It's still the silly season then - I see the latest big deal being publicised by the UK media now that the Middle East is just so yesterday is that junk food advertising should be banned, and not only after what is laughingly termed the 'watershed' - my my, where did personal responsibility for one's actions go, then? Presumably the same way as the UK's school playing fields have done over the years. How hard can it be NOT to eat that extra burger?

"What has that remark got to do with trading?" - I hear you enquire. And of course, as far as successful trading goes, my reply is "Everything!" Those of you who have suffered me for a fair while now (thanks, guys and gals - I appreciate your tolerance) will know precisely why I say that, and if you're a newcomer to my eccentricities, then a wee bit of thought doubtless will provide the answer.

Anyway, moving along, I note the current controversy surrounding the affairs of iSOFT - it might be worthwhile typing that name into the wee search engine at the top of the WICS archive page to read what I said about it earlier this year. It fascinates me now to read that iSOFT's bankers seem willing to extend its loan facilities nonetheless. Doubtless of course no peerages will result in the fullness of time for having bailed out one of Tony's pet projects. Perish the thought.

And I see that the ongoing inflation mentioned here over the past week or so, has now infiltrated the realms of education, with a 20% increase in top A Level grades having been reported. I suppose however that that effect might be counterbalanced by the deflationary effect of the 80% dumbing down of the exams?

Moving on to the state of the markets, whither now? Easy enough to predict I reckon (Hah!) - another halfhearted stab or two at the upside by the major European indices (the FTSE100, DAX, CAC40 etc) and then the beginning of a long downhill slide into the winter. As far as the USA markets go, their 'stab or two at the upside' might prove to have some power behind them in a final flurry of activity as we move into September, but overall the 'long downhill slide' is imminent there too.

As regards individual stocks of course, you know I've suggested often enough that we need to take each chart on its own merits - if markets overall are bearish, that doesn't imply an individual stock will drop in price - there are enough variables around to ensure we must examine each chart with as detached a view as possible. Companies can receive takeover offers, for example, and even in a major downturn within a particular sector we can still see a specific stock move sharply upwards. In the same way, a sector might be pushing strongly upwards in a bull market yet a particular stock within that sector might be showing all the signs of an imminent drop - and the REASONS don't matter because we won't know the reasons till AFTER the event! The entire purpose of chart analysis is to try to see such events BEFORE they happen so that we can profit from them.

It's also the case that even in a major downturn, certain market sectors can move counter to the overall trend - I've mentioned before the so - called 'Defensive' stocks like utilities and tobacco - these generally tend to do well to the upside when investors turn to them in the 'bad times'. So if you prefer to trade to the upside there will doubtless still be plenty of opportunities even during the long bear period to come - although the answer as to why you would prefer buying to selling resides firmly in the psyche and has no relevance to the dispassionate trader.

On to today's charts then - I'm in a rush - got to visit ASDA's website to see if I can buy a cheap house before it's too late - today I'll put up a couple of so - called 'triangles' just to see if they'll help you identify such formations, or not. (A couple of you during the last week seem to be having 'issues' with triangles - yes, they can sometimes be a bit subjective, and don't be offended if my reply to questions about them is "Practice may not make you perfect but it will surely help!"

We'll also update the Carpetright chart because it's looking interesting at the moment, and look at Brambles Industries because its pattern seems to have altered a little and it's always worth digging a bit deeper in such cases. ('Digging deeper' by the way, might involve examining Director Dealings, and also visiting the FT website as explained in the archive FAQ section just to see if there are any 'stories' on the go - if there's a bid floating around then a price might go up quite a lot, but if it's only an 'upbeat trading statement' then you need to remind yourself about Maurice Marketmaker and Ivor Big - Appetite. And if you can't recall who these two disreputable characters are, then you seriously need to revisit the TTEW manual!)

Anyway, that's your lot for this weekend - I believe it's a Bank Holiday in some parts of the UK so if that's where you are located, I hope the sun shines for you, and I wish you all the best till next weekend. As far as I'm concerned, August is a month I truly dislike, so roll on autumn! (In fact, roll on winter because I've done enough fishing for this year and ski-ing withdrawal symptoms are beginning to affect me again.........)

See you next weekend if they'll let me out long enough to write to you.

Ian.