Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Stocks jump, gold falls on U.S. debt breakthrough

Kevin Plumberg, 3:59, Monday 1 August 2011

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Stocks rose while gold and the yen dropped on Monday as investors cut safety trades after Washington reached a last-minute deal to escape default, though the top U.S. credit rating could still be downgraded.

After a tense weekend in which rival plans to lift the U.S. borrowing limit were shot down in Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama said leaders from both parties reached a deal to cut the budget deficit by $1 trillion over 10 years, with additional savings of $1.4 trillion possible.

U.S. S&P 500 (SNP: ^GSPC - news) stock futures bounced 1.5 percent in a relief rally, high-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar and emerging Asian units strengthened, while U.S. Treasuries -- which have maintained their haven status despite being at the centre of the debt ceiling impasse -- slid.

Investors were still on guard, though, since the plan, which will likely come to a vote in Congress on Monday, may not necessarily satisfy Standard & Poor's enough to keep the U.S. triple-A debt rating.

"For the rally to be durable, markets will need more than this downpayment agreement," said Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief investment officer of PIMCO in Newport Beach, California.

"They will look to a more coherent fiscal reform to emerge from the second step and, more generally, for additional measures to remove structural impediments to growth and jobs. Markets will also be asking whether this two-step agreement is sufficient to remove the threat of an S&P downgrade."

RELIEF OVER THE U.S. DEAL...

Japan (NYSE: MCO - news) 's Nikkei (Osaka: ^N225 - news) share average outperformed U.S. stock futures, gaining 1.8 percent , as investors bought back technology-related shares and the weaker yen invited buyers to dive back into major exporters.

"Obama's remarks may be enough for the Nikkei to regain the last three days of losses, but today's gains will likely reflect temporary relief, not solid confidence that all the negative elements in the U.S. economy have been priced in," said Tsuyoshi Kawata, a senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific (Chicago Options: ^RASPUSD - news) stocks outside Japan was up 1.7 percent after falling for the past two sessions, with gains spread out fairly evenly among the sectors with the defensive utilities segment underperforming.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng (HKSE: ^HSI - news) was up 1.5 percent , led by a 1.8 percent rise in HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) after Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURTRUSD - news) 's largest bank said it would sell nearly half of its underperforming U.S. branch network.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of six other major currencies, was largely unchanged on the day.

The euro weighs heavily in the basket, and so the index reflects deep-seated fears about the fiscal unsustainability for both the United States and the euro zone.

"Avoiding default by the U.S. government is of paramount importance, but investors also need to see a clear path towards deficit reduction that encourages confidence in the U.S. dollar. This is essential if we are to maintain America's AAA rating and encourage long-term investment in the U.S," said U.S. fund manager BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK - news) , which oversees $3.6 trillion in assets, in a statement.

The dollar shot up against the yen, hitting 78.00 yen before easing back to 77.63 yen, up 0.3 percent on the day. Traders in Asia had been keeping a close eye on the yen, since the dollar dropped below 77 yen to a four-month low of 76.70 yen on Friday, raising fears of yen-selling intervention by Japanese authorities.

ANXIETY OVER THE EURO ZONE

U.S. Treasury debt futures fell in electronic trading. The 10-year Treasury futures were down 6/32 to 125 16/32, and in the cash market, the benchmark 10-year yield rose four basis points from late Friday in New York (Xetra: A0DKRK - news) to 2.83 percent.

Oil futures also rose with risky assets. U.S. crude futures for September were up $1.19 at $96.89 a barrel, while Brent crude gained $1.17 cents to $118.11.

Gold prices tumbled 0.9 percent to $1,611.89 an ounce, down from a record high of $1,632.30 reached on Friday.

Many investors believe the market focus will shift to the likelihood of a rating downgrade as well as to the structural debt problems afflicting the euro zone.

Throughout last week's increasingly intense showdown in Washington over the U.S. debt ceiling, the spreads of Italian and Spanish bond yields over Germany have been widening sharply, signifying persistent unease that Greece's problem may spread to other European countries.

"Don't forget there's Europe in the background with problems in Italy and Spain," said Natalie Robertson, a commodities analyst at ANZ. "There is still heightened risk aversion in the market and gold will probably be volatile in the next few days."

(Additional reporting by Rujun Shen in SINGAPORE; Editing by Kim Coghill

How aquarium staff weaned Gary the gourami off his addiction to chocolate

More fish

And more.

That's awesome skinny, in the real sense of the word!

Yes. Utterly beautiful creatures and yet we never get to see them.

In the catfish post I liked the bit:

"It took me ages to bring it in, it was like trying to reel in a bus.

One of my mates went into the water to help lift it out."

Yikes!

THESE happy young people sit in the sun on a grass bank on Utoya a day before Anders Breivik unleashed 79 minutes of terror.



More at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3725040/Innocents-relax-before-Anders-Breiviks-massacre.html

.

Morrissey is refusing to retract controversial comments he made comparing the massacre in Norway to the daily slaughter of animals for fast food outlets, insisting they are morally equivalent.

The staunch vegetarian launched into the rant while onstage in Warsaw, Poland last weekend, just two days after two terror attacks in Oslo plunged the Norwegian nation into mourning.

Before starting his track Meat Is Murder, the former The Smiths star told the crowd, "We all live in a murderous world, as the events in Norway have shown... Though that is nothing compared to what happens in McDonald's and Kentucky Fried S**t every day."

.

He is possibly referring to battery hens......in that case he is right.....free range, it has to be for all fast food chains.

And that means he is not a complete twat?

.

.

No - Morrissey is a twat. Along with the rest of the PETA brigade who anthropomorphise animals. That doesn't mean that animals should be maltreated or reared in inhumane conditions.

What is worrying about Morrissey and his ilk is that, in extremis, some of them are prepared to attack, even kill, people. See the SHAC mob's antics. He is fuelling that fire.

.

fred1new are you expecting a HUGE turn around of the FTSE with your guess of
61269 - SIXTY ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY NINE. lol

..Bra chain record comes apart at the seams in UK

By Alice Baghdjian | Reuters 35 minutes ago


.LONDON (Reuters) - A British attempt to set a new world record for the longest chain of brassieres was called off after volunteers got the lingerie in a twist. Campaigners at "Bra Chain" hoped to hook together over 100 miles of bras in Worcester to raise money for women's charities and beat the current world record of 166,000 linked brassieres, held by Australia.

Volunteers, or "hookers," aimed to connect 200,000 bras, but were forced to quit at half that number when the undergarments became tangled in the boxes.

"We underestimated the time it would take to get the bras out of their boxes and hooked together - there were bras all over the place," said Launa Walker at Bra Chain.

"It does take a lot of time to assemble bras into a chain and after about nine hours of hooking them up we decided to call it a day," Walker told Reuters.

The organisers say they will attempt another world record bid in the future and are still accepting donations of unwanted bras.

"We are going to try it again -- we've learnt a few tricks of the trade, now all that remains is to set a date," said Walker.

The event was organised in aid of UK women's charities Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the Worcester breast cancer unit and Women's Aid, which supports victims of domestic violence

Dreams.

I lived in hope.

But, If you are prepared to dream the dream, anything maybe possible.

(I am told by my wife that even I make the occasional mistake.)

=================




NM,

I anybody ate my dog, I would be prepared to buried him










PS.

It has been dead for 20years.


Still miss her.

The only "friend" who knew and obeyed me.

They will put it right for you fred. dc Six thousand sounds more like it.