Travel in the UK seems to have reverted to the traumatic and long uncomfortable experience it was in early Victorian times. This week I have trekked across country to a reclusive spot in Wiltshire for the SWIG meeting which involved sitting behind heavy traffic for endless miles on roads not suitable for anything more sophisticated than a donkey cart with the rain and gales sweeping across the plains, creating an endless torrent of muck and rubbish from the wheels in front. The following day was a nightmarish rail trip to London which didn't go exactly according to the "special emergency timetable" published by Great Western. An unscheduled change of trains in Bristol involved an hour's delay. That was swiftly followed by a similarly horrendous experience on the Tube which was in chaos. The return journey was equally bad, getting kicked off the Tube in Oxford Street when the Bakerloo line was closed for an emergency and missing my rail connection at Paddington. So, my "quick" trip to London ended up taking from 06:50 until 22:30. Bring back the old stagecoach, I say! I read a news item somewhere this week that it was quicker to fly KLM from Birmingham via Amsterdam to London than it was to take the train direct. Only downside was it cost nearly £700. Maybe if some of the companies shunning regional airports took a closer look at the possibilities, they might see some opportunities in re-introducing short internal flights.

Monday trading seemed like a flower in the desert as the markets took George W at his word that he WAS the new US President and the arguing was over. The FTSE100 rose nearly 50 points and investors were out seeking bargains after the previous week's sell-off. On Tuesday, the market seemed more concentrated on another bad performance from the NASDAQ than a better one from the DJIA and everyone rushed for the exit. The result was a swathe of red with only selected retailers making any real progress. The FTSE100 was off almost 125 points with all other major indices suffering too. A similar story emerged on Wednesday with tech stocks continuing to take a battering and the main index falling further still. Thursday's US opening was hardly encouraging and again London took a hamering with the FTSE creeping ever nearer to the important 6000 level. Friday morning was comfortingly blue with even the Techmark making a fist of it. As the US too opened positively, at least everyone can go home for the weekend knowing it is not quite yet the end of the world. Maybe nerves will be a steadier and tempers a little less frayed next week. :=)

Don't forget the User Questionnaire Competition! There are some good prizes up for grabs just for answering a few simple questions. Entries close at Noon on Monday, so there is still time to get your entry in over the weekend.

The new ADVFN site in France (ADVFN.fr) has had a bit of a makeover. I know any observations you have on the layout will be appreciated back at HQ. If you have any comments, please check out the threads running on both Bulletin Boards. Is this the shape of things to come here?



The Weekly BB Review

It was hard to find any good news this week and even when some arrived it had little or no effect on market sentiment which remains dismal. GEO Interactive had one of those weeks. Any one got the latest charts for GEO tells the story. Great news from blueflame and DocProc on Wednesday that the company were back in the limelight, developing new stuff for the Nokia Communicator made no impact at all. As pommy said, "....6 months ago, this would have put 50% on the share price....". Instead it was a very temporary blue status before Thursday brought a return of the downward trend. I suppose news of the very poor take-up of WAP phones is not going to help any company with a big presence in the mobile phone market and any company with bases in Israel and the US at the moment is going to struggle with the political unrest or uncertainty which is present there. Then Friday's renaissance brought all the smiles back as the share price was marked up just over 17%! Oh faith!

Following their recent bull run, there seemed nothing to stop High-Point Rendel going on and on until....Dil got a copy of the Annual Report. High-Point Rendel Look Interesting tells the tale. With cat, Addo and big vern leading the pack, it looked like glory all the way. On Tuesday stevelyons was applauding it as his only success of the day but on Wednesday jhurbanek was seeing doubts as the trend showed signs of turning but next day persuaded himself that all was well despite another slight hiccup in the price. They finished the week all quiet.

Biomax was all of a flutter this week when Arcadia Group reversed recent trends in retail shares to continue improving - the November chart looks like the progress of a two-stage rocket. The new enthusiasm might keep Clem and jackrussel wagging their tails too! willo thinks a big institutional interest is behind the new momentum which would make sense given the most recent AFX news items have been regarding a shift of interest from one major to another. Whatever the reason, it did make a pleasant change to see a little blue on the screen for a while. A bit of profit-taking on Friday brought reality back to the situation, but the long-term trend is certainly positive. At the same time, Debenhams, Arcadia's old partner-in-prime, and New Look were also showing continued improvement. Is this just retailers being seen as a safe bet leading up to the Christmas splurge of High Street spending or something more solid? frenchman warns that the momentum may not continue for too much longer and may well prove to be right. Only the latter ended the final session blue!

Fibernet getting better all the time might have applied to both share price and products when Vanilla started this thread in August last year but it has been a rocky ride in recent months. Despite better than anticipated results, a call for new cash didn't go down too well. The rights issue was complicated enough for Blighter to create a little formula in explanation. Why companies insist on doing this, beats me. There must be more simple ways. and even a sizeable purchase of shares by the Chairman did little to kerb the drop. At the weekend, Baden was left wondering why this wasn't a shorting opportunity. Pitbull and Camp Freddie reirterated the view that the fall was almost solely down to the rights issue and Lemain remained forever hopeful that something would spark a revival. pommy, it seemed, didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but as a long term holder was comfortably in profit anyway. As he says, this is "...a hi tech company making a profit, expanding into Europe where they have already obtained licences, and a massive order book." It certainly begs the big question. What more can the market expect? tightfist was please to see a sizeable purchase of shares in Fibernet Group by the Chairman but it did little to kerb the drop. Friday brought some relief with a 5.8% rise in price but not enough to convince me yet that the tide has turned.

A little light relief was provided this week on .....sixpence to a silver sixpence ? started by Addo to demonstrate how Clem spends his pocket money and rolling on to pre-decimalisation reflections. Kayak's suggestion that Clem might use a Success Events course to cure him of the "averaging down" habit could apply elsewhere too I fear. As the week wore on and the thread developed, so, thankfully, did the senses of humour and it ended as a refreshing trip down Memory Lane. However, Mr Potato Head likening Addo to Claire Rayner was going a bit too far! By the way, does anyone remember the old silver fourpenny pieces like Granny used to put in our Christmas pud? Or I am the only oldie here?

When Bullshare kicked off Light the blue touch paper and stand back this week, it must have struck a chord with quite a few BBers who have found it hard to get things right this year and wish they could go back and do it again - slightly differently this time! He seems to think that it will be well into 2001 before any normality returns. Addo recalls one call he made right, back in the Summer, and Clem was generally happy that his contrarian approach had stood up so well. rizgar's Wall Street quote, "...The bears have Thanks Giving... the bulls have Xmas..." raised a smile but The Real Deal was sounding a bit glum about the whole situation, suggesting we might be in for a loooong haul. PW, fundamentalist to the core, has been warning of the pattern to be expected for months now and takes no pleasure in knowing he was right. Irlon and Dil are hoping the Fed will take the opportunity before year end to give the market some support by trimming US interest rates and LJS has reluctantly looked at shorting but rightly points out that the Steady Risers threads (This is November's) have thrown up some good opportunities amongst mid-market stocks. Robert gave us a comprehensive rundown on his performance this year - seems strangely familiar - and Camp freddie was hoping that E*T's "Fiver Friday" might be the saviour. (Although gumdrop gets a better deal than that all month!) Bones brought the US shenanigans into perspective for us while mike1w added the "envy" touch by letting us all know that he is happy to make his own decisions whilst strolling along a warm Florida beach. robber has learned the most important lesson of all - patience - and is happy now to wait on the sidelines until the real recovery arrives. An excellent thread with a bit of everything in it and certainly worth a read.

It was good to see our old friend Martini posting again so soon after his surgery. When I spoke to him during the week he was in good spirits, although still in a great deal of pain. His main concern seemed to be how we would be able to get him onto the Christmas Cruise in a wheelchair! If he is up to it, we'll find a way, I'm sure. Continued good luck in your recovery Martini!

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

The PAN ANDEAN RESOURCES (PRE) thread is now reaching mammoth proportions and will very soon hit 1500 postings. Although the share price has drifted off through November, there has been little sign of any drop in the enthusiasm of the fan club. arthurp8 sees recent selling activity provoked by "tree shaking" in advance of good news and, while he, M.Darken and CURRYPASTRY are holding their nerve, andreso sounded decidely shaky about the current situation. Pedo was relying on the tea-leaves to keep him in touch and Thoroughbred continued bullish buying. Pan2 set a few feathers flying (to the wrong continent?) but failed to come up with anything concrete (unless I've missed it!). abur43 decided Thursday that he would be closing his short positions and going long next week whilst Dickensian Blighter still has a long way to go to recoup his long position. As November has now rolled into December and there is no sign of any announcement from the company, I hope the "averaging down" doesn't end in tears. k4lia introduced some humour into the discussion on Friday which I feel may come in handy. With so many emotions tied up in this stock, I worry that when reality finally dawns, it will live up to expectations. A little blue arrow on Friday will have helped ease a few weekend worries.

When all went quiet for a while on the Pacific Media front, superpete decided it was time to start that snowball running again - hence Pacific Media Official Discussion Thread(2). nig295 questioned the strategy of holding long-term and at the same time constantly taking profit on small rises in price but superpete stuck to his guns, quoting a news article suggesting that the big seller was now out of the market and the move to a full listing was imminent. As Rickster pointed out, the news did nothing for the price. He seems set to wait until the new year for any concrete news and movement. gymbod was reassured by the renewed interest in PCM and went as far afield as Singapore for news. hookie was just hoping that the NASDAQ effect would disappear! A lot of hope seems to lie in the disposal of the multiplex cinema business but ianwest doesn't see that as an easy task - or the complete answer. The share price closed down a tad on Friday and the spread stayed reasonable too. Now what does that tell us?

With BSE and CJD back in the news, it is no surprise to see renewed interest this week in Proteome Sciences results in big news CJD + Stroke tests (PRM). An enlightening post from MegRyan clearly sees PRM with an advantage over rival testing products as their's is already on the market. terry91 was clearly impressed! Muchos Wonga has been analysing the chart pattern in some detail and appears to be pretty well spot-on with his prognosis. Although there was a midweek scare to see off those with a tight stop-loss, the share price ended the week in good spirits and approaching the 80p mark which a lot are taking as the safety line. This story will run for quite a while yet, I feel.

Although clearly the reference to Bulletin Board comment in the statement put out this week by Minmet wasn't specific to this BB, it did suggest that there was no substance to some of the claims recently made regarding the company's health and progress. (RNS Statement). There is certainly nothing there to suggest that the shares will be suspended as Carl Coombes reported rumoured in Suspension. All this seemed to do was resurrect the discrepancy in views between Mr Ashley Jamnes and goatherd, et al. gausie was at his provocative best when he started Minmet - are they any good? and certainly stood well back after lighting the blue touchpaper. With columnist Michael Walters now appearing to back off from his previously bullish stance on these, I think I'll continue to steer clear despite Friday's modest rise in price.

Poster of the Week this week is Robert for his soul-bearing summary of what has been a difficult year. I think many of us will be able to draw parallels with his experiences without necessarily having come out of it so well. Congratulations Robert! If you will e-mail me your delivery address, I will see that your prize finds it way to you very soon.

I would like to introduce the opportunity for guest reviewers to put across their own views and summaries of the activities on the Bulletin Boards. If you would like to put your own views across, please contact me and we can arrange dates. The copy could be sent to me in any form - Word, text or e-mail - and I will be happy to handle the conversion to publishing format and provide any editing necessary. This idea proved very popular in "the old days" and I'm sure would be so again. If you would like to have a crack at your own BB Weekly Review, please drop me a line here . Let me know whether you are from the Premium or Free BB so that I can plan the appropriate space.

With December now upon us, it is time to give some thought to what has gone on during the year. It is Competition Time! Between now and the end of the year, I will be asking you to VOTE for your favourite BBers in the following categories :-

1) Poster of the year 2000
2) Most constructive poster
3) Most amusing poster
4) Lurker of the year
5) Ramper of the year
6) One line quote of the year

There are two separate competitions - one for the Free BB and one for the Premium BB. (Please indicate in your voting, which BB you are using) There will be valuable prizes for the winning nominees - I will announce details of those later. So start now thinking of who you would like to nominate - one choice per category - and when you have decided, send your entries to me here .



Good Hunting!