain back, said its first half underlying sales were down but profit margins were higher and recent sales stronger. UK sales for the 6 months increased 3.6 percent while like-for-like sales were down 3.6 percent

BP issue a trading statement later on this morning

Ted Baker fashion chain said it made a strong start to its second half with retail sales up 21 percent. Pre-tax profit rose 54 percent to 4.6 million pounds in the 28 weeks to August 9, on turnover up 32 percent to 42 million pounds and the interim dividend was raised 10.3 percent to 3.2 pence.BTG technology development firm said its performance in its first half would be in line with its own expectations, with narrower losses and a significant rise in revenues.The firm, which develops and licenses technologies in healthcare and engineering, said investments in this area would be higher than in the same period last year.

United Kingdom Calendar (F)inals (I)nterim	United States  (GMT)	Europe & World (GMT)
Thu 2nd Oct Ted Baker (I) PBT 12.5m exp. Northern Rock Q3 Trading Statement, Malcolm Group (I) AWG Pre-Close Statement Boots Trading Statement BP Trading Statement Antofagasta (ANTO). Spin off. Expected Ex Date 09.30 September CIPS Construction Services PMI	13.30 Initial Jobless Claims (w/e 27/09) 395k exp. 15.00 August Factory Orders 0.2% exp.	11.00 August PPI m/m 0.2% exp. 12.45 ECB Interest Rate Announcement
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