Ms Intl. Share Price (MSI)

UK mrkts are closed for May Day holiday after the ftse ended up 41 8213 and 6% up ytd, leading the Dow averages for the first time since noone can remember when.

Japan and S.Korean mrkts are closed for Children's Day holidays, elsewhere its a mixed picture China, Taiwan, Singapore & Malaysia trade higher while NZ, Hong Kong and Indonesia trend lower.

Wall closed the week with strong gains across the board leaving the S&P up 7•5% this year. A weaker than expected jobs report pleased investors. Just 175k new jobs were created in April against 315k jobs in March leading to hopes of a September rate cut.

On back of US mrkts, Australia is notably better adding to gains in the previous 2 sessions. The ASX200 is up 53 to 7682 while the broader All Ordinaries (7946) is ahead 46 on back of major stocks Rio Tinto, BHP & Newmont on investor buy lists. The All Ordinaries contain 500 of the largest listed stocks and accounts for 97% of the mrkt. In the currency mrkt the Aussie dollar trades at $0•662.

Latest :- Vix 13. Brent $83.

Gold $2311. Copper $4•591.

Palm $1045. Silver $27•125.

$1•254. €1•166. WTi $78.

10ytb 4•518%.

FF +23. DF +34.

Morning all.

Nyse data

Issues 2879

Advances 2134

Declines 690

U/c 55

NH 123

NL 18

T/vol(bn) 3•9

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DJ +450 (38,676)

SP +64 (5128)

NS +349 (17,891)

R2 +10 (1301)

WTI $78

10ytb 4•518%

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MSCI(W) +40 (3361)

Gold Bugs -1 (261)

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Close :- Vix 13. Brent $83.

Gold $2301. Copper $4•568.

Palm $950. Silver $26•785.

Yen 153. Yuan 7•24.

$1•254. €1•165.

Morning all.

A big drop in volume terms this week versus last. As seems to be the case with

Msi there's no rhyme or reason for the volatility in trading deals and volumes from one week to the next.

Guess it's symptomatic of Aim shares largely dependent on newsflows for pis interest, not that MSi provides much for us in that regard. Whatever and one shouldn't read too much into these nos, buys outpaced sells by a factor of 1•32:1 over c.78 deals.

On a pre holiday weekend which usually sees share prices ease back on a "who'd be wanting to hold these?" type scenarios, seems very few did today as only 8 trades crossed the tape on a very dull day.

Here's the nos:-

Sp 890-920

L/yr 480-510

H 935

L 443

7/88 113

---

Trds 78

T/Vols 59,300

Buys 33,700

Sells 25,600

----

Av trd 760

Av trd£ 780

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Ytd

MSi +4%

100 +6%

250 +2%

All +5%

Aim +1%

---

Evening all.

Fed Chair Powell said the next move in rates would likely be down scotching trader talk of a raise.

On Wall St stocks fluctuated in early dealings before moving higher over the day. The major averages showed strong moves to the upside going into the close with all 3 posting solid gains. The S&P holding its 6% rise ytd.

Main talking point was Apple's

After hours gain to $183 despite iPhone sales dropping 10%. Investors were cheered by a $110bn buyback a 22% increase on last year's $90bn authorisation and the bigest share repurchases by a company in US history.

Berkshire Hathaway owns nearly 6% of Apple (906m shares) and is the 2nd largest investor after the Vanguard Fund Group. Buffet is not averse to selling Apple stock he sold 10m last year. The stock is down 7% ytd.

Gold is holding $2300 level as the US Labour mrkt continues to stabilise as jobless claims came in at 208,000 unchanged. Oils ($84) edged up after selling off to a 7 week low following inventories surging by 7•3m barrels to the highest levels since 6/23.

Issues 2866

Advances 2189

Declines 603

U/c 74

NH 80

NL 26

T/vol(bn) 4•4

------------

DJ +322 (38,226)

SP +46 (5064)

NS +230 (17,542)

R2 +19 (1291)

WTI $79

10ytb 4•584%

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MSCI(W) +28 (3322)

Gold Bugs +1 (262)

---------------

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $84.

Gold $2307. Copper $4•499.

Palm $950. Silver $26•875.

$1•255. €1•169.

FF +18. DF +244.

Morning all.

Nyse data

Issues 2867

Advances 1700

Declines 1102

U/c 74

NH 56

NL 36

T/vol(bn) 4•5

------------

DJ +87 (37,903)

SP -17 (5018)

NS -122 (17,319)

R2 +4 (1272)

WTI $79

10ytb 4•621%

-----------

MSCI(W) -11 (3294)

Gold Bugs +2 (260)

---------------

Latest :- Vix 15. Brent $84.

Gold $2314. Copper $4•566.

Palm $1012. Silver $26•825.

$1•253. €1•169.

FF +43. DF +176.

Morning all.