The key reports last week were based on inflation. In the UK we saw the PPI (the factory inflation) fall slightly, mainly attributable to the reduction in crude and commodity prices.

Consumer inflation was higher than expected in both the UK and US, although both BoE and the Feds are expecting them to go up slightly more now before starting to fall.

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There must have been a sigh of relief a few minutes ago when the UK Producer Price Index was released. This shows us inflation at the factory gate, both input (cost of raw materials) and output (increase in prices passed on by factories), came in lower than expected.

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The good balance of stocks within the virtual fund has seen it through the turmoil with oil prices, that said, we have also seen a rally from the 38% retrace level in oil resulting in a rally in many of the stocks.

I have moved a couple of stops up to lock in more of the gains, but aside from that I have not made any other changes. We were stopped out of CRR at break even.

Here is the latest update, www.ezeetrader.co.uk/stockwatch/280508.xls   

Best wishes

Kym

We are see some further good progress with some of our stocks this month, with the virtual fund now up by 6.6% month to date.

You can review the current progress on the following link.

Http://www.ezeetrader.co.uk/stockwatch/210508.xls

Best wishes

Kym

We have seen a large sell off of some of the best performing stocks over the last week. This is partially related to the sell off in some commodities and related stocks and probably partly due to further margin calls.

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We have a busy week in front of us with some key economic reports and decisions being made. Most focus will be on the US Interest rate Statement, the consensus is that rates will be cut by at least 0.5%, although more could well be forthcoming. Watch out for emergency responses to the troubles being faced by the banking sector.

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It would appear that consumers are showing signs of cutting back significantly, as we saw both the US and UK retail sales fall far short or expectations. Inflation rose by 2.1% on an annualised basis for the UK rising by 0.6% in the month. US core inflation increased by 0.2% for the month.

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Last week was relatively short of news although we still saw a few surprises. The Halifax House Price Index showed that house prices in the UK increased by 1.3% in December. The UK interest rate decison was a surprise for some as the rate was left untouched, we would suspect that the minutes will be of greater interest when we see how the voting went.

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We have an important week ahead of in terms of economic data. This starts in proper on Wednesday, with a good spread of key figures being released, including the FOMC interest rate decision. We are an hour ahead this week as the US move their clocks back on the 4th November. Make a special note of this if you are looking to join Kevin in the trading room for the FOMC announcement on Wednesday, or it will be all over before you get there!

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The first copy of this got wiped somehow, so here it is again, plus I have addded next mondays….

The most significant reports this week are the interest rate statements from the European Central Bank and Bank of England due on Thursday, followed by the US employment report which is due of Friday.  

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