Technical problems at ADVFN persisted this week but, as reported in detail by JBM(ADVFN), the performance issues have been traced back to Colt Telecom who provide the communications link for the site (and for ONL). The work which the technical team have put in to make the internal systems work as efficiently as possible should bear extra fruit now that the comms problems have been identified and resolved. Ironic that one of the more interesting threads running on the BB this week is entitled Colt - the bears are circling!

Uncertainty in the US seemed to put a damper on things in London on Monday with no sign of any enthusiasm in any sector. On Tuesday, the FTSE100 saw a modest gain with the banking sector leading the way. Trading, however, remained largely defensive. Fears about debt mountains and credit ratings within the telecommunications sector persisted throughout and were the main reason for a slight fallback in the main index on Wednesday, although it just seems to be general disinterest in trading which caused the slight fall the following day. There was a little more action on Friday as everyone geared up for the long weekend with all areas of the market looking pretty positive. I never like to keep many short-term positions open over a long weekend (saves unnecessary worry), so I'm pretty well closed out for a few days. Look forward to next week with relish. Something tells me it will be quite fun!

The Weekly BB Review

The National Lottery supplier selection lottery has been a big talking point all week, whether in the pub or on the BB with Wickham's Fancy asking the question Stocks to Gain on Branson Lottery Win????? Intelligent Environments Group and Screen are coming out as early favourites. The spreads are currently of Grand Canyon proportions which will put off a lot of potential punters. With a further month before a decision is made by the Lotteries Commission, there is plenty of time for more speculation. It is interesting to note how many IEN theads there are on the BB. Any involvement for them would make a lot of BBers very happy.

e-venturer, contrary to his name, began looking for opportunities amongst the more traditional investments with Looking for Old economy growth shares, suggesting that Macfarlane Group might provide some profit. Interim results were reasonable, considering the recent restructuring undertaken by the company and the Chairman's statement was suitably upbeat (as they usually are, regardless). However, that did little to move the share price which continues to hover around the 65p mark. fjm considered ISA International another example to watch, although recent performance has been less than encouraging. With distribution companies working on notoriously tight margins, it will take a lot to persuade me that this one will fly. Morse Code still thinks Marks & Spencer will come good. Other suggestions included Expamet International - nlb; Rentokil Initial - crocodile; WH Smith - Dil and Hercules Property Services - bones (which had a good week.) juzzle set out quite a selection worth investigating and Spin doctor warned against buying shortly after tips in IC - good advice as it always distorts the price picture. A wise man told me that the best day to buy a weekend tip was Wednesday, after the quick-profit merchants have bailed out and the price is more realistic.

One genuine "bricks and mortar" company in the BB focus this week was Crest Nicholson (CRST) which crocodile suggested adding to the "watch" list. Adamh seemed surpised to note our scaley friend was "bottom fishing", but isn't that what Crocs are best at? With Moneybags' (intellectual) weight behind them, how can they possibly fail? From pre-market Friday they looked good and ended the day a further 4p ahead.

Independent Energy Holdings, turned out to be one of last week's winners for those who weren't too eager to get in and waited for the price to stabilise. Once again, BBers were "blamed" for pushing the price higher. I, for one, hope Mr Euro meets that guy in the pub again who pushed out the original tip (Acronem has offered to buy the beer!). I suspect JonC is in the same position. While quassim lost the plot and jopjop tried to make some logic out of the illogical, the rest of the BB's interested parties awaited an announcement from the Company to either comfirm or deny the bid situation. After a risky punt last week, I've taken out enough to cover my initial outlay and am happy to sit on a bit of profit for a day or two longer but I will be ready to bolt for the door at the slightest sign of trouble.

An excellent rundown by eldo on the state of the computer games industry (as opposed to the technology market in general) led to some good debate this week and the figures he quoted, gleaned from the US, could have a lot of relevance here. (UK Games shares set to rocket!?) Whilst Pooh was unreserved in agreement, dingley raised some doubts as to whether the imminent arrival of Playstation2 and the ECTS show at Olympia would have any positive effect on the market. Given the launch delays of PS2 and the poor press that has generated, it is easy to understand her point of view. While Mealiff and DarrenS admitted to being raging softies (hope you read the Daily Mail on Friday morning and got out before the profits warning was announced), the arrival of PW on the thread seemed to be the catalyst for turning ECTS into a BB social event with March adding to the numbers. If you are at Olympia on Tuesday, you don't know who you might bump into! At least thanks to TechNet, you will now recognise PW whatever mood he is in - The PW Files. Just hope he has that giant Amex card with him at the time!

The Social Event of the Year took place on Thursday night - Dodddy and Smelly's London night out - which was immediately evident on Friday morning as so many of the regular names were missing from the early list of posters. In fact, it sounds as though a great time was had by all. I regret not being able to make it - especially regret not being able to share dingley's "comforts" - I suspect that Martini and I are unanimous in that! As for the secret of MegRyan - I guess we'll have use our imaginations! A big "thank you" is due to Smellybogbrush and Dodddy for coming up with such a good format. Maybe you can help organise a special event for all of we walking wounded who missed this one!

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

Forty introduced us to Meanfiddler (MEF) at the end of July when the share price had shown a healthy rise to around 8.75p. At the time only tasar, Domi and castaway showed any particulat interest. Maybe the company's plans to broadcast concerts over the internet sound a bit too close to those of Arthur Shaw which was seen to be struggling a bit. Deals announced this week with Yahoo and Amazon and highlighted by Mealiff, promised to provide that extra momentum the shares needed to get the out of the current rut but they proved more stubborn than expected, despite a few sizeable purchases. The price settled down at 9.5p bid.

Ignoring one or two irrelevant postings, the debate and advice in Financial Spread Betting, begun as a question by Maninblack, is worth a look. As this is, potentially, a very high risk strategy, it is worth knowing the ground rules very well before being tempted in. moriarty was surprised that a "cautious" trader such as Belsizepark considered it had "...quite a lot going for it...." :=). Morally bankrupt appears to have accounts with all of the major players in the industry. As the attraction of each individual bet is in the spread itself, his Golden Rule - "the bigger the percentage spread to the midpoint the more the bet is in the favour of the Company" is worth keeping etched onto your screen. Also setting a bail-out limit is crucial if you are going to protect yourself from sudden movements outside your anticipated range. As Robbb points out, IG Index (at least) have an account option with the facility to set a stop loss. If you are tempted into spread betting, take care that you know exactly what you are letting yourself in for. It is not a strategy for the faint of heart (or the thin of wallet!).

Whatever interpretation you put on the arithmetic (or whether PEG calculations are of any interest to you at all), the debate on Is BP worth a Punt? is worth a look. Will BP Amoco continue to thrive when the oil price settles down again, as it surely will? And will the current bout of buying back its own shares add anything to shareholder value? Luthor sounds as though he will take some dissuading that this is not a good investment and is probably encouraged by Tinker's posting that at least one analyst thinks there is a big upside if the 650p barrier is broken. On this week's performance, I think a "wait and see" period is called for as the price showed signs of weakening. But, even with volumes slightly distorted by the buy-back of around 5m shares, there is a lot of interest out there. One to add to the Monitor and watch a while.

As though anticipating coverage by Bloomberg Television and Investor's Chronicle, mcbslea began L Garner Group - Appears Good Value(LGD) on Thursday. However, for all of the coverage, the share price continued its inexorable way down. In my opinion, the bottom can't be far away but it is too soon to call. Remember the "falling knife" analogy? Worth watching but my money is staying in my pocket until I see a return to favour for the engineering sector in general - which may be some time. All recent analyst forecasts I have seen for this company are positive and, although some were over-optimistic, any company which warns that its full year profit increase is only likely to be 50%, deserves a better fate.

Sharpest bit of humour of the week is undoubtedly the short interchange here. Well, I thought it was funny!

Winner of my Poster of the Week competition this week is eldo for his rundown and research on the computer games industry. If you will e-mail me a delivery address, eldo, I will see that a quality bottle of Champagne wings it way to you very soon.

The pics below which I though might interest one or two, are from the Regional Reps gathering in mid-June and are produced courtesy of Mealiff. Sorry about the delay which was partly due to our photographer's Club 65-95 holiday in Ibiza and my temporary "homelessness". I'm sure you'll recognise a face or two.....
KARL - PIX HERE!!!!

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.