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U.S. stocks ended the session little changed with the Dow up 15.70, S&P up 1.35 and the Nasdaq down 2.96 National Express coach and rail firm said trading for the year to was in line with market expectations, as customer numbers grew at its UK trains division.and it was comfortable with full-year forecasts of 100 million pounds profits United Business Media publishing, broadcasting and market research company said that second half revenues should be ahead of last year, despite the weakness of the U.S. dollar. Trading conditions in the U.S. had improved and there has been a greater than expected recovery in Asia. It also said it was buying Eurisko, a market research company in Italy, for 33 million euros.Britannic Group said it was on track to resume dividend payments of 10 pence per share to shareholders and annual bonuses for most of its with-profits policyholders following extensive restructuring. It has also paid back 50 million in bank borrowings. Redrow housebuilder said it expected to raise its annual dividend by at least 20 percent this financial year and maintain similar growth next year, buoyed by strong housing sales. News will be posted at approx 7:35am

Calendar: United Kingdom	United States (GMT)	Europe & World (GMT
Carnival (Q4)National Express (Trading Statement) Smith & Nephew (Trading Statement) Advanced Technology bonissue of warrants ex date 09.30 Nov PSNCR, 7bn exp. 09.30 Chancellor Brown Comments on the Pre-Budget Report 09.30 Nov Retail Sales m/m, 0.1% exp. 09.30 Nov Preliminary M4 Money Supply y/y, 6.7% exp. 09.30 Nov CML, BBA & BSA Lending	US: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley 13.30 Initial Jobless Claims (w/e 13/12) 15.00 Nov Leading Indicators, 0.3% exp. 17.00 Dec Philly Fed, 25.90 prev.	Europe: Infogrammes, Cap Gemini, Nordex 08.00 Dec German IFO Expectations, 108.7 prev. 11.00 3rd Quarter Labour Costs

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Mel-see your point, i had buy sig at 52 after 50 uptrend held, still targeting 85 atm, 9.30 figs will decide if 65 goes!

My MarketMaker software has just gone offline.

Tried to sign in again but it won't let me,
says I'm already connected!!

Going to shut down and try re-booting everything.

Sods Law yes that this is when everything happens!!

Grrrr...

Melnibone.

Re-boot worked and I'm back in business.

Nothing much happened, so maybe there is a Fairy Godmother.

I see the FTSE is examining the 4365 boundary, this is also
close to the 4369 R1 so it will have a bit of trouble getting
through here.

Melnibone.

PSN is doing very well today - shames its a long term buy. Better start ignoring it!

TGM has been creeping back up over the last few days.

85 hit that,ll do!

I like this one - did no think that they should factor in some of the things blamed - and have they done anything yet! Overall more positive than I expected.

LONDON (AFX) - Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown blamed the war in Iraq and lower than expected average earnings growth for the Treasury's failuree arlier this year to forecast government borrowing accurately.

Brown told the Treasury Select Committee that the 10 bln stg overshoot in borrowing this year can be blamed on increased costs associated with Iraq, as well as other anti-terrorist activities, and lower tax receipts from households.

The Treasury had factored in average earnings growth of 4.5 pct against the actual outcome of 3.5 pct, Brown said.

'The rise in borrowing is completely explicable,' he said.

He said the increase in borrowing is 'perfectly affordable', adding that the level of borrowing to GDP of 3.4 pct is much lower than the peak in borrowing in all other post-war economic cycles.

Brown is testifying in the wake of last week's pre-budget report, which saw him raising his public sector net borrowing forecast for 2003-4 by 10 bln stg to 37 bln.

Though that projection is now judged realistic there are real concerns surrounding his forecasts for the coming two years given the assumptions made on growth.

Brown is projecting a narrowing in the deficits to 31 bln stg and 24 bln respectively, meaning the government will meet its golden rule of balancing the budget, excluding investment spending, over the course of the economic cycle.

Brown is forecasting GDP growth of 3.0-3.5 pct in both 2004-5 and 2005-6, while most independent forecasts are centred below the bottom end of Brown's range.

The Chancellor defended his expectations and pointed to the scepticism that greeted his growth forecast for 2003 of 2.0-2.5 pct made in April's budget.

Brown also said there's a greater balance in the economy now than at the time of April's budget, and pointed to more moderate rises in house prices and overall consumer spending, just as business investment picks up.

He said the risks to the economy are currency movements, imbalances in the world economy and geopolitical uncertainties.

However, he said the UK economy is better positioned to weather these storms than ever before, pointing to continued growth over the last few years, despite crises in Asia and Russia, oil shocks, the US recession and the spillover from the terrorist attacks on Sept 11, 2001.

pan.pylas@afxnews.com

Well done TP.

Good call.

Would be obliged if you all took profit now,
I've got my eye on a few stocks that I want to come down a bit. ;-)

Melnibone.

melnibone had buy sig on that run at 65, still a long unless it brks 82 atm!

:-), I see everyone a bit more positive today.

Melnibone: could you start by kicking SMWH on the way to other stocks that have caught your eye?

Liitle women-bit frustrating i missed that .3 above high on ftse though :0)

As Melnibone has point out to me in the past - a profit is a profit is a profit when its taken, not just a postion!

Does anyone know what going on with DXNS - shut up suddenly - todays Shares mag are negative on this one.

Was going to purchase DXNS yesterday, but decided not to as felt retailers not having a good christmas.

Having said that, if I still did CFDs I would consider going short on this one now!

Found out why from the traders room: http://www.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/200312181103434165T.html

Running a long on RANK, interesting early morning buying
Long term Short on WH Smiths, profit warning expected
Short Mytravel Need I say more
And Short Burberry, never did like that Tartan

LW - on a previous days trading thread you said you had a price target of 475p on LLOY. I would be grateful if you could explain to me how you came to this figure. I have done quite well out of LLOY in the past but always appear to sell out too early.

18/12 12:00 ANALYST RATINGS CHANGES AS OF 1200 GMT

BROKER & NEW RATING (FROM) TARGET (PREVIOUS)
COMPANY
=========================================================
ABN Amro:
Heineken Reduce (Hold)
=========================================================
Cheuvreux:
Bouygues Underperform (Outperform)
ILOG Underperform (Outperform)
=========================================================
Citigroup Smith Barney:
Misys Hold (Sell)
=========================================================
CSFB:
Unite 210P (185P)
Misys 190P (210P)
=========================================================
Degroof:
Bekaert Hold (Accumulate)
=========================================================
Fideuram Wargny:
Elior Buy (Hold) EUR7.8 (EUR7)
=========================================================
Goldman Sachs:
Amadeus In-Line
=========================================================
Ibersecurities:
Bankinter EUR39.8 (EUR34.9)
=========================================================
JP Morgan:
Vodafone Overweight (Neutral) 160P (140P)
Telekom Austria Overweight (Neutral)
Telecom Italia Underweight (Neutral)
TeliaSonera Underweight (Neutral)
Bouygues EUR33 (EUR30)
Yukos US$14 (US$15.5)
=========================================================
Lehman Bros:
Allianz Equalweight (Underweight)
Infineon EUR16.5 (EUR17.5)
Misys 265P
=========================================================
Merrill Lynch:
Balfour Beatty Neutral
DS Smith Buy (Neutral)
=========================================================
Morgan Stanley:
Royal & Sun Equalweight (Underweight)
Misys 270P
=========================================================
Pictet:
Converium CHF72 (CHF70)
=========================================================
Puilaetco:
Delhaize EUR46 (EUR47)
=========================================================
UBS:
Generali Neutral (Buy)
Cementos Portland Neutral (Buy)
Folli-Follie Neutral (Buy)
Opap Neutral (Buy)
Hanson 430P (365P)
Stada EUR50 (EUR45)
=========================================================

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 18, 2003 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT)