A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

Trading statements from three major UK lenders this week will allow investors to judge whether the UK housing market is heading for a slowdown. Lloyds TSB, Alliance & Leicester and HBOS update the City on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The performance of HBOS, however, which accounts for around 20% of the UK loan market, will be the most closely scanned. Despite two recent interest rate rises by the BoE, analysts are expecting a positive outlook with gains on its competitors in home loans and a strong performance in corporate banking. iSoft, the software provider to the NHS, will reveal interim results on Monday. The main talking point will be a takeover approach. iSoft has acknowledged it received an overture, but did not say who the suitor was. Speculation has centred on electronics giants Philips and Siemens, both of which are seen as credible bidders. Analysts will also want clarification on whether iSoft has made progress in restructuring its heavy debt burden. An update from Cadbury Schweppes on Tuesday, isn't expected to be make pleasant reading. The company said earlier this year that its UK confectionery business had suffered due to a recall of chocolate bars after salmonella was found in one of its factories. Analysts expect that lag to remain. They will also be keen for any guidance from the group on what impact the falling dollar will have on its overall performance. The company generates half its turnover in the US The focal points of the Wednesday trading statement from Whitbread will be Premier Travel Inn, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of the group's profits, as well as Costa Coffee, which is also expected to have performed well. Carnival, the cruise ship operator, is hoping to hit the modestly improved guidance figures provided at its last quarterly earnings call when it reports on Friday. There are two factors that will affect this. First, demand in the US, where it derives the lion's share of its turnover, remains weak. Second, while fuel costs have retreated a bit, whether that happened soon enough or drastically enough to improve Carnival's fortunes is uncertain. The City remains cautious with Dresdner Kleinwort cutting its rating on the stock from "buy" to "hold" last week. Amongst others in the headlines this week are :- Civica and La Tasca on Tuesday; RHM on Wednesday and MyTravel and AEA Technology on Thursday. Hope you find some opportunities there. Good hunting! PS - Supermum is off cruising the seven seas for a while, but I hope she will return with her Weekly Chart View in the New Year. Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng closed the morning up 158.29 points at 18,898.28, while the Nikkei closed 110.17 points higher at 16,527.99.

Corus Group said it has accepted a revised takeover bid from Tata Steel of India worth 5.7bn including debt. According to a statement released by Corus, Tata Steel had submitted its offer at a recommended bid of 500p per share, a 10% increase from its previous offer of 455p pence per share.

Happy trading!

G.

Greystone, Are you planning on doing this type of thread on a regular basis? Just curious because I've noticed you've quoted the Sunday newspapers (above), the decent ones (worth reading), that is!!

markusantonius - I include extracts from the Sundays in every Monday's traders thread which I usually post up about lunchtime on Sunday.

A daily press roundup appears on the MoneyAM homepage very morning from about 7-15am.

G.

Morning all. Will BARC hold its last week's gain or will there be a big drop as takeover speculation dies down?

Druid - I think the Corus battle will keep M&A activity at a crescendo across the market for a while yet.... ;-)

KEEP AN EYE

EVC 21 - 23p +0.50p

Has been on a large fall after disappointing news of a trial one week ago, now looking into the balance sheet, look undervalued considering the last placing at 160p and 118p (last october)

Cash at the moment of 17M : No shares in issue 25.95M = 65.51p on cash that is almost 3 times the share price

UPS (Added by Master RSI on Mon 11 Dec 09:00 am)

QFI - Mid 14.5p
Reason Has reached double bottom and L2 is improving to 4 v 1 as last 3 trades are buys, Indicators at oversold

Midday Market Roundup

        LUNCH TIME FUN

End-of-day Market Roundup

        JOKE OF THE DAY

A blonde suspects that her boyfriend is cheating on her,
so she goes out and buys a gun.

She goes to his apartment that same day, with the gun in hand.
Sure enough, when she opens the door,
she finds her boyfriend in the arms of a redhead.

She points the gun at her boyfriend at stares him down for a moment.
Then, suddenly, she's overcome with grief,
so she puts the gun up to the side her head.

Her boyfriend screams, "Honey, don't do it...

The blonde yells back, "Shut up! You're next!"