Hello traders!

In the US tonight, stocks ended mixed as disappointing earnings from Morgan Stanley and a profit warning from Ford overshadowed a modest pullback in crude-oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 11.74 points at 10.587.93 with the Nasdaq Composite 0.96 points ahead at 2,092.03. The S&P500 added 0.27 points at 1,213.88.

See you in the morning with updates....

G.

AFX UK at a glance share guide - 2
AFXU


MARKETS

FTSE 100 5,099.3, up 17.2

FTSE 250 7,343.7, up 40.3

DJIA 10,587.90, down 11.80

Nasdaq Comp 2,092.03, up 0.96

S&P 500 1,213.90, up 0.30

Tokyo: Nikkei closed at 11,576.75, up 29.47

Hang Seng midday 14,189.25, up 28.23

Gold 437.62 usd (437.05 usd)

Oil - Brent Aug 56.58 usd (57.50 usd)



BREAKING NEWS

* Central banks flag rate cuts; interest rates could fall a quarter point to 4.5 pct; two Bank of England members vote for change; markets factor in a reduction by this autumn - FT

* China National Offshore Oil Corporation to launch a bid worth about 11 bln stg for Unocal of the US - the biggest takeover offer by a Chinese group - trumping a rival proposal by Chevron

* FDA poised to rule that meat from cloned animals is safe for humans

* Rothschilds set to expand its private and investment banking operations in Asia as Jardine Matheson buys a 20 pct stake in one of the independent investment bank's holding companies from ROYAL & SUN ALLIANCE

* NTL and TELEWEST could announce outline terms of a 5.9 bln stg merger as early as next month following detailed due diligence by both companies - FT

* Novatek, Russia's biggest independent gas producer, plans to list Global Depositary Receipts on the London Stock Exchange in what is potentially the second-biggest international public offering by a Russian group - FT

* RAB CAPITAL founders Michael Alen-Buckley and Philip Richards sell a minority 14 pct of their hedge fund group for nearly 29 mln stg

* WILLIAM MORRISON deputy chairman David Jones targets saviour of Asda; pay package being prepared to lure Archie Norman but he will not go against wishes of supermarket's founder - Telegraph

* SHELL ploughs billions of pounds into finding more oil and gas - Telegraph

* KINGSTON COMMUNICATIONS says that one of its directors who sold 150,000 shares on Tuesday had done so with no knowledge that a huge placing would take place later that day - Telegraph



PRESS COMMENT

FT

THE LEX COLUMN comments on DIXONS (with no real near-term catalyst, DSG INTERNATIONAL (Dixons' new name) will struggle to avoid being dubbed 'Dull Shops Group'), Rothschild, Cost cuts, Ford Motor

Telegraph

QUESTOR: STAGECOACH (stay aboard), INMARSAT (buy), ULTRA ELECTRONICS (no better than a hold)

Guardian

SYSTEM C HEALTHCARE (next Tuesday will see the flotation of the healthcare IT company)

Times

RUMOUR OF THE DAY: BLUE STAR MOBILE (word it has secured an exclusive six-month option to acquire Bake Media, a specialist in formatting video content for portable media devices) - DIRECTORS' DEALINGS: INDIGO VISION (two directors buy stock for 115,000 stg) - URBIUM (murmurs REGENT INNS may appeal directly to shareholders after the rejection of its recent bid approach) - STANDARD CHARTERED (hold), BRAMBLES (sell), VECTURA (buy)

Independent

THE INVESTMENT COLUMN: STANDARD CHARTERED (hold), VICTORY CORPORATION (look cheap enough to hold), ALLIANCE UNICHEM (decent value still) - FIRST CALGARY (it emerges that the best bid it had received during its failed auction was just 380 pence a share)

Express

DA GROUP (rumours that several contract wins are pending) - SHARE WHISPER: CHESNARA (rumours it could be the next target for consolidation; gossips talk of a cash deal of 170 pence a share, with Hugh Osmond seen as a possible buyer) - WHO'S DEALING: LOOKERS (new non-executive takes maiden stake of 10,000 shares at 314 pence)

Mail

J SAINSBURY (talk of possible 'friendly' multi-billion pound merger with Carrefour)

The Shares Magazine

The Chinese Portfolio: XAAR, RICARDO, STANDARD CHARTERED, FOSECO, CHARTER, FENNER, UNILEVER, COOKSON; The Plays of the Week: buy POLAR CAPITAL, ROXBORO; Play Updates: buy DUNEDIN, hold BLOCK SHIELD, GAMING VC (has breached the stop loss limit)

Good morning traders!

In Asia, the Hang Seng ended the morning up 28.23 points at 14,189.25 while the Nikkei was last trading down 2.48 points at 11,544.80.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, was up 41 cents at $58.50 a barrel from its close of $58.09 in the US overnight.

Shares in UK property companies will be in focus in early deals as Goldman Sachs upgraded British Land and Hammerson to 'outperform' from 'in-line' in a note on the sector.

Back with more soon.

Happy trading!

G.

LOGICACMG UPGRADED TO 'OUTPERFORM' VS 'NEUTRAL' AT WESTLB

INTERTEK INITIATED 'IN-LINE' AT GOLDMAN SACHS; FAIR VALUE 795P

XANSA INITIATED 'UNDERPERFORM' AT GOLDMAN SACHS; FAIR VALUE 82P

LAND SECURITIES, SLOUGH ESTATES CUT TO 'IN-LINE' VS 'OUTPERFORM' AT GOLDMAN

Scottish & Newcastle upgraded to 'outperform' at CSFB, target 520p

The initial public offering for PartyGaming has been fully subscribed, the Guardian newspaper reported citing the IPO manager Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. DKW said it has no plans of cutting the 111p-127p price range for the shares. The newspaper added that trading of the shares is expected to begin on Monday.

Morning Alan! Like living in Spain here
with all this sunshine ... you may have to
move back!

jj50 - My visit to Sunderland last week was enough for a little while... ;-)

G. :-)

Food Morning all

BT.A is having a good morning

Made my week's target shorting Tate this morning so a happy "conejo" now. :-)

well done G - had considered Tate a couple of weeks ago as a long term investment
but decided against it at the time

AQUILO (AQL)going to 6p!

Fact time. AQL results are due out by 30 June, The results are forecast to be better than the directors have indicated. The share price is now rising from its lows and this is about to bounce up. get in quick before you miss this great chance at making some money. its my opinion but if I were you I would buy some now,

6p is the short term target and longer term my target is 10p. The price has not fallen below 2p for a very long time so the downwards risk is very small.

The sp is up again today and will continue toward the 6p level before resting. Its my opinion but is easy money


IMHO

Trader4,

I notice that you posted the above story to 4 or 5 different threads which were totally unrelated to the article. Please note that this could be construed as spamming other peoples thread. I have removed the ones on the other thread. but left 1 on this thread,

Ian

Dow slightly heading south - could be a bumpy afternoon..

stockbunny - nothing changes!

:>) LW
recovering a little now on earlier, useful if it continues
for us tomorrow.