Another weekend, another WICS - this time from the depths of a somewhat cool but lovely Swedish forest near the Norwegian border - isn't it amazing what modern technology can achieve? You just need to plug a wee thingie that you rent from the mobile phone company into the laptop, and away you go! It's not the fastest "broadband" on the planet, that's for sure - but who's complaining? The really amusing thing is that the lighting in the cottage is a tad behind the times, and sitting here at the computer, with a very large and ornate crystal candleabra overhead, is more than a little interesting! (These are real candles we're speaking about - there must be a couple of hundred of them throughout the cottage - totally amazing.) At least there's no need to light them at this time of year - it must be some sight at Christmas though, when the owners come here with their children. Seemingly they build a bonfire on the frozen lake in front of the house and go skating - what fun that must be. At the moment, the birdlife is everywhere around the lake and between cuckoos, swallows and curlews as well as wild geese and loads of ducks, it's a noisy wee corner of the world - Mme W has been greatly taken by the crazy duck that paddles about 200 metres from right to left, does a smart about - turn, and paddles 200 metres from left to right - something it seems to do all day long, turning after the same distance each time. Weird behaviour to say the least - it's way too far from the shore to be protecting Mama Duck on her nest. Madame feels sorry for the poor wee creature, and IW, possibly being a tad on the weird side himself, spends a wee bit too much time trying to decide whether Mr Duck starts his day's patrol from the left side, or the right side......ah, the things that keep you awake at night eh?

Anyway, enough of the Scandinavian idyll and on to matters more pertinent - but remaining with ducks for a moment - it was more than a little amusing to note that despite all the UK's economic woes, DEFRA (the bunch of "townie" civil servants who try to tell farmers what to do) recently funded a study that cost £300,000. Its conclusion? Ducks are fond of water. Well well. It's certain that you have heard this one before, but what the heck - are government departments totally quackers? Hmm - in the case of Wee Allie the pretend UK chancellor - the answer surely has to be a resounding "yes." It seems he has been pretty adept with the calculator regarding the ongoing "expenses scam" that's got everyone in a real tizzie at the moment, but his claim during the week, that "the recession will be over by Christmas" shows that he has totally lost the plot. Try the phrase "frail grasp" in the search engine! Certainly the Brussels economists just laughed - and Standard & Poors (a rating agency) is suggesting Britain is at risk of losing its AAA credit rating - and that's bad. The IMF too is suggesting (ordering?) that the UK should reduce its budget deficit by rather a lot, rather quickly - so Allie's just the merest tad out of touch here. Check his expenses claims for illicit smoking materials! You may recall the other week we spoke about gilts - try "IOU" in the search engine - and already we're seeing their prices drop, pushing up the yields. What does that mean for overall borrowing costs (mortgages and company borrowings being the main things affected)? Yup - they will rise. How will that help countries fight their way out of depression? Nae answer needed, thanks!

On to a snippet or two, and seemingly the Obama one has decreed that Yank cars will have to do 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Oh dear, that will cause the demise of the American motor industry. What was that? It has already collapsed? Oh - so it has.

Then there's the possible end of GPS (aka satnav) as the satellites that feed the data all start to fall from the sky next year - apparently it's the US Air Force that's responsible for their upkeep and a combination of nae funds and incompetence has resulted in major problems. Gosh - people will have to start learning how to read maps! How quaint.

Then there's the "shareholder revolt" at Shell, anent directors' pay and bonuses. That will make a huge difference to their conduct then. Ho ho ho. And it appears bank chiefs are earning more now than before the whole sorry mess went public with the demise of Northern Rock. How could anyone be remotely surprised about that?

Marks & Sparks has started pricing its stuff correctly at last. 1p would be about right - ask Jeremy Paxman.....

On a far more serious note, around 7000 local authority jobs have gone in England over the past six months - nobody is safe these days, except perhaps the bailiffs.....yet money still gets spent - at a recent coffee auction, the crop of "Esmeralda Special" made £150 a kilo. Maybe that's what has been affecting Wee Allie - too much expensive caffeine? Somebody please scrutinise his expense account!

And it appears that the State of California could be "officially bankrupt" by July. I thought that had happened LAST July!

Finally, disaster for IW and family - British Airways is "phasing out" its first class cabins after having lost over £400m. How awful. Or perhaps not, as regards "IW disaster", given that the last time Madame W. and I went somewhere by plane, it was in one of Paddy's best, and it was in 2001......Airports are just too horrible to contemplate, and the idea of wasting €lots on so -called "first class" just ain't in harmony with the Williams family's way of approaching life - although it has to be admitted that a decent cabin is always taken when travelling by ferry - generally that costs a whole €40 or so more than a standard cupboard. The last of the big spenders, that's IW!

Moving along - but still speaking of planes, one of the interesting things I recall from the many years spent "working" for an investment company and having to do a fair amount of air travel, was the "forced nonchalant" way that regular travellers approached takeoff. Not for us the sweaty palms and the staring out the window watching the ground move faster and faster, then the clenched fists and tight muscles as the plane rotated. Oh no, WE just kept right on reading the Financial Times and pretending we were on the Tube. Ho ho - behind the FT, you may be sure the IW palms were most definitely perspiring a little! Anyway, the point of mentioning this is to ask you a wee question. At what point in the trading process do YOU get sweaty palms? How do you feel during the following process? 1) looking at a series of charts. 2) finding a few "potential" trades. 3) narrowing these down to (say) three decent looking possibilities. 4) Placing an order to be filled if a certain price is reached. 5) seeing your order activated. 6) watching the price start moving in your favour. 7) watching the price move against you. Have a wee think about the process. If you get really, really excited/worried at any point along the road, please stand back and try to be objective. NEVER just "jump in."

OK, on that pyschological note (maybe I should speak to the patrolling duck and try to help him sort himself out?) onward to a couple of charts, and first today we'll take a look at Derwent, which was last featured in video clip 2364 regarding trend lines and channels. Then we'll update the Homeserve chart from WICS of April 5th this year, when we were speaking about "windfall management". Now it's bouncing against earlier resistance and support. Next there's an update of the S&P500 from the previous issue of WICS - could/should a stop loss be moved higher? And finally we'll discuss the same general thing on the FTSE100 chart.

That's all for this weekend then - time to go and see if the poor wee patrolling duck has broadened his horizons a bit, then it's off with the fishing rod to try for a monster pike that chased a 2lb or so perch along the surface yesterday evening before grabbing it in a huge fountain of spray right in front of the verandah. Highly spectacular - nobody here seems to tackle pike with a fly rod - they don't know what sport they're missing!

All the best till next weekend - internet connection permitting of course - and providing Mrs Pike doesn't manage to make a meal of me.....

Ian.

'IMPORTANT NOTICE: These WICS charts are for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. They represent only MY understanding of what is happening in the market for any particular share, stock, commodity or index. In NO circumstances should they be construed as recommendations to trade. If I choose to trade what I see, that is MY decision. YOU must, in turn, come to YOUR OWN conclusions about what action, if any, YOU might choose to take'.