Another weekend rolls around with amazing speed, whereas overall market conditions seem to be changing as fast as a three legged tortoise on sleeping pills - it's truly astonishing just how detached from economic reality everyone appears to be. I note that USA property foreclosures are running 47% higher so far this year than they did last year - and estimates suggest there will have been 2.4 million homeowners deprived of that status by the end of 2007. Given that 'consumption' accounts for 70% of US GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and that much of said consumption has been fuelled by mortgage equity withdrawal, how is it possible to believe that USA Inc is going to do anything other than become a 'car crash scenario' - to quote a London analyst who was speaking about one of the many imminent City disasters? (He was referring to Sports Direct, which denies it issued a profits warning last week - we can doubtless form our own conclusions however.) I doubt if the founder is that bothered though - he sold £1bn worth of shares to the public when the thing was recently listed, so an ongoing drop in the value of his remaining holdings probably won't see him on income support.....yet onward and upward go the stock markets of the world in their mad rush towards the cliff - a cliff that by now I am absolutely certain you reckon exists only in my (rather tortured) mind!

I recall mentioning a month or two ago that I felt like the 'last lonely bear' - nothing seems to have changed since then, but maybe once the tortoise runs out of his prescription, 'change' will speed up a little in terms of public perception - at least by now more than a few owners of Spanish property will be waking up to reality just a tad - doubtless you'll have already read of the price drop in that part of the world. And even the Irish are beginning to worry a little that most properties consigned to auction are simply not selling at any price.

Moving along, I'm surprised to note that some people are 'surprised' to learn that Barclays' call centre staff may have been phoning people who requested no contact, and that a 'mole' has reported customers being "misled, lied to, sold unsuitable products, and treated with contempt...." Hey, it's a bank - what's your problem with normal banking practice? And of course the Nat West is still trying to poach customers, this time with an offer of £1000 if they can't beat your current mortgage arrangements - only thing seems to be that the small print excludes anyone from actually qualifying - what a great wheeze - maybe it will fool a few people? Those without bank accounts perhaps.

Anyway, on to a few charts, and there are certainly still more 'upside' opportunities to be had, than 'downside' ones - and therein is yet another 'trading lesson' for you - no matter what simple economic fact might suggest, and no matter what I (and anyone else) may write about the coming crash, you should trust only the charts, because it's the charts that tell the truth! You'll certainly have heard the adage that "The trend is your friend" and right now there is absolutely no doubt that the overall trend is still UP. So please be aware that I speak about more general economic conditions only because YOU request that I do so - and as you know very well, I really enjoy a good rant - or a "Mr Grumpy whinge" as my family prefers to describe it. Once the downturn gathers enough steam for market participants to believe in it, the charts will reflect that change in psychology - and will start to give us the 'sell' opportunities that are currently so elusive.

Today's charts then are those of Cable & Wireless and Minerva, both by way of a reminder that we looked at them some time ago and that 'watch lists' are a pretty good idea - I can't feature everything every weekend! Then we'll look again at the FTSE100.

By the way, reference 'watch lists' - don't forget to keep an eye on Director Deals from time to time......Croda? National Express?.....

And that's all for this weekend - next week I'll be heading home so very possibly WICS won't be online till Sunday evening (6th May) but I'm not sure yet - I might manage to have it ready by Saturday evening, which is my usual target. I'll be offline from Wednesday evening till Sunday morning as far as mentoring goes, but there will be a WICS some time over the weekend - so my best wishes till then.
Ian.