S&P Futures

Northern Foods said it expected to report results broadly in line with expectations for the year to the end of this month.

Wolseley the world's largest supplier of plumbing equipment, said first half profits rose by 21 percent to 226.3 million pounds, in line with estimates, and it saw the U.S. industrial and commercial markets improving.

Ebookers online travel agency grew 90 percent in 2003 as it announced its first ever adjusted pre-tax profit to 1.3 million pounds and said that 2004 had got off to a strong start.

Forth Ports posted a better-than-expected 12 percent rise in annual underlying profit and said it was confident of earnings growth in 2004.

 Aero Inventory (I), Hit Entertainment (I), Inventive Leisure (I), Kier Group (I),Ashtenne Holdings (F), Churchill China (F), Collins Stewart Tullett (F), CSS Stellar (F), EBookers (F), Enterprise (F), Forth Ports (F), Hiscox (F), Hit Entertainment (F), John Laing (F), London and Associated properties (F), Maclellan Group (F), Pennant International (F), TripleArc (F), Venture Production (F), Wolseley (F), MyTravel Group (AGM)

Carnival Corp Walgreen Co

17:00 Core PPI Feb DATE TBA 0.1% 17:00 PPI Feb DATE TBA 0.5%

France Telecom

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com

 Aero Inventory (I), Hit Entertainment (I), Inventive Leisure (I), Kier Group (I),Ashtenne Holdings (F), Churchill China (F), Collins Stewart Tullett (F), CSS Stellar (F), EBookers (F), Enterprise (F), Forth Ports (F), Hiscox (F), Hit Entertainment (F), John Laing (F), London and Associated properties (F), Maclellan Group (F), Pennant International (F), TripleArc (F), Venture Production (F), Wolseley (F),

MyTravel Group (AGM)

Carnival Corp Walgreen Co

17:00 Core PPI Feb DATE TBA 0.1% 17:00 PPI Feb DATE TBA 0.5%

France Telecom

Lok'n' Store (I), MJ Gleeson (I), Alltracel Pharmaceuticals (F), Autologic Holdings (F), Beazley Group (F), Bloomsbury Publishing (F), Corac Group (F), DCS Group (F), Development Securities (F), House of Fraser (F), Intelligent Environments (F), Surface Transforms (F), Unite Group (F), Universe Group (F)

Teesland (EGM), Tissue Science Laboratories (EGM)

MFI Furniture Group (Trading update)

Family Dollar Stores McCormick & Co Goldman Sachs

Leoni AG, Wedeco AG Water Technology Kontron AG, Karstadt Quelle AG

Le Carbone Lorraine, Teleperformance Societe Rochefortaise, Sopra Group NA Ipsos

Barratt Developments (I), Finsbury Food Group (I), LA Fitness (I), Alkane Energy (F), Atlantic Global (F), Autologic Holdings (F), Barratt Developments (F), Bell Group (F), Brixton (F), C A Coutts (F), Gyrus Group (F), Huntleigh Technology (F), Intermediate Capital Group (F), IQE (F), Music Choice (F), Paladin Resources (F), Pilat Media Global (F), Signet Group (F), SVB Holdings (F), Taylor & Francis Group (F), Ted Baker (F), Tenon (F), Woolworths Group (F),

Micron Technology

13:30 Durable Orders Feb - 2.5% 15:00 New Home Sales Feb - 1130K

Draegerwerk AG, Linde AG Vossloh AG, Metro AG

Ex Dividend: ABA Alba 2.25  830.00, ABP Associated British Ports8.50  484.75, AML Amlin1.65  161.50, AOT Anglo & Overseas Trust 3.40p  173.50,AV. Aviva 15.15  539.25,  BB. Bradford & Bingley11.00  305.25,  BFD Benfield Group 4.00  259.00, BMTO Braime (T F & J H) 4.00  462.50,  BOY Bodycote International 3.85  128.00,  CMS Communisis 3.23  103.00,   CNG Close Technology&Gen VCT 1.00  85.00,   CPC Capcon Holdings 1.46  47.50,   DLTA Delta 0.50  92.00,  EPI Epic Group 0.80  87.00,   GAW Games Workshop Group 4.73  737.50,   GFRD Galliford Try 0.55  53.00,   GPG Guinness Peat Group 1.00  70.50,   HBR Holidaybreak 16.00  574.00,  HCL Honeycombe Leisure 0.95  69.00,   HRI Herald 0.30  349.00,   HWY Highway          

Insurance1.68  37.50,   HYNS Haynes Publishing Group 4.00  325.00,   ICM ICM Computer Group1.20  272.50,  IHG Intercontinental Hotels 9.45  506.50,  INX Invox 7.00  357.50,  ISG Interior Services 2.75  178.00,   ITN ITnet 2.93  300.00,  JPG Jupiter Primadona 3.00  502.50,   MAO Macro 42.40  153.50,  MLC Millennium & Copthorne 2.05  291.75,  PHP Primary Health Properties 5.50  248.50,  PRF Partridge Fine Arts 0.50  70.00,  SDR Schroders 13.00  676.50,  SGR Shore Capital Group 0.20  30.75,  SRG Spring Group 0.10  136.50  

Alpha Airports Group (F), Cape (F), Capital and Regional (F), Codascisys (F), Entertainment Rights (F), Evolution Group (F), Hardy Underwriting (F), MTL Instruments (F), Next (F), Ottakar's (F), Oystertec (F), Rotork (F), Rotork (F), S and U (F), Symphony Plastic Technologies (F), Thompson Clive (F), Thomson Intermedia (F), Volvere (F)

Digital Classics (EGM), Newmark Security PLC (EGM), Brunner Investment Trust (AGM), Crest Nicholson (AGM), Image Scan Holdings (AGM), QA (AGM)

Feb BBA Mortgage lending data (09:30) Feb Motor vehicle production (09:30) Q4 Revised business investment (09:30)

ConAgra Foods

13:30 Chain Deflator-Final Q4 - 1.2% 13:30 GDP-Final Q4 - 4.1% 13:30 Initial Claims 03/20 - 340K 15:00 Existing Home Sales Feb - 6.25M

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, HeidelbergCement AG Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology, Zapf Creation AG Web.de AG, Evotec OAI AG FJH AG, AWD Holding REpower Systems AG, United Internet AG

Clarins, Wendel Investissement Compagnie de Saint Gobain, Bacou-Dalloz

PM Group (I), Sinclair Pharma (I), BATM Advanced (F), Chelford (F), Harvey Nash Group (F)

Q4 Balance of Payments (09:30)

Q4 GDP final (09:30)

15:00 Help-Wanted Index Feb - 39 13:30 Personal Income Feb - 0.3% 13:30 Personal Spending Feb - 0.5% 13:45 Mich Sentiment-Rev. Mar - 94.1  

Provisional Calendar For UK Equities  The Week Following  29th - 2nd April

James Halstead (I), Paramount (I), 4imprint (F), AG Barr (F), Alexon Group (F), Alexon Group (F), Emblaze Ltd (F), Melrose Resources (F), Metal Bulletin (F), MSB (F), Orad Hi-Tec Systems (F), Wellington Holdings (F), Black Rock Oil & Gas (EGM), Thus Group (Trading update)

ADVFN (I), Manchester United (I), Advanced Medical Solutions (F), Gyrus Group (F), Maiden Group (F), TT Electronics (F), Whatman (F)

Enterprise Inns (EGM), Real Affinity (EGM), Bwd Secs (AGM), Kensington Group (AGM)

Charteris (I), Aggreko (F), Baltimore Technologies (F), Bristol & London (F), Clinton Cards (F), Dana Petroleum (F), Imprint (F), Kesa Electricals (F), Television Corporation (F), Watermark Group (F), Wireless Group (F), Yoomedia (F), Mothercare (Trading update)

Alizyme (F), UCM Group (F), Capital Radio (Trading update)

Cluff Mining (I)

Trading Thoughts For The Week Ahead  -  Sunday 21st March

On a slow week for corporate news retailers dominate the corporate news next week, with media and entertainment groups also due to report. US Economic data will be led by February durable goods orders on Wednesday and the final fourth-quarter GDP figures on Thursday. The Michigan publishes its final consumer sentiment survey sentiment for March, expected to show a slight dip to 93.7 from the previous reading of 94.4

Monday Wolseley building materials specialist , despite its warning in January and the weak US dollar are expected to release profits of 255m, compared with 201m last time. Carnival the he world's biggest cruise operator profits for the first three months should beat market expectations. MyTravel AGM should be lively after the directors awarded themselves big bonuses Ebookers should report excellent final results and its first profit in five years of 2.4m with sales up by almost 90% to 510m.  

Tuesday House of Fraser results are not expected to be brilliant after the department store group experienced broadly flat sales over Christmas. However it continues to attract bid attention with Icelandic group Baugur and Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter among those linked to possible offers.  

Wednesday Woolworths is expected to show that its revival strategy is continuing to pay off when it unveils full-year results. However they did disappoint in January when they posted Christmas sales at the bottom end of market expectations Profits before goodwill and exceptionals are forecast to hit 67.4m, against 52.8m previously. Barratt Developments looks set to add to its 11-year unbroken record of growth when it unveils half-yearly figures next week. Analysts expect the group to post profits of 128m, up from 105m  

Thursday Next is expected to deliver profits of 342m, compared with 301m last year, with overall sales up 15.8% driven by both new store openings and improvements to its product range. British Summer Time starts on Sunday 28 March

Thoughts

Stocks are expected to remain volatile next week due to the uncertainty of global economic growth and ongoing terrorism

Over the last 2 weeks according to 2 brokers I know many day traders have been caught out with margin calls. This volatility can be very profitable if you call it correctly but can soon trigger stops before reversing back in the direction you expect. You certainly have to be very wary about leaving positions open and unwatched.

Due to the slow markets at the moment apart from doing some BOT spanking first thing in the morning on equities I am trading mostly futures. Depending on the news over the weekend I will be looking for a long on the DOW based on the 6 month support on the chart above. I will probably look for a 50 point stop in which case I will reverse but if the call is correct it has potential for a 700 point gain over 3 months.

The FTSE 10 day Intraday has returned to form predicting a fall on the FTSE Thursday morning despite a big gains in the US the night before. At the moment it is also closer to the support so I am looking for a positive start to the week.

As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments on the week ahead! 

All the above comments are purely a personal opinion and no investment advice is intended.  Please do your own research.

Sunday Newspapers

Marks & Spencer has effectively accused staff at one of its biggest outlets in Reading of stealing 100,000 from the tills.

SHELL yesterday refused to say what proportion of its Nigerian proven oil and gas reserves had been overstated as the repercussions from its second cut in overall forecasts this week continued to swirl around the troubled oil giant.

Carphone Warehouse will turn up the heat on rival British Telecom this week when it offers free local calls between users of its fixed- line service.

Financial results from retailers this week will show that the High Street spending spree is showing no sign of stopping.

Baltimore Technologies, the entire board ofthe former FTSE 100 company that was once worth 5.2 billion, may be removed by its biggest investor. BAE officials at the Ministry of Defence are drawing up a radical revamp of the 10 billion aircraft-carrier programme that could cause BAE Systems to lose its position as prime contractor.

SUNDAY TIMES Irish Business Digest Ulster Tv Forth Ports to navigate 500m acquisition MyTravel faces row on payoffs Ex-boss returns to port with Simon Group bid Black Rock Oil & Gas Schroder team to help laggards Auditor refuses to sign Shell accounts BAE may lose main carrier role National Grid pulls plug in Argentina Transco Allied Irish Bank knocked off its perch Threat to unseat Baltimore board Davy denies early trading in Eircom flotation Carphone Warehouse declares war on BT with free local calls

Builders shares go through the roof, Taylor Woodrow

Ulster Tv Media News Billboard

Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in Taylor Nelson Sofres? Sharewatch: Should you buy shares in Eircom? Wave of pessimism knocks Footsie lower, SHL Group Agenda: William Lewis: Strange times in the Shell Kremlin Sharewatch: Alfred McAlpine Small Business: More banks are saying yes to SMEs, HBOS Sharewatch: Ring tones get iTouch on message Persimmon, Builders shares go through the roof Why we still can't be sure of Shell HBOS Leinster Lions get green light from bank Sharewatch: Venture Production Ark Therapeutics Keen to raise 25m for biotech firm Sharewatch: SkyePharma  

DFS Furniture, Kirkham's bargain bid Premier Oil Tread with caution You can't depend on Shell The mobile music store, Chrysalis Group City comment: Garnering a fortune, Glaxo City comment: Royal Dutch Shell is offering too little

Capital Chairmen in Shell suits

OBSERVER William Morrison, Waitrose to bag 300m lion's share in Safeway sale A split could boost Emap Shell fears worse to come

Shell makes greens see red Double-Dutch message, Shell Transport The Shell supertanker is holed below the line

MAIL ON SUNDAY Allied Domecq Dunkin' Donuts in US bidding battle Jailed boss sues P&O for 6m Funds make tasty gains from Devro Directors weigh up Kirkham's DFS bid Mr Clean tipped for top Shell job Why all is well on High Street, House of Fraser  

Granada rules if Carlton three quit ITV M&S probes 100,000 staff theft British Airways blow as sales boss goes EMI bumper profit to silence critics Russian challenges Corus board Corus Group

INDEPENDENT  After the Shell shock: watchdogs seek to wipe out the grey areas in the black stuff British Airways faces strike threat over plans to plug 1bn pensions gap

Corus, What's a nice Russian oligarch like you doing in a steelworks like this?

M&S For its Next trick, high-street chain will reveal profits are up John Hirst: Confusion gives way to fusion at Premier Farnell EMAP For its Next trick, high-street chain will reveal profits are up  

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY  Forth Ports tipped to join bid battle with Mersey Docks House of Fraser takeover rumours grow Shell investors braced for yet more oil and gas revisions Johnston Press makes colourful bid for profits and buyouts The best is yet to come at Axis-Shield

Wireless Group, MacKenzie takes action over Rajar

Caledonia plan raises investor fears HBOS backlash over porn deal with Desmond Halladale plans 10m shares issue for growth

SUNDAY EXPRESS S

INVESTORS CHRONICLE Tips: Buy Devro (DVO) at 105p - Get Group (GTG) at 220p - Avanti Capital (AVA) at 142p - Inveresk (IVS) at 20p.Updates:Buy Centurion (CUC).Basepoint (BNT) and Enterprise Inns (ETI) are good value.DTZ (DTZ) is fairly priced.Company Results:Buy Sportech (SPO) - Biocompatibles (BII) - Mayborn (MBY) - Staffware (STW). Sell Telewest Communications (TWT).

SHARES MAGAZINE Plays of the Week: Short Abbey National (ANL) at 454p. Buy - Bovis Homes (BVS) at 527p - Countryside Properties (CYD) at 242p - Easynet (ESY) at 130p - Vega (VEG) at 148p. Updates: Buy Rok Property Solutions (ROK) and iTouch (ITU). Hold Sportech (SPO).

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com