S&P Futures

EADS swung to a larger-than-expected net profit in 2003, as a strong fourth quarter at its Airbus plane-making unit and a drop in charges offset losses in its space division

Lloyds reported annual profit ahead of forecasts and said it had decided against buying back shares to give itself flexibility for acquisitions and maintained its full-year dividend at 34.2 pence a share. Profit was 4.35 billion pounds up from 2.61 beating the average forecast profit of 4.27 billion pounds

IMI engineering beat forecasts with an 8.4 percent rise in profits to 142.6 million pounds and said there was no change to the trend of modest improvement in some markets.

Taylor Nelson market research firm said its profit rose 13 percent to 32.4 million pounds, and said it expects its markets to improve in 2004.

Travis Perkins building materials reported 2003 profits 10 million below forecasts despite a 18.2 percent rise to162.7 million pounds but said 2004 had started well and it was well placed to make further progress during the year.

Bovis Homes reported a forecast beating 17.5 percent rise in annual profits and said the new year had started well.

John Wood oil drilling services firm reported flat annual profits in line with forecasts at $137.2 , and repeated a warning that delays to new deepwater projects would hold it back in 2004. The company also announced a new contract win in the Gulf of Mexico.

 ICM Computer (I), Microgen (I), Town Centre Securities (I), BioProgress (F), Bovis Homes (F), Candover Investment (F), Clinical Computing (F), Fisher (James) & Sons (F), IDN Telecom (F), IMI (F), Intertek Testing Services (F), John Wood Group (F), Lloyds TSB (F), Taylor Nelson (F), Travis Perkins (F), WSP Group (F):  Feb PPI (09:30) - ODPM Jan House Prices (09:30)

EADS EADS NV(F) Veolia Environnement SA (F)

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com

 ICM Computer (I), Microgen (I), Town Centre Securities (I), BioProgress (F), Bovis Homes (F), Candover Investment (F), Clinical Computing (F), Fisher (James) & Sons (F), IDN Telecom (F), IMI (F), Intertek Testing Services (F), John Wood Group (F), Lloyds TSB (F), Taylor Nelson (F), Travis Perkins (F), WSP Group (F)Feb PPI (09:30) ODPM Jan House Prices (09:30)

EADS EADS NV(F) Veolia Environnement SA (F)

Glisten (I), Hays (I), Linx Printing (I), Redrow (I), Aegis Group (F),

Afa Systems (F), Bodycote (F), Cairn Energy (F), Chorion (F), Countrywide Assured (F), Ennstone (F), French Connection (F), Litho Supplies (F), Lookers (F), Metalrax Group (F), Peterhouse Group (F), SIG (F), Jan industrial/manufacturing production & Trade (09:30)

Albertson's (Q4) Interpublic (Q4) Kroger (Q4)

Degussa (F), Volkswagen (F) T online International(F) GPC Biotech AG GPC Biotech AG(F) Deutsche Post AG Deutsche Post AG(F) CNP Assurances (F), Neopost (F)

Smiths Group (I), Amlin (F), Balfour Beatty (F), Carillion (F),Concurrent Technologies (F), Countrywide Assured (F),

Future Network (F), Interserve (F), Mayborn Group (F), Schroder Ventures IT (F), Shore Capital (F), SMG (F),Traffic Figures - BAA Centrica (AGM), Inflexion (AGM). London Merchant Securities (AGM)

Energy Corp CMS Energy Q4 Comverse Technology Inc Comverse TechnologiesQ4

13:30 Trade Balance Jan - $41.8B 15:00 Wholesale Inventories Jan 0.4%

A M B Generali Holding AG(F), E.ON AG (F) Adidas-Salomon AG (F),

Deutsche Telekom AG (I)

Publicis Groupe SA (F), Atos Origin (F) Credit Agricole SA (F)

Ex Dividend: Albion (4.30p), Alumasc Group (3.0), Anglo American (24.96), Avis Europe (2.6), Blick (9.50), Bwd Secs (12.00), Chrysalis Group (1.00), Close Brothers (9), Cosalt (12.50), Go-Ahead Group (11.00), HBOS (20.60), Lincat Group (5.80), Reuters Group (6.15), Rio Tinto (18.68), Reed Health Group (0.73), Regent Inns (1.82), Rolls-Royce (5.00), Royal Bank of Scotland (35.7), Scottish American Investm (1.42), Tops Estates (1.05),Treatt (5.70),Windsor (1.45)

Argonaut Games (I), NeuTec Pharma (I) Alfred McAlpine (F), Alvis (F), Amec (F), Amlin (F), Biocompatibles (F), Cattles Holdings (F), Flomerics Group (F), Incisive Media (F), InterContinental Hotels Group (F), Johnson Service Group (F), Laird Group (F), Lambert Howarth Group (F), Royal and Sun Alliance (F), Shire Pharmaceuticals (F), Sportech (F), First Choice (AGM), Lpa Group (AGM)

McDermott International (Q4) National Semiconductor (Q3) Oracle Corp Oracle (Q3) El Paso Corp El Paso (Q4)

13:30 Export Prices ex-ag. Feb 13:30 Import Prices ex-oil Feb 13:30 Initial Claims 03/06 345K 13:30 Retail Sales Feb - 0.6% 13:30 Retail Sales ex-auto Feb 0.5% 19:00 Treasury Budget Feb -$100.0B

Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank AG(F) Bayerische Motoren-Werke AG Bayerische Motoren-Werke AG sales results K+S AG(F) Salzgitter AG (F) Aixtron AG (F) IDS Scheer AG (F) Celanese AG (F)

Casino Guichard-Perrachon (F)

Fairplace Consulting (I), Heywood Williams (F), Keller Group (F), Shore Capital (F), T Clarke (F),

Apollo Group (Q2)12:00 AM Core PPI Jan 0.1% 12:00 AM PPI Jan 0.4% 13:30 Business Inventories Jan - 0.4% 13:30 Core PPI Feb 13:30 Current Account Q4 -$136.2B 13:30 PPI Feb 9:45 Mich Sentiment-Prel. Mar 95.4 19:00 Treasury Budget Feb

Provisional Calendar For UK Equities  The Week Following  15th - 19th March

AAlea Group Holdings (F), Headlam Group (F), Medical Solutions (F), Profile Therapeutics (F), ROK Property Solutions (F), Roxboro (F), Spirax (F),

AInterior Services (I), Abbot Group (F), Benfield Group (F), BPP Holdings (F), Celltech (F), Computacenter (F), Delta (F), Gowrings (F), Highway Insurance (F), Interior Services (F), iTouch (F), John Menzies (F), Mersey Docks (F), Spectris (F), Spring Group (F), Staffware (F), Weir Group (F), Wyevale Garden Centres (F), Workspace Group (AGM)

Costain Group (F), Huveaux (F), Johnston Press (F), Kingfisher (F), Parity Group (F), Pixology (F), Restaurant Group (F), RPS Group (F), Slough Estates (F), Tikit (F), Xaar (F), Amersham (EGM)

FW Thorpe (I), Manganese Bronze (I), Cobham (F), Corus Group (F), Derwent Valley (F), Geest (F), House of Fraser (F), IP2IPO Group (F), Premier Farnell (F), Trafficmaster (F), William Morrison (F), Albion (AGM)Ingenta (AGM)

Toad (F)

Trading Thoughts For The Week Ahead  -  Sunday 7th March

Banks, builders and insurers dominate results in the week ahead.MondayWM Morrison will finally own supermarket chain Safeway on Monday as they pay shareholders one Morrison share and 60p in cash.

Antofogasta copper mining group is expected to take their place in the FTSE 100.Lloyds sale by of some of its overseas operations including its New Zealand banking and insurance operations last year should dominate the banking group's full year results. Analysts expect the group to report pre-tax profits of 4.2bn against 3.8bn last time but may well surprise on the upside. It is unsure whether it will maintain its dividend and opinions are mixed whether the bank will embark on a share buyback program.IMI reorganisation and cost cutting could lead to profits rising to 138mn against 131.5m last time and to report good cash generation during the year. Taylor Nelson market research group is expected to unveil a strong rise in annual profits after it said in January it would outperform the market in the long-term. Bovis Homes without doubt will produce good results following the rest of the sector. They are expected to give a good dividend rise as did Persimmon & Wimpy on profits14% higher at 120mBioprogress whose shares have doubled this year should announce a loss of 0.5m when they release annual results Tuesday

Hays will update us on the performance of the recruitment market and give a timetable for the sale of the group's UK mail and express operations. It is expected to report a 4.5% drop in interim pre-tax profits to 84.5m and hopefully will confirm that its personnel and UK mail divisions are performing in line with expectations.Redrow could announce a big dividend payout after reporting strong interim results. The FTSE100 quarterly reshuffle will take place after the close of business with Enterprise Inns likely to move up to replace Foreign & Colonial.Wednesday

Smiths Group half-year profits are expected to fall from 146m to 130m. Investors will hope there is news of acquisitions to add to its medical and aerospace divisions as the lack of growth is hitting the group's share price.Balfour Beatty reports having already indicated that the loss of work from Network Rail would not materially impact its results. Its order book is now in excess of 6b and it is expected to report annual profits of 130m.Carillion also report but is expected to fare much worse from the Network Rail decision. Thursday

InterContinental Hotels is set to report a 7.6% drop in full year profits to 230m but the group is expected to say that is more positive on the outlook for the hotel industry. So far this year there has been a pick up in the US, with Asia and the UK but Europe is still slow.Royal & Sun Alliance should clarify its position on the extra 300m it requires to strengthen its insurance claim reserves. If it can match the progress of Aviva it should release a rise in profits up to 358m from 174m. Amec releases full year results after already saying additional track renewal should recover the 100m lost after Network Rail took contracts back in-house.Shire Pharmaceuticals are expected to produce profits of 214m and sales of 670m. They should also release an update on its organisational restructuring and American site consolidation.

Friday

Psion's EGM could see some lively opposition for the approval for the sale of its stake in Symbian to Nokia

Thoughts

Last week markets were optimistic that the U.S payrolls data on Friday would show that the worlds biggest economy was still healthy. Unfortunately payrolls rose only 21,000, much less than the expected gain of about 125,000. The FTSE finished the week up 0.7% at 4,547 still below the 20-month high of 4,566.2 after the disappointing jobs data. Since January there has been a feeling that markets have risen far enough for the time being. This can be seen as good company results fail to impress the city and anything less have been severely punished.

This current feeling that the market is overvalued could mean that it is increasing difficult for further gains. If so we should be in for a period of consolidation with a clearly defined trading range as in the chart above.

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

New Fears For Faltering American Economy: There are renewed fears over jobs in the United States after the latest figures showed that just 21,000 new jobs were created in February. First-time buyers are being priced out of 80% of British towns. The Halifax said owning a property in 531 of the UK's 667 postal towns is now out of reach for people on average salaries for their region. GORDON Brown should consider hiking taxes and the Bank of England must continue to lift interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. STERLING rocketed against the dollar yesterday as it emerged the United States economy is still failing to create new jobs, prompting Wall Street to delay its expectations of rate hikes at the Federal Reserve. Germany's first IPO in year and a half ends in shambles

SUNDAY TIMES Retail star returns to Moss Bros Regulator to examine BT split Lloyd's to report 1 billion profits Shell fails to calm City fears ITV duo face the chop over Green's payoff Psion hits back at its critics Stagecoach rides into Connex line furore

Sharewatch: SMG

Agenda: William Lewis: Radice revs up to drive M&S into the unknown Britain's 50 most unloved companies, AWG Eircom heavyweights dine out on biggest cheques in town

The Andrew Davidson Interview: Chorion, TV tycoon who lives like a lord Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in Nestor Healthcare Scottish bank profits up, Lloyds TSB Tesco checks out DVDs Working space, Chorion Should you buy shares in Irish Continental Group? Lord Alli's working day, Chorion Sharewatch: Jarvis

Vital Statistics, Chorion IAWS's bakery profits rise Helical Bar, Property boss builds up his holding

City comment: Pitman is the pits, ITV Serco's bob-a-jobber D-Day for Morrison, Safeway Shell's seismic shock

OBSERVER GKN boss says no to BAE Now Shell faces US legal storm Mytravel directors get massive payouts They think it's all over at Manchester United. It's not Sainsbury United Prosser in bid to salvage reputation

Sainsbury Eyes on a crown Shell Transport City claims its biggest trophy yet Prayer on a G-string at Marks On the nose with Coral, William Hill Shareholders put the boot in, Shell Transport

MAIL ON SUNDAY Enterprise Inns poised for Footsie Pub firm to move up with Antofagasta Brothers top up stake in Odeon chain Hands takes a pay cut Banker leaves cash in Terra Firma Happy new year for estate agency, Countrywide Assured Default fears on 1.7bn Argentina IMF debt expected Ministry of Sound Nightclub empire runs up 5m loss Hemscott dangers scare away fund managers Former S&N pubs sold in 500m deal Triumph for Bloor Holdings

Scandal of Shell's oil bonus, More heads may roll Carlton trio could be forced to quit over 27m pay-offs Safeway through the Footsie checkout Deadline for Telegraph offers the 23 March Morrisons fuels the war on prices Clash at bank as chief quits, ABN Amro Rebels in 'bloody' battle for the tunnel Abramovich facing huge back-tax bill HSBC loses 22.6m on HQ sale P&O boosted by stake in partner

Hemscott survived the dotcom crash but now Marlborough UK Equity Growth fund's has sold its 500,000-share secret stake, equivalent to 1.56%, in January. It had 6.1m in the bank but last year but burnt through 1.2m and Investors will have to wait till 2005 for a profit, forecast at 300,000. That values the firm at 46.5 times future earnings.

INDEPENDENT  Leeds Utd 10m in debt to taxman and Customs Green's 15m could cost ITV far more

Lloyds TSB, The Week Ahead: City frets over Black Horse payout Marconi Corporation The Lowdown: Toughest of the tough talkers

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY  Shell investors demand more changes Transport Lloyds TSB profits will boost total to 24bn UK banks should learn the lesson of HSBC and go global

Fighting talk, BAE Systems

Lloyds TSB to beat rivals with 64% profits rise Time to come out of his Shell

INVESTORS CHRONICLE Tips: Buy - National Grid (NGT), Kensington (KGN), Systems Union (SUG), Oystertec (OYS) and Stanley Gibbons (SGI). Sell - Skyepharma (SKP).Tips Updates: M&S (MKS) (keep buying) - TT Electronics (TTG) (keep buying) - Hardman (HNR) (keep buying) - Cardpoint (CASH) (buy) - MyTravel (MT) (sell).Company Results: Buy: HBOS (HBOS) - Legal and General (LGEN) - Provident Financial (PFG) - Gallaher (GLH) - Acambis (ACM) - Estates & General (ESGN), Sell: Trinity Mirror (TNI) - Morse (MOR) - LogicaCMG (LOG) - Aggreko (AGK) - Hilton (HG) - Rentokil Initial (RTO).

SHARES MAGAZINE Plays of the Week: Buy Sibir Energy (SBE) at 27p - Daejan Holdings (DJAN) at 23.37.5p - Hampson Industries (HAMP) at 23.75p - Statpro (SOG) at 37p - James Fisher (FSJ) at 311.5p.Updates: Hold Pennant International (PEN) and Stanley Gibbons (SGI), Buy Tadpole Technology (TAD). Take profits at Retail Decisions (RTD).

Croc@SnappyTrader.com  WWW.SnappyTrader.com