I was invited to visit the local Yacht Club this week and what a lot of Nor' Westerlies I found there! Apart from a sparse few genuine sailormen, I don't think half had set foot in a boat of any sort for years and 95% appeared not to have ever ventured beyond the bay. Although listening to the conversations, I gather most of them have "been 'round the Cape" on many an occasion. Reminded me of all of us stock punters who only have winners. :=)
With nothing much to look forward to except the Marconi AGM, the market bumbled along on Monday, the FTSE100 closing 19 points weaker at 5517. Baltimore and Philips bore the brunt of the blame for Tuesday's negative performance. The former denying rumours of talks with Computer Associates and the latter reporting unexpected losses. As a consequence, the TMT rout drove the main index back below the 5500 level with a vengeance. The FTSE100 lost 89 points. Wednesday's talk was of takeover rumours involving Manchester United, although I found it amusing that the Sports journalists uncovered the details way ahead of their Financial counterparts. (Presumably the two don't converse much together!) Even the Marconi AGM seemed to pass off without any major incident. Despite those little excitements, it was generally a dull day in the City and the FTSE100 carried on falling. By close it was down to 5404 and looking rather unwell. On Thursday it was only a few of the banking sector stocks which showed any life. The FTSE100 continued to look vulnerable, posting only a modest 32 point gain to 5437. On Friday, Microsoft's overnight warning was enough to ensure the it was going to be a bad end to the week. With very few straws to cling to, the main index sank a further 50 points to end the session a dismal 5387. FTSE100 Weekly Chart (Not for the faint of heart!)
The Weekly BB Review
Games Workshop was back to the top of the pile this week as Alexei found some news (and also fiured out how to post a URL link at the same time!) in HAS GAMES WORKSHOP NEARLY PEAKED?, started at the beginning of the month by morose. The answer to the question in the header is an obvious "No" as the share price has managed to retain its momentum and shows no sign of slowing. profitmaster thinks he's struck gold with this one and dontknowitall is planning to dump his mortgages if the performance continues. The share price fell away 8p to 411.5p on Friday but the trendline still looks solid.
On the PBB, Tortoise has long been a fan of Innogy Holdings (IOG), recently joined by Mealiff. Discounting the big dip in March, the share price has performed very well and continues to look very bullish. The recent changes at the top, agreed at the AGM on Thursday caused a temporary blip but the fall appears to have been an overdone knee-jerk and Friday saw them return to winning ways. The company has an acquisitive nature and high profile advertising to keep it in the public eye. On the FBB, in the dark days, Biomax was betting his aged Grannie's antique underwear that they would succeed. (See I bet my grannies old knickers IOG will rise 50% and enter FTSE100 in September) JungleKing and ravel are already in the queue for the Victorian lingerie!
If you can put up with Rayrac's awful puns, take a look at Antonov! Russian up? (ATV). News that BMW is the latest big car manufacturer to be taking an interest in the company's six-speed auto transmission gave the shares (and Jack) a lift. Good to see you back old-timer! :=)
poor blackday didn't find much supportive comment when he started TURBO GUNSET WATCH this week. A couple of news items concerning Turbo Genset's new hybrid turbocharger for internal combustion engines, developed with GEC, sounded positive enough but, sadly, July's Chart looks too attractive as a shorting opportunity to the likes of dodddy. Lancslad is probably right that the potential here is long-term - at least until the end of the next development/testing phase when, presumably, there will be a working prototype to encourage wider interest from the industry.
The halcyon days when NXT were riding high and Sardine was forced to buy an extra shed to house his share certificates are only a distant memory now. Billy Liar's NXT worth only 160m? must have struck a sour chord in some quarters. Sadly, it is a matter of fact. bones likens them to a bet on the nags, while jackrussell agrees with our skeletal friend that the "eggs in one basket syndrome" is to be avoided. There is always a chance someone will come along and sit on the basket :) This is an interesting company with an interesting product and some high-profile licencees of its technology but, especially in the current climate, it is going to take some BIG changes to get the share price moving up again (IMHO). Those changes include, a return of City optimism to the potential of tech companies, a few good working examples of the product in place (the mobile phone and car dash are the sort of thing I mean) and profitablility, which seems still to be a long way off. The company has every chance of being a big success but choosing the moment to re-enter the fray as an investor will be a difficult call. For once, I agree that TA will be a great help in determining that point of entry. StewJames summed it up nicely - "..Bottom line is there is no bottom line..." Billy, we all wish you well. Friday saw them drift to 190p by close of play.
In Technical Analysis and Computer Intelligence, skirbell was looking for a way to tie up neural networking (artifical intelligence) with rudimentary technical analysis - really trying to get the computer to learn as a alternative to learning personally. I think we are quite a way from that yet, although cassiopeia is considering the approach. As peterreidsmith commented, every investment bank in the world is looking for a system like that - machines are cheaper than people and, generally more reliable. bird, like most TAers, has done it the hard way. As is said here, TA is not an exact science and a lot of the interpretation is down to instinct and gut feel and knowing something about the trading pattern of each individual company you are looking at. As COLSMITH says, even the big hitters in the financial world, like Soros and Buffett, have come up with entirely different approaches to making money on the markets and both have been (generally) successful - especially by our lowly standards. I think a day or two on a course like Success Events - Advanced Technical Analysis is as good a place to start as any. There they deal with life experiences of TA and practical examples. After a course like that, you may see what an enormous job it would be to replace experience with a computer program.
Smartlogik is here (SLK) announced the new clothes of Bright Station which was the new clothes of....well, you know what I mean. I'm sure a lot of BBers hope that thunders is right that SLK is "...going to fly one day..." Big Dan keeps on keeping on. I guess the law of averages means he'll make it one day. But which day? Haystack strikes the right chord for me with "..window dressing to get the funding.." and "..It is the revenue that counts and we have not seen much of that....". I'm waitng but my breath is certainly not bated. By Friday close the shares stood at 4.5p bid. Not a very auspicious start to the proceedings - the past few days showing successive falls. I'm staying well clear, thank you. I hope Spear and najib will take care out there......
Is this the end of commercial radio as we know it? By the way so many sundry stocks in the sector are falling, you might certainly think so. I suppose this reflects the general pullback in corporate advertising which is the big income source they all rely on. Although SCOTTISH RADIO HOLINGS - Another Bin Bag Job ...... (SRH) started as specific to that company alone, the plague has now spread to the likes of Capital Radio and SMG, although CAP perked up a bit today on news that the grating Chris Tarrant is to stay with them and they have some new funding. As M.T.Glass says in Scottish Radio - Takeover???, "..not a happy sector.." And there, ever since Buggles sang "Video Killed The Radio Star" I've had my doubts! :)
Don't forget that the PC & MAC CLINIC - On line problem solving thread is still there to help with any technical problems you may come across. (FBB version is here) Subjects covered this week included tracking down IP addresses and getting the best speed out of your dial-up modem. Many thanks to Crocodile for giving up his time so freely and to other BBers like ExecLine and I know nothing (to mention but a few) for supplying links to some useful sites for problem solving and diagnostics and some sound advice. Tried PC PitStop yet? It can quickly run a health check on your PC and highlight any areas for concern. I run through it every weekend just to make sure no "bogies" have crept into the system. This has to be the most useful non-stock thread around. Thank you to all who have contributed and bailed me out of my (usually self-inflicted) problems from time-to-time.
Poster of the Week prize this week goes to COLSMITH whose Software dead or alive? thread on the FBB turned out to be one of the more engaging of the debates this week. Congratulations COLSMITH! Please drop me a line with a delivery address and I'll get your prize on its way. 
Now you are famous, how about including a few lines about yourself for the ADVFN Who's Who?
Good Hunting!
The ADVFN Who's Who is still growing and is now a quite long list. If you haven't sent me your bio yet, please drop me a few lines about yourself - a full editing service is provided! No e-mail addresses are published unless specifically requested.