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.

A big advantage with a Sat Nav is that it will sometimes relieve the boredom of a long journey by taking you down obscure country lanes and through raging rivers to add a bit of excitement! ;o)

And the traffic lights!

Approach the lights at a pedestrian crossing and they do the opposite thing to the traffic lights at a junction!

The order of the lights is different for each type of motoring experience.

And yet the motorist has only two decisions to make - whether to either stop or move on.

Aaaaargh!

Kim only if you say.. avoid all tolls.not Welsh are you?

Tabby, indeed I am boyo! So I'm used to obscure country lanes and raging rivers!

I know mate .just having a Giraffe!

It's nice being Welsh. We don't need an excuse to keep sheep....it's natural! :o)

Subject: Investment tips for 2008


With all the turmoil in the market today and the collapse of Lehman Bros and Acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America this might be some good advice .

For all of you with any money left, be aware of the next expected mergers so that you can get in on the ground
floor and make some BIG bucks.

Watch for these consolidations in later this year:

1.) Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and WR. Grace Co. Will merge and become:
Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.

2.) Polygram Records, Warner Bros., and Zesta Crackers join forces
and become: Poly, Warner Cracker.

3.) 3M will mer ge with Goodyear and become: MMMGood.

4. Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining will
merge and become: ZipAudiDoDa .

5. FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become:
FedUP.

6. Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become:
Fairwell Honeychild.

7. Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become:
PouponPants.

8. Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women (NOW)will
become: Knott NOW!
And finally...

9. Victoria 's Secret and Smith
&Wesson will merge under the new name:
TittyTittyBangBang

Well! I am at an utter loss with this one! I'm not sure which one to give to.

Any ideas?

1. Bus Poster 1

2. Bus Poster 2

With the Stock Market a very chancy bet at the moment I have decided to put some money on a cert bet (an accumulator).
Hull FC to win the league (500 to 1), snow at Xmas (8 to 1) and this government to get us out of the financial mess without totally bankrupting the country(1,000,000 to 1).
OK I except the first 2 are very possible, and the 3rd! well miracles can happen (just look at Hull's position) and the odds although a bit short might make it worth a gamble.

Just when I thought things can't get any more unbelievable.
Who said this government were soft on Extremist who have been banned from entering the UK (terrorist).
The Government will announce next week that these people will be Named and Shamed. No! this is not a joke and is meant to be taken seriously, so please stop laughing.
Extremists such as Omar Bakri Mohammad (the past head of Al-Muhajiroun) who could only be referred to by name under current rules because he spoke about himself can now be officially Named and Shamed.
OK we do need to know who these people are but anyone who believes Naming them will Shame them is living on another planet.
Mind you as most politicians don't actually live in the real world, it probably does make sense. To them anyway.
Now if they do sneak into the country, especially if they are caught wearing a hood (you know of the hoody type) and drinking alcohol in a public place, I hope they are dealt with by issuing a very strict ASBO.
That will really deter them.

Hi got stopped out this morning by capitalspreads on a trade with ARM holding at the price of 65.3p pence...My stop price was at 80p did anyone see the price drop to that low level? cheers capitalspreads :( Appears these are the ones to avoid.

Caser @ 8:08am the price was 65.1 on capitalspreads

......but about 78p mid on the market.

Whilst I appreciate that companies do need to make profits, BP have just announced yearly profits of 148% increase over their previous financial year.
According to BP they could not help making these increased profits due to the increase in oil prices, IE we had to put our prices up in order not to loose money, so this is why we made even more profit (anyone understand that explanation, because I sure don't).
They continually state that they had to increase the price of fuel due to the cost of product spread along the line from oil well to pump.
I appreciate the oil markets are very complex, and that I don't have any expertise in this area, BUT what I do know is with such a massive increase in profits they could reduce the price at the pump.
No doubt Shell's results will show a similar huge profit increase, and whats the betting that when the power companies report, they will also show huge increases in profits also siting the fact that their profits are mainly due to the increase in costs of production.
Companies in other field who's raw material costs increase have to try to absorb percentages of these increase as if not customers cut back on buying. These companies usually in times of higher production cost or/and increases in raw material costs end up struggling to make profits matching previous years, so the reasons put out by BP don't add up.
Even allowing for the vast amounts of profit these companies require in order to put back into their companies future it is about time they were bought to heel.
I wish I had a license to print money, as they have.

Speculators had previously targeted VW... borrowing shares in the company to bet that the automaker's price would inevitably tumble due to slumping demand.... Oh dear
Hedge funds grizzling that there should have been a limit rule on Volkswagen
.whatever nextIm going to sleep a happy bunny tonight!

Hi Tabasco,

Yes caught really short with their pants down.
It goes to show that shorting can falsely inflate the price of a share not just the usual of dragging it down.
A top hedge fund manager tried to justify the shorting of shares by using the example of bank shares.
He stated that since the temporary banning of shorting such shares the SP's had in general gone down. Of course he did not mention that one of the main reasons some banks share nosedived was initially because of the huge percentage of their shares being shorted had a negative sp effect.
I have nothing against those who short shares as if there is a way of dealing in shares that is legal then I blame the legislators not those who use the allowed method.
It is a fact that those who agree or disagree in the method must surely admit. Naked shorting, and I am on about what people generally refer to as shorting takes a huge amount of transparency away from the SP, often giving a false impression of value to a company.
Your example of the current shorting of VW proves the point.

Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are to be suspended and all their shows taken off air until the BBC has investigated their prank calls made on Radio 2.... and dont ever bring them back...Pair of cretins!!!!!

worth reading.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/fsr/2008/fsrfull0810.pdf



If you don't want to read the whole thing for yourself one view of the report is:

Published in Your Money on 28 October 2008
24 comments

The Bank of England says that global losses on toxic assets have now soared to $2.8 trillion. There could be more financial instability to come.

The latest Financial Stability Report from the Bank of England makes for depressing reading. Lets start with the outlook for insurers.

Insurance companies
The Bank of England warns that insurance companies could hit trouble. Insurers hold a significant proportion of their assets in shares and corporate bonds, and the value of these assets has fallen in recent months.

The danger is that falling asset values could mean that insurers wont have enough assets to meet capital adequacy requirements. So insurers might have to raise fresh funds from the stock market or the government.

The Banks report, however, argues that regulatory reforms in 2004 have reduced the chances of an insurance crisis. The report also points out insurance companies generally havent used much leverage (borrowing to increase returns on investments.)

Hedge funds
Its a different story with hedge funds though. These funds are notorious for using leverage and are paying the price now. Hedge funds have, on average, fallen 10% in value in last quarter, according to the bank. As a result, hedge fund investors are withdrawing money which is forcing share sales by the funds.

Whats more, in the current climate, hedge funds are struggling to borrow to cover their losses, which means they have to sell more shares.

Banks and toxic debt
Banks losses on toxic debt in the UK, Europe and US have more than doubled to $2.8 trillion (1.8trillion), according to the bank. Non-financial companies may also wish to borrow more from the banks on existing credit facilities as the economy slows.

That means banks may need to raise further capital at some point. That money may come from the stock market or governments. Todays report also says that banks need to reduce their reliance on short-term money markets for funding.

The falling pound
The banks report doesnt touch on the falling pound which I think is another big issue in the current crisis.

The pound had edged up today but the current rate of $1.57 per pound is still well below the $2 rate we saw in the summer. Thats bad news for those of us who want to travel to the US, but more importantly, it could also inflict further damage on our financial system.

Financial website, breakingviews, reports that the UK financial system has 333bn of foreign interbank deposits. A falling pound might encourage some foreign investors to withdraw cash and that could hurt UK banks further.

Emerging markets
Some emerging market economies are in deep trouble such as Ukraine and Hungary. Put simply, these countries have borrowed too much and may not be able to pay back their loans. Banks in the developed world that have significant operations in these countries will suffer.

Housing Market
Away from the Bank of England, the FSA has released some gloomy data on repossessions - the number of repossessions has risen 71% over the last year.

What now?
The UK economy is clearly in serious trouble. The only question is whether well see further major instability in the financial system. Ive said before that I thought we were probably through the worst in the banking crisis. I worry I may have been too optimistic.

Tobasco,

Fully agree.

This is me,

Good interesting article.

Am I right in thinking that BP pay out divi's 4 times a year? seems to be 14 cents[US ?] for Q3. Thinking it may be a good income share over time and divi, though not guaranteed, should be safe as long as they keep making BIG profits[again not guaranteed]
Alex