A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

The bankers bail-out blues will no doubt top the charts again this week with the BoE and RBoS leading and HBOS and Barclays providing the supporting acts. The corporate diary is a bit busier than of late with numbers due from the likes of Reckitt, AB Foods, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Aquarius Platinum, Persimon and WPP. Enough meat there to sate the healthiest of appetites... Good hunting! Greystone Thanks, as always to Supermum, Kyoto and Digger for their invaluable input to The Traders Thread. (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Morning all. Friday's market reports:

Telegraph
The Times
The Times (Need to know)
FT
The Independent
The Guardian
This is Money

Saturday

Bank's decision makes it easier for its rivals to follow suit and go cap in hand.
Royal Bank of Scotland will spur others to go cap in hand

Royal Bank of Scotland is this weekend mulling the option of selling its Direct Line insurance business in an effort to sweeten investors furious about a mammoth planned capital-raising of as much as 13 billion.
Royal Bank of Scotland may auction Direct Line and Churchill to raise cash

Given the pressure the move puts on the bank's chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, it might seem obvious that the bank has no choice but to appeal to shareholders for money.
Does Royal Bank of Scotland really have no choice over rights issue?

The credit crunch took a further toll on Citigroup yesterday as Americas largest bank announced an extra $15.2 billion (7.6 billion) hit and said that it would cut another 9,000 jobs worldwide.
Citigroup writes off another $15.2 billion and plans 9,000 job cuts

Citigroup analysts have cut their forecasts for the housebuilding sector in the wake of an "alarming" drop in activity in the housing market in recent weeks.
Citigroup warns housebuilding will fall 25pc

The treasury's budget shortfall soared to 10.2bn last month, leaving the Government's coffers in a perilous state as the UK enters what could prove a prolonged downturn.
Treasury budget shortfall rockets to 10.2bn

New penalties for failing to declare all taxable income could add up to a 1bn stealth tax, say accountants Blick Rothenberg. The minimum penalty will be 20pc of tax due under the new regime, which HM Revenue & Customs expects to cost 10m to impose.
New income penalties 'are 1bn stealth tax'

The Bank of England is preparing to unveil a plan to inject 50bn of funds into the financial system next week in an attempt to breathe life into the moribund mortgage market, it was reported last night.
50bn move to unlock mortgage market

Amid what experts agree is a historic boom that has seen prices across both hard and soft commodities from iron ore and oil to rice and wheat soar to record highs, governments are angling for a larger slice of the pie.
States demand bigger cut of commodities profits

Sunday

The Sunday Telegraph has also learned that AIG, Allianz, Axa and Generali have made preliminary enquiries to buy RBS's 5bn insurance division, which includes Direct Line and Churchill, as the board of the British banking group convenes to decide how to restore investor confidence in its strategy and its chief executive.
Royal Bank of Scotland's secret talks with FSA

The Bank of Englands package to restore liquidity and confidence to the money markets could provide the economy with a significant boost and head off part of the widely expected economic downturn, analysts say.
Mervyn Kings liquidity deal may avert economic downturn

Britain's utilities have racked up 30bn of debt and could be the next casualties of the credit crunch, according to a report out today. Some companies are so highly leveraged they may be unable to fund repairs if storms or flooding disrupt electricity and water supplies, warns Reynolds Partners, an independent investment bank.
Utilities at risk from debt timebomb

Energy companies are preparing to slap hard-pressed households with a second massive hike in utility bills this year. Bills could start rising again in the summer by as much as 25 per cent, or an average 250 per household.
Energy firms to raise bills yet again

Homeowners are setting asking prices at about 10 per cent below their peak, according to estate agents across the country.
Asking prices drop 10pc

Speculative investors have created an unsustainable bubble in international food markets, say economists, exacerbating the sharp rise in prices that has led to riots around the world.
Speculators fuel bubble in global food costs

Consumers should be braced for a 'rapid, painful adjustment' as Britain's buy-now-pay-later economy faces up to a new era of straitened credit, the Ernst & Young Item Club warns today.
UK consumers face 'rapid and painful' downturn

Monday

An unprecedented 50 billion injection to bail out Britains ailing banking system could be doubled if it fails to stave off a collapse in the housing market.
Alistair Darling plans unprecedented 50bn bank bailout

Banking giant Citigroup has warned that defaults on credit cards and other consumer products could drag on the economy for the next two years. Gary Crittenden, chief financial officer of the financial conglomerate, believes that it is consumer credit - rather than institutional credit - which now poses the greatest risk to the banking sector, and therefore the economy at large.
Citigroup's CFO says consumer credit now biggest risk

Growth in consumer spending is expected to slide from 3pc in 2007 to 1pc this year and next as the diminishing liquidity in the mortgage market limits the nation's ability to spend on the high street, say economic forecasters.
High street spending will slide as 'mortgage famine' hits, say analysts

The secretary-general of Opec said yesterday that oil prices could rise even higher than the present record level of $117 a barrel. Many analysts expect oil to rise above $120 a barrel by the summer.
Oil prices to head even higher says Opec chief

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has come under fire over claims it gave too much leeway to collapsed broker Global Trader Europe. The City watchdog allowed the troubled broker to carry on writing new business for five weeks after it was first informed by GTE that it was facing a shortfall of regulatory capital.
FSA under fire over collapsed Global Trader Europe

NIKKEI 225	AUSTRALIA ASX200	SHANGHAI	HANG SENG

US Video: Stock Market Technical Analysis 4/18/08

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 603.04 points at 24,800.82,
while the Nikkei was recently up 237.51 points at 13,713.96.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, was 9
cents lower at $116.60 a barrel after closing at a record $116.69 on Friday at the
New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract earlier struck an intraday all-time
peak of $117.

Happy trading!

G.

London shares outlook - firmer after Wall St, Asia gains; RBS rights issue key

The Monday Press Roundup

Thomson Financial UK at a glance share guide

BROKERWATCH Land Securities upped to 'neutral' from 'underweight' at HSBC

STOCKWATCH Arcandor lower on report Karstadt may fail to meet 2008 targetsAustralian shares close sharply higher on Wall Street gains, banks soar

Tokyo shares close firmer as weaker yen lifts exporters; Nikkei at 7-week high

OUTLOOK BAA future in balance as Competition Commission UK airports report loomsThomson Financial UK at a glance share guide - weekend

BROKERWATCH Imperial Tobacco upped to 'buy' from 'hold' at CitigroupUK smallcap opening - Empyrean Energy lifted by Sugarloaf update

BROKERWATCH Royal Bank of Scotland upgraded to 'in-line' at Cazenove

UK smallcap opening - China Biodiesel ticks up on confident results statementLondon shares open touch higher after Wall St, Asia gains; miners offset banksAustralian shares close sharply higher on Wall Street gains; banks soar - UPDATE

STOCKWATCH Rentokil lower post update; Seymour Pierce keeps 'hold'STOCKWATCH Barclays shares fall; Merrill Lynch cuts to 'neutral' from 'buy'

BROKERWATCH Thomson Reuters started 'neutral' at UBS; 1,650 pence price targetUK smallcap opening - Lipoxen firms on positive trial results

Tokyo shares close firmer as weaker yen lifts exporters; Nikkei at 7-week high