A Brief Look At The Week Ahead

With the City winding down for the Christmas break, there is little in the way of corporate reporting this week. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee reveals minutes from its most recent meeting on Wednesday. Most observers expect the Bank to have had a unanimous vote on the decision to keep interest rates steady at 5% cent this month. Analysts will also dig through the minutes for any indication of what the Bank may be thinking in terms of rates in the new year. The housing sector will be in focus when the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors publishes its house-price survey on Tuesday. Despite a small seasonal drop in October, house values are still growing annually at levels not seen since 2003, and economists expect the Rics survey to bear that out. Analysts are hoping that coach company National Express will match the stellar performance of competitor Stagecoach, revealed earlier this month, when it updates on trading on Monday. Persimmon, the UK's largest homebuilder, will give the City an indication of what its full-year results will look like when it provides a trading update on Thursday. Analysts predict an upbeat statement. City watchers will also seek more detail on the progress of the company's integration of Westbury, the builder it bought a year ago. Advertising agency Aegis, which is fighting off the advances of Vincent Bollor the chairman of rival Havas, will also provide a trading update on Wednesday. The company's shareholders rejected attempts by Mr Bollor its largest investor, to install two members on Aegis's board last month. Analysts will want an update on that situation. Amongst others in the headlines this week are :- Photo-Me International on Monday and Carnival Corporation on Thursday. Good hunting! Greystone (Greystone is Alan English, City Editor at MoneyAM.)

Good morning traders!

In Asia today, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 25.12 points at 19,135.77, while the Nikkei was recently up 65.71 points at 16,980.02.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was down 26 cents at $63.17 a barrel from $63.43 in the US Friday.

Happy trading!

G.

Morning all.

GOOD morning all

ONE FOR THE "ups"
Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:21:33 GMT
Category - UPS
Nickname - Master RSI
Epic - SKP
Mid - 22.875p
Reason - News today of US regulators have approved asthma treatment Foradil Certihaler, the broker Bridgewell remained a buyer of the stock with a 43 pence DCF-based fair value. Chart looking better now as SP is breaking up 20 and 50 MA

ANOTHER FOR THE "UPS"

JRVS 64.50p
REASON: Supper large volume last Friday 54M traded (34.9% of total) on what it seems an overhang being cleared, back to operating profit though small loss after tax at Interim two weeks ago, Strong indication of business picking up on the bidding side on the H2

Midday Market Roundup

ERX announcing results on friday..

End-of-day Market Roundup

potatohead - Will take a look... Thanks.