The Easter break reminded me with a bang what it is like living in a tourist spot. In one way it is quite exhilirating to see so many people about after our sleepy winter but on the other it is a bit of a pain trying to get anywhere. The car stayed permanently in the garage all weekened and will probably do so now until October.

I have been taken off the Zyban-based non-smoking programme as it was causing some wierd side effects such as loss of short-term memory and the onset of aggression. During the first few days of the course, I was completly disoriented and didn't know what day it was. (Normal behaviour for me, some might say.) So, although I have stumbled a bit and have succumbed to the odd cigarette when it became necessary, I have reduced my habit to only a few a day and have learned a little more discipline (and a few tricks) which have given me the hope that I can still get rid of the habit altogether.

After a long weekend to think about it, traders returned to their desks in a fairly positive mood this week. Any fears of another bloodbath were quickly quashed despite bad news filtering through from the US that Cisco were having a bad time (although talking up the future quite well). The FTSE100 lost a trifling 5 points on Tuesday which was a great fillip for all. On Wednesday the US Federal Reserve announced a half percent cut in interest rates which took everyone by surprise and sent the market into buy mode. In the US the news was greeted with something approaching euphoria and in London, the FTSE added an impressive 129 points, taking it to 5890. On Thursday, repositioning and some profit-taking saw a slight fall away in first line stocks but the technology sector still looked good. Friday was strangely muted as the news from the US overnight had been generally benign and Microsoft had given out an upbeat statement about future earnings. The London market tottered about aimlessly all day and the FTSE100 closed more or less where it started.

I managed to get myself on the Level 1 data streaming system beta test and it is looking quite slick. With that and the new look and feel to the Ad bar and the new-style help which have gone live this week, things are looking bright. (Have you tried clicking on the ?) The confusion over the appearance of the BB logo in the corner is well discussed in What is the new PBB logo supposed to be? with Capitalist's variation, among the more imaginative.



The Weekly BB Review

@@@@Arrangements for the Dodddy & Smelly London Night Out are well in hand and the list is growing fast. It is a great way for new users of both Bulletin Boards to put faces to names and get to know some of the regulars. moonblue has been good enough to do some searching around for hotel accommodation for those who would need to stay overnight. You can pick up all of the details from the thread, but the next date for your diary is 17th May. The venue is "Snows On The Green" restaurant in Shepherds Bush, not far from Hammersmith tube station. Smellie is in the middle of negotiating a set rate for the meal which should be in the region of £25-£30 pp plus drinks. I hope to see you there.

When liverbird began Jardine Lloyd Thomson......Super Suspicous !!!!!!!! way back in June last year, I think he was expecting quite a different turn of events than those which have since emerged. By April this year, Biffer seemed convinced they were taking off big time and despite a blip at the begining of 2001, they have performed quite well. Aquila was bucking the trend by calling them short as recently as this week but the share price still looked to be heading northwards, back to its old high. For the uninitiated, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group are an insurance and reinsurance brokerage whose CEO dumped £1.5m of stock this month after the share price had doubled in a year and following solid results. And still they rise.... Even Aquila seems to be getting bored with this one. (Back to talking ot himself!)

You just can't keep Biocompatibles International off the BB for long. This week Drug loaded stents for Biocompatibles sprung back to life thanks to probably0, doing his best to wind up Aquila, with some little success. Of course, Rayrac was there too (Are you really leaving us at the end of the month jACK?). By Wednesday, with the price hiked 4% on no particular news, Clueless and bones were in on the act. lodger was still playing the cynic, though one suspects it was partly to draw The Count out of his lair! Thursday saw a double digit percentage gain (37p) just to confound the critics, and a further 3.5p on Friday.

I was as baffled as Capitalist with the treatment of Cedar Group this week. As shown in cedar grp profit warning in disguise ? with dodddy posting up the company's trading statement which he transalted as a guarded warning. petec was a bit cynical about the compay's approach and maybe a bit doubtful that the bullish sentiments for next were justified. (There is a more expansive debate in Ceder - Good company - thoughts please). Whatever you decide, the City took it as a signal to mark up the shares 24p (14.5%) on Friday.

In How to con the people and rip them off!, Ekuuleus was concerned over how trades in Claims Direct were being reported – sales evidently being published an hour after buy transactions. The Kayak explanation was that “...shares with a NMS of greater than 1,000, trades more than 6 x NMS are delayed by one hour exactly, whether they are buys or sells. This is done automatically by the stock exchange computers. For CLA that works out at trades greater than 30,000 shares.” Of course, Kayak’s in-depth knowledge of the machinations of the LSE are really down to Martini (according to Martini, that is.) piscean (and I) would like to know if there are any other little quirky things we ought to know about market reporting.

A good discussion ensued in 25% in a week- guaranteed-only for over fiftees tho which attracted me as I might soon admit to being in that age group :=). Kicked off by No1, the subject is Stakeholder Pensions where, as with most things recently disgorged by our Chancellor, Prudence Brown, there is some confusion as to how the rules apply. A good debate with titus left me a little wiser - I'll have to read it again. mr elbee reckoned filling an ISA with ADVFN shares, a much better option. Roll on 75!

bird's Bear Club is expanding still, despite the current upturn in the market. This week jazza created a post which will echo the experiences of many, I guess. (No: 73) Complacency is the enemy as he says. "....(if) you firmly believe that the recent rally will be followed by renewed selling - maybe you are correct but then again, maybe you are becoming complacent." was aimed at those dedicated to seeing the market reverse again. Tubby doubted that experienced traders would have overlooked covering their positions. (However, the less experienced might still be vulnerable.) A couple of SpiceBoy's short positions are nearing stopout. Good to see those stops being applied - certainly shouldn't be complacent about them!

In my recent round-ups of ongoing threads giving constant updates, I overlooked the series of SignalWatch threads created by nirvs such as Dow SignalWatch-Explosive Move; watch for a retracement on Thursday. These commentaries draw on SignalWatch's daily commentary from Ed Downs and are a good way to get a picture of what is going on in the wider world. (I realise there may be some ulterior motive at work here, but the commentaries are still worthy of a glance.)

It is difficult to imagine that in a thread bearing the title "Go to bed" said Sardine, where Trawler tracks the slaps on the wrist given out daily by our fishy friend, that it would be possible to go "off thread" but it was managed this week by Forsaken who has accumulated about 3/4+m, over 0.75 million feet, of 3.75"/7.5" ips mixed 2 & 4 track "proper" reel-to-reel tapes recorded in late 60's/early 70's. Poor guy can't find a modern conventional tape deck anywhere to be able to dub them to CD! Keep taking the tablets AJB! Could soon be time for another name change.

Among the big events this week were news that Limpsfield Chartist and his good lady will be having an additional trend line in the the family mid-May (suggestions for names are always welcome) and Dil was 21 again, again, again..... :=) Congratulations and good wishes to you all!

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Free.......

Northgate Information Solutions has had its share of pain over the last few months but seems to have genuinely clambered clear of the most recent fall. In Anybody fancy a Northgate?, started back on October by Dorsey, when things were looking a bit more rosey, has carried on tracking the company. Their announcement this week of a modest deal with Lanarkshire NHS Trust, posted up for us by supersec, was momentarily poo-pooed by Gerard J as too small to warrant any publication but I rather agree with Bargain, danMAR and trailblazer that any positive PR for a technology company in the current climate is worth going with. I know Gerard J does too really! ;=) As stevo123 says, there is a lot of strong opposition out there for NIS to contend with and any win will be hard fought and worthwhile reporting. The shares had a good run this week - whether the news helped or not is academic - and ended at 58p which is much more comfortable than last week's close.

antglu1 decided it was time for a review of Digital Animations' situation in Re-cap on DAG. spud picked on a news item which prepared the ground. "...expected to unveil its first full-year profits next month, although investors are looking for licensing deals to boost its flagging share price...." reproducing a report of which this line sums up the hopes of holders. ARGY2 was pleased with the content but less so with the author - Mark Watson-Mitchell is not the most-loved of the City. At least now, share price targets are more realistic. They took a bit of a battering on Friday with a 7%+ fall which undid a lot of the good gain earlier. Shame. Maybe next week...

IDN TELECOM (IDN) was back in play again this week with jimted wondering what to expect after buying in on the back of humbugg's enthusiasm for the shares. davewuzz and ErrollFlynn also joined the party. The share price took a turn for the better this week, as -GoldDog- had hoped, on no volume at all to speak of. Sounds like an interesting one to keep a watch on next week! Added to my Monitor now. Good luck guys!

The Councillor was more interested in football than the stock market this week. Weekend Football - Spread punts ?? outlines the variety of bets available. The Blacker Prince was grateful for some explanation of some of the finer points, while WESTHAM sounds to be backing - you guessed it.....!

Choice of my Poster of the Week this week goes to -GoldDog- from the Free Bulletin Board, who is a prolific contributor and always comes across with enthusiasm and good spirits. I particularly like his series of THE SHARES CAFE threads which remind me of the old B-B-Bugle days and are a feature I would like to see more generally recognised. Congratulations -GoldDog-! Keep up the good work. Please drop me a line with a delivery address and I'll get your prize on its way. At the same time, how about sending me a few lines about yourself to include in the 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.