S&P Futures

Hang Seng drops on latest S.A.R.S fears.  Commerzbank Q1 profits surge. BBVA, Spains number 2 bank results well ahead of expectations.  Sanofi raises its bid to $69 a share for Aventis. Puma raises profit forecast.

W.H Smith, Waterstones may join in the battle to buy the company.

Smiths Group has bought TRAK Communications Inc, a manufacturer of microwave sub-systems, for 63 million pounds making it the groups 5th acquisition since March.

Centrica has reached an agreement to buy the retail gas and electricity businesses of Canada's ATCO Group for C$90 million which is less than the C$128.5 million previously announced

London Bridge: U.S. software firm Fair Isaac Corp said it had agreed to buy the company for 95 pence per share, a 54 percent premium to Friday's nights close.

 Bede (F), Coliseum (F), Hansard (F), Ocean Wilson

ARM Holdings (AGM)

EDS (Electronic Data Systems)

15:00 Existing + New Home Sales (1168K)

Puma, Rudolf Dassler Sport,Schering

Michelin, Gemplus International,

David@SnappyTrader.com   www.SnappyTrader.com

 Bede (F), Coliseum (F), Hansard (F), Ocean Wilson

ARM Holdings (AGM)

EDS (Electronic Data Systems)

15:00 Existing Home Sales 15:00 New Home Sales (1168K)

Puma, Rudolf Dassler Sport,Schering

Michelin, Gemplus International,

Amvescap (I), BP (Q1), SurfControl (I), Ferraris (I), Alexandra (F), Game (F), Robotic Technology Systems (F), Solitaire (F), Westbury (F), C.I. Traders (F), BAT (Q1)

Aviva (AGM), Bradford & Bingley (AGM), HBOS (AGM), Northern Rock (AGM), Benfield (AGM), Personal Holdings (AGM), Rank (AGM), Royalblue (AGM), Singer and Friedlander (AGM), UK Coal (AGM),

10:00 CBI quarterly industrial trends survey

DuPont , McDonald's, Verizon

15:00 Existing Home Sales (6.2M)

15:00 Consumer Confidence (88.3)

Vossloh, Software AG

Essilor International, Renault,

Imperial Tobacco (I), Unilever (I), Numis (I), European Motor Holdings (F), Fortune Oil (F),

Legal & General (AGM & Trading), Reed Elsevier (AGM & Trading), Aggreko (AGM), Atlantic Global (AGM), Estates and General (AGM), Harrier (AGM), Henderson High Income (AGM),Kidde (AGM),Tarsus (AGM),Travis Perkins (AGM),Wilson Bowden (AGM),Wyevale Garden Centres (AGM),Xaar (AGM),Countrywide Assured (EGM), Entertainment Rights (EGM)

Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, Moody's,Conoco Phillips, Amerada Hess,Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Comcast, Hilton Hotels, LSI Logic, Xcel Energy, Omnicom, Phelps Dodge, Symantec, Time Warner, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Praxair, JDS Uniphase, QLogic, AT&T Wireless Services,

Krones, Herman Kronseder Maschinenfabrik MLP, Siemens, Schwarz Pharma, Dialog Semiconductor Plc

Accor, L'Air Liquide, Lafarge, WavecomElior,

Ex Dividend: Barratt Developments 6.9p, James Halstead 6p, McBride 1.2p, PM 1p, AGA Foodservice 5p, Balfour Beatty 3.4p, Belgravium Technologies 0.3p, Cadbury Schweppes 8.35p, Candover Investments 26.5p, Carillion 3.48p, Centrica 3.7p, Cox Insurance Holdings 1p, 4imprint 3p, GKN 7.8p, Gowrings 1p, Holders Technology 2.5p, Highcroft Investments 7.25p, International Energy 3.6p, Irish Life & Permanent 28.37p, James Halstead 6p, Kidde 1.81p, Kiln 0.4p, Kerry 6.78p, Litho Supplies 1.75p, Marlborough Stirling 0.5p, Mayborn 4.3p, Mersey Docks & Harbour Company 16p, Maiden (The) 4p, Northern Rock 15.8p,(Novar 6.6p, Peterhouse 4p, PSD 3p, Reed Elsevier 8.7p, RMC 21.8p, Rutland Trust 0.8p, Secure Trust Banking 20.5p, Singer & Friedlander 26p, Senior 1.35p, Systems Union 1p, Thompson Clive Investments 7.83p, Torday & Carlisle 1p, TDG 8.75p, Telemetrix 2.15p, Tomkins 7.4p, Tesco Weir 9.05p, Wilson Bowden 25.5p, Xstrata 13p,

Proactive Sports (I), Punch Taverns (I), Sportingbet (I), Shire Pharmaceuticals (I), Body Shop (F), Surgical Innovations (F), Vista (F), Atrium Underwriting (F), John David (F), Sportingbet (F), GlaxoSmithkline, Shell (I), HMV (F), ICI (I)

Amvescap (AGM), AstraZeneca (AGM), Barclays (AGM), Scottish & Newcastle (AGM), Alvis (AGM), RMC (AGM), Tikit (AGM), Zotefoams (AGM)

08:30 BBA March mortgage lending data 09:30 GfK consumer confidence survey

Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Gillette, Duke Energy, Goodrich, Liz Claiborne, NCR, Nicor, Gateway, Eastman Chemical,

13:30 Chain Deflator-Adv. (2%) 13:30 Employment Cost Index (0.9%) 13:30 GDP-Adv. (5%) 13:30 Initial Claims (340k) 15:00 Help-Wanted Index (41)

Altana, BASF, Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, Hugo Boss, Rhoen-Klinikum, Fielmann, Merck KGaAIDS Scheer,

Suez, HAVAS, Peugeot, Aventis, France TelecomDassault Systemes, UBI Soft Entertainment,

Pubs 'N' Bars (F),

Genetix (AGM), Irish Continental Uts (AGM), Johnston Press (AGM), Pearson (AGM & Trading), Portman (AGM), TF & JH Braime (AGM), WPP (Trading)

Procter & Gamble, ChevronTexaco, Avon Products, CIGNA, Biogen

13:30 Personal Income (0.4%) 13:30 Personal Spending (0.7%) 15:45pm Mich Sentiment-Rev. (94) 15:00 Chicago PMI (60.3)

Volkswagen, Metro,

Alcatel, Vallourec, Metropole Television, Equant NV

Provisional Calendar For UK Equities The Week Following 3rd - 7th May

UK Bank Holiday, US open

EasyJet (I), Alliance & Leicester (AGM), Cairn Energy (AGM),

Scottish Power (F), Big Yellow Group (F), Incepta Group (F), Jennings Brothers (F), Matalan (F), Whitbread (F), Fenner (I),

BAE Systems (AGM), Provident Financial (AGM), Reckitt Benckiser (AGM), Smith & Nephew (AGM), Broadcastle (AGM), CRH (AGM), Dairy Farm International Holdings (AGM), Fandc Latin (AGM), Pittards (AGM), Rathbone Bros (AGM), Rolls-Royce (AGM), Savills (AGM),

Blacks Leisure (F), Jennings Brothers (F), Cambridge Silicon Radio (I), Prudential (AGM), Xstrata (AGM), Delcam (AGM), Financial Objects (AGM), Hammerson (AGM), Maclellan Group (AGM), Thompson Clive (AGM), Trinity Mirror (AGM), United Business Media (AGM),

Amersham (AGM), Foreign & Colonial Inv Trust (AGM)

Trading Thoughts For The Week Ahead  - Sunday 25th April

There is plenty of corporate news next week with drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and oil giants BP & Shell releasing figures. News from the Financials comes with first-quarter results from Legal & General, Friends Provident and AGM's from Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland.MondayBede X-ray specialist release a positive trading update earlier this month so look for some strong results.In the US look for good results from Electronic Data SystemsTuesday

Amvescap hopefully will release news on a possible settlement with the US SEC regarding the scandal affecting its American's mutual funds. B.P unlike Shell said it was comfortable with the accuracy of its proven oil reserves and added that further exploration in Russia's could boost its oil reserves in the years to come. Total production in the first three months of 2004 should be 11% higher than a year ago, with a strong contribution from its Russian joint venture. Margins have also improved in its refining and marketing business in past months, while analysts expect them to report flat underlying profits at its chemicals arm compared with the same period last year. Look for profits of 3 Billion

Banks have a busy day with AGM's from Bradford & Bingley, HBOS, Northern RockUS stocks to watch are DuPont, McDonald's and Verizon CommunicationsWednesday

Legal & General reveals first quarter trading figures but fears are increasing that figures will reveal flat sales and little sign of an improvement in the UK life assurance market. Imperial Tobacco's growth is thought to have remained steady during the half year but profits are expected to be 435m, compared with 377m last time benefiting from its Reemtsma acquisitionUnilever's first quarter figures may be weakened by lower sales of its Slim Fast due to the popularity of the Atkins diet. Analysts have warned that the target to grow sales by between 3% and 5% during 2004 may be towards the bottom of expectations. However profits of $580 million are expected up 9% on last year. The U.S will be concentrating on figures from Boeing and Bristol-Myers Squibb.Thursday

AstraZeneca shares have been rising on the back of a stronger US dollar, however earnings may fall in Q1 due to cost of launching Crestor. Also they enjoyed a strong first quarter last year with strong demand for its ulcer treatment Nexium.Shire Pharma are expected to produce flat first half sales of 256m but better profits from its attention deficit and hyperactivity drug Adderall. They also recently hinted that they were on the lookout for acquisitionsGlaxoSmithkline may report a decline in earnings due to the dollar weakness and generic competition to its antidepressant drug Paxil. Earlier it said that 2004 is likely to be a "flat" year but look for recovery in the last quarter of 2004. Analysts are looking for a fall in profit Glaxo to 1.52bn in the first quarter compared with 1.77bn a year ago.ICI to expected to reveal an improved first quarter performance across all its businesses however the weak US dollar, will probably have an impact on results. Again banks are busy with AGM's from Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland Shell has already indicated that production volumes will be down 5% on the year and profits are expected to decline to 2.12bn from 2.23bn a year ago. Higher profitability from its refining and marketing business in the US and Asia may just help start a bounce in its share price.U.S results are due from Exxon Mobil, Gateway and Gillette. The top U.S data for the week will the the first quarter GDP which many consider to be the best guide to the economy. The data will be released at 12:30 GMT and look for a rise of 5.0 percent for the first quarter, compared with 4.1 percent last quarter.

Friday

WPP will prove if the optimism in the ad industry is well founded with organic revenue growth when it reports first quarter figures The ad agency is expected to benefit this year from a stronger US economy and increasing ad spend ahead of the US elections. Pearson is expected to produce news of an increase in advertising revenue from the Financial times. US will be waiting for results from Procter & Gamble and ChevronTexaco.

Thoughts April is normally a good for the markets and this has proved true this month with a gain so far of of 4.7 percent. But the saying is 'sell in May and go away'

U.S. stocks look set to rise again next week with strong results from135 of the S&P companies likely to offset rate rise fears. So far this this quarter 274 S&P components have reported, with 211 beating Wall Street's average expectation. Instincts tell you that the markets should fall after such a strong rise but the charts say otherwise. The Intraday trends show the indices both rising strongly with the FTSE set to test 4600 at the start of the week. The DOW Jones is certainly far more volatile and is finding resistance as it once again approaches 10500.

The 1 year charts show that there is certainly room for further rises within the trend. The DOW has once again bounced of support and the FTSE although high in the channel still has room to rise some 60 points before banging its head on the ceiling!

The peak / square analysis (small grey lines) suggest that there may be a significant move on the DOW Monday afternoon about 5pm GMT.  I cant give it down to the minute at the moment but will have a try on Monday :-)

As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments on wish you good trading for 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  In a statement to the London Stock Exchange the FSA said it is to investigate oil giant Shell following the shock downgrade of its reserves earlier this year

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has dismissed reports that Britain is facing a housing crash.

Asda, is to trial a standalone store for its George clothing brand opposite a Marks & Spencer outlet - mounting a head-on challenge to the beleaguered high street retailer in Preston

Hungry Tesco, How do you follow record profits of 1.6bn? By setting your sights on China, the world's biggest markets, Sunday Times

Vital statistics: Savills Shell board on trial as report on reserves throws group into turmoil Sharewatch: Westbury Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in Jurys Doyle? Klondyke buzz as Cairn finds bliss in India Judgment Day: Should you buy shares in Holidaybreak? Sharewatch: The Royal Bank of Scotland Savills: The Andrew Davidson Interview: A hot property among estate agents Sharewatch: Wembley Air Partner: Directors' Deals: Mack flies into a bumper payday WH Smith: Swann's dvu over offer Savills: Aubrey Adams's working day Tesco primes the pump Sharewatch: HBOS

City comment: Shell Transport Sainsbury: Brands count but companies don't Canary 'ready to fly free' WH Smith: Size matters to equity houses M&S Brands count but companies don't WH Smith 'I almost lost the will to live'

OBSERVER Boom time for Wall St as Shell fights back Dutch helm disease gets blame at Shell

BP A black comedy Pay bonanza boosts HSBC bosses' pensions

Marks & Spencer Group, Loads of chains, little choice Tesco keeps Goths at bay Predators circle WH Smith WH Smith Sticking her neck out

MAIL ON SUNDAY 'We'll break up WH Smith group' Predator would sell delivery arm Brown warned: don't hide 100bn, IMF gets tough on public-private finance Stockbroker swoops for hotel chain, Collins eyes 560m Premier Lodge Shell bosses in 8 billion lawsuit, Oil giant faces record payout  

50m race for Londis nears finish, Three on shortlist for store group New alliance join battle for Telegraph, Candover, Apax in 700m paper chase Nursery group ditches 70m float, Leapfrog in talks with cash buyer Charity to get banks' lost 15bn, Brown targets dormant accounts

Permira, the venture capital firm lining up a 950 million offer for WH Smith, will try to sell the company's huge newspaper and magazine distribution arm if its takeover succeeds.

Shell bosses in 8 billion lawsuit, Shell this weekend sought to bolster its defences against a blizzard of shareholder lawsuits

INDEPENDENT DTI is poised to probe Shell as scandal grows BA threatens 750 jobs in wake of union rejection of pension deal Alvis MoD shoots down 7.7bn deal for UK arms firms

Tools of the Trade: Vodafone hits the road with 3G for laptop users Tesco: For good or ill, we're in thrall to lords of the aisles

BAE Systems MoD shoots down 7.7bn deal for UK arms firms

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY Animated buying pushes up DA share price Pru's Bloomer as Egg sale is kept on boil Unilever fattens profits but Atkins weighty Thus in communication breakdown with City Halladale Group, Building up a runaway winner

A Shell of a crisis Halladale This one could run and run as Lockhart eyes French dream In brief: Baltimore Technologies

Smiths snaps up TRAK as spending spree continues

INVESTORS CHRONICLE Tips: Buy, Rangold Resources (RRS), Aga Food (AGA), PKL (PKL), Eureka Mining (EKA) and Qualceram Shires (QLC).Sell, Enterprise Inns (ETI).Tip Updates: WH Smith (SMWH) (Sell), UA (UAS) (Good Value), Stanley Gibbons (SGI) (Buy), Freeport (FPR) (Keep Buying), Daily Mail (DMGO) (Sell).Company Results: Tesco (TSCO) (Buy), DFS (DFS) (Fairly Priced), Mouchel Parkman (MCHL) (Fairly Priced), Rugby Estates (RES) (Buy), Air Partner (AIP) (Fairly Priced), Henry Boot (BHY) (Fairly Priced), Highland Gold (HGM) (Fairly Priced), Peter Hambro Mining (POG) (Buy), Vanco (VAN) (Fairly Priced), Kenmare Resources (KMR) (Fairly Priced), Gresham Computing (GHT) (Fairly Priced).

SHARES MAGAZINE Plays of the Week:Buy Visonic (VSC) at 99p, Kenmare Resources (KMR) at 19.5p, Akers Biosciences (AKR) at 91.5p, Invu (NVU) at 9.12p, Prezzo (PRZ) at 97.5p.Updates: Hold CMS Webview (CMS). Sell Countryside Properties (CYD). Hold Bovis Homes (BVS).Five Stocks to Watch: Ryanair (RYA) at EUR5.22, Countryside Properties (CYD) at 233p, Filtronic (FTC) at 398p, Cobra Biomanufacturing (CBR) at 70p, Carillion (CLLN) at 185.5p.Interview: Chief executive of Aggreko (AGK), Rupert Soames.Analysis: House of Fraser (HOF) steals the show, The fight for Baltimore Technologies (BLM).