With the widespread publicity for ADVFN last week and over the weekend there has been a quicker-than-anticipated increase in new subscribers to the system and this has caused some heavier than expected loads on the systems which the technical team have been working hard to resolve. Saturday and Sunday user levels have also increased very well since the introduction of The Weekend! feature. Its great to see so many new names on the Bulletin Boards.

Last week's Barclays/Woolwich takeover news ensured that the banking sector was active on Monday with further speculation about possible takeovers and targets. Renewed optimism in the major pharmaceutical companies also helped to make sure the FTSE100 ended the day ahead. On Tuesday it was the turn of the oil sector to lead the way as the price of crude showed further increases. Selected technology companies also showed a new lease of life and the main index rose again. Banking shares continued to drive the FTSE100 forward on Wednesday but with the level of bidding for mobile phone licenses in Germany threatening to get out of hand, weakness amongst the UK companies involved pulled the index into negative territory on Thursday. All of the main indices finished in the blue on Friday, for which we should be thankful. A less than inspiring opening in the US might herald a weak start in London on Monday. But - that's next week. There's a whole weekend to enoy first!

The Weekly BB Review

I know nothing resurrected Keystones Rise this week, suggesting that Keystone Software might be on the move again and asking for the chartists' latest view. Limpsfield Chartist sounded as positive as he could but with enough provisos to suggest he was not as confident in the continued improvement in share price as everyone might hope. (Its called hedging your bets :=) G.) Biffer was happy enough with the appraisal but there was just a hint of irony in the response from Biomax. Rucksack, anticipating the company's impending move to the techMARK100, saw that as a reason for excitement but with the tech index underperforming at the moment, I'm not convinced the move will be as universally welcomed as he hopes. That said, the shares continued to rise at a steady pace and are definitely worth watching.

Following a Success Events training course last month, FB has been on the lookout for opportunities and came up with JD Wetherspoon as showing all of the signs he had been told to look out for. He reproduced the charts on JD Wetherspoon - A few questions and was pleased to see how the share price reacted to MM trades just as the training course had suggested it would. PitBull kindly posted the trade information to back up FB's conclusion. schmichaell, I'm sure, was interested to hear how easy it is to pick up MM trades via the Top Lists facility. I hope a few others have cottoned on to the useful data available via this facility. It won't throw out "Buy, Buy, Buy!" recommendations but will often highlight little anomolies (like this one) which are worth further investigation. The JDW share price continued to improve through the week and should provide at least one BBer with a healthy profit. As BROCKMAN pointed out, we must be about due for a rundown on the latest quarter sales figures. Maybe someone already knows what is in the report. Well spotted Sir!

The beer and brewing theme seemed to run throughout the week with different companies in the limelight. For instance Wolverhampton & Dudley - Something brewing?, thanks to soundbite gave early warning that there was something afoot with the Black Country brewer of Hansons and Banks's beers. It sort of intermingled with Eldridge & Pope - Somethin' a Brewin'? started a little earlier by ildamiano. Crocodile seemed ideally placed to check out the Black Country connection and quickly (and unselfishly) offered to tour the local establishments in search of news and brews. Martini, of course, was happy to help in any way he could :=). Sincere thanks to Biffer, soundbite and halibut for keeping us posted on the news. Some good discussion on this one on the Free BB too (ELDRIDGE POPE - CAN WE EXPECT A BID?) thanks to kjc and an excellent summary from TheRealWooders. Wolverhamton & Dudley Brewers fell back on Friday as the company spurned the advances from its present suitors.....but, sometimes that is just part of the big game. Wait and see! Eldridge Pope lost a little ground too on Friday after announcing the addition of ten new pubs to their portfolio. Funny old world! Still, it is nice to make a few bob and then celebrate in the product which made the profit for you. The best possble recycling.

To anyone with any exposure to Independent Energy Holdings, the smallest crumb of comfort is welcome at the moment. With the share price tumbling from in excess of £35 to the current 400p or so in the space of less than six months, they are back to 1998 levels and still falling. When Mr Euro kicked off IEH ....- Bid on the way on Tuesday, it suggested that something of a miracle might be on the horizon. Despite increased volumes and a high percentage of buy transactions, the price fell off another 11% or so on the day. A further 17% fall on Wednesday suggested the downward momentum might be being helped by some aggressive shorting activity. (Now who would do such a thing? Hmmmmmmm.) Friday morning showed a blue arrow but mainly because the spread had been reduced to a more sensible level. Trades picked up as the day wore on and the spread widened again - but maintaining the bid level. mancunium echoed a few thoughts and worries with "....every day that passes now will add to the concerns about the gravity of the debtor problem. The accounts will not be finalised until the debtor write-off (if there is to be one) is agreed. A bit of a tricky one this......" Concerns about the renewal of banking terms were also expressed by qassim. The activity picked up pace in the afternoon after an M trades suggested that at least one Market Maker was short of stock. Conjecture that there might be a stake-builder in the wings was a little premature. As mancuniumn said earlier in the day "...whichever way it goes, it adds a bit of interest to the daily drudgery of making money !" If only it were always thus!

When DocProc asked How Many Browser Windows do you have Open? it showed an interesting mix of PC usage across the BBers who replied. There are some very busy PCs out there. One of the objects of the thread was to see if we, as users, could help the performance situation while the ADVFN Technical Team work on the system. Whilst not all browser sessions are deicated to ADVFN, it is interesting to note the high number of parallel sessions people run. DocProc himself admitted having between 10 and 20 sessions open while Aquila and StockChopper have 20 to 30 and Addo probably tops the league with 40 or more. My old PC creaks at more than 8 and Novision felt a bit out of things with 4. Some good techie advice for those who generally stick so single sessions came from jopjop who also explained what that little Windows logo button is there for on the keyboard. Croc, it seems, uses it as a life safer.........

As though to further emphasise the international flavour of the BB, mobile dealer needed help on the Italian connection in Italy Based Traders - Buon Giorno. Acorn1 was soon on hand with the advice needed. It is good to see the family helping each other so willingly. That's what its all about!

Another example is crocodile's URGENT EMAIL VIRUS WARNING which is worth taking note of. General advice would be not to open mail attachments unless you are 100% sure you know where they originated and that you can trust them. Take care - its a jungle out there! Thanks for the warning Croc. @@@@

Meanwhile, in the land of the Free.......

The Eurasia Mining soap opera continued this week with Ashley James finding some support from The Reprobate (I presume "proselytising evangelist" is a term of endearment!) and some interesting details from Sergei in Is it a ramp I see before me? - Ashley James and EUA but the share levelled off as traded volumes reduced to a trickle. There's always next week!

Woz picked up an old, old thread on Rage Software but, despite enthusiastic noises from Haystack, Rogerthat, jellykin and Jake J, the share price is sadly just short of the level it was at when Summit started the ball rolling at the beginning of September 1999, having been three times that value in March this year. IF the new developments they are working on are as good as their stuff usually is and IF the hardware it is being written for is released on schedule and IF Microsoft... A whole lot of IFs there, but as one who has followed the trials and tribulations of this company for almost five years now, there is always hope. Rage on!

Vodafone's bumpy slide down the snake seemed to be continuing, despite protestations on the BB (VOD) from The Sultan, Maninblack and Howarth39. A more realistic timescale for recovery came from ding dong. With the price off another couple of points on Friday, unless there is some positive press over the weekend, next week could be more of the same. Recovery will come about, I've no doubt, but guessing the bottom is a dodgy business.

On the shopping list for Alexei this week was Somerfield who have their AGM looming up on 13th September. Whether or not the company has turned the corner is still conjecture but in Has SOMERFIELD hit the floor? the general opinion seems in favour of YES. terry91 and mcbslea have taken their profit out already but Rogerthat and Goldfinger think there might be more mileage in these as a possible bid-target. Shares in Somerfield have certainly shown steady recovery over the last month and, despite modest volumes, continued to rise on Friday. Now around the 80p mark, if any of the bid rumours have legs, maybe the 110p target mentioned is not so far away. A concerted TV advertising campaign is certainly keeping the company name in the public eye.

A dire warning note from PW on Thursday for any holders Datrontech sounded ominous. If you missed it, and are a holder, it may be worth checking out the thread. PW has a habit of being one step ahead.......


Poster of the Week this week is FB for kicking off the JD Wetherspoon thread and demonstrating both the practical use the toolset available via ADVFN and the value of education, education, education - in this case via a Success Events course. Don't forget the Top Lists facility. There is a lot of information available there which can help you spot an opportunity early, as in the case of our lucky winner. If you will e-mail me a delivery address, FB, I will see that a quality bottle of Champagne arrives on your doorstep.

Good Hunting!

I still need more new entries for the ADVFN Who's Who! It is expanding steadily but has slowed down this week. Why not let your fellow BBers know a little about where you are coming from? If you haven't sent me your bio yet, please drop me a few lines about yourself - a full editing service is provided! For those concerned about security, any e-mails sent to me are held securely on my own system and only an edited version of the entry appears on the public pages of ADVFN's system. No e-mail addresses are published unless specifically requested.