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Alpesh Patel's columns :
08/17/2004	August a good swing trader's month
08/06/2004	Where are the jobs?
08/02/2004	August a good swing trader's month
07/26/2004	Takeovers abound
07/19/2004	What does Branson tell us?
07/12/2004	Well valued FTSE?
07/02/2004	Well hello July
06/28/2004	Summer aint bad
06/21/2004	The Real Hot Stuff
06/04/2004	Not bad at all
06/01/2004	May was better than April, hows about June then?
05/21/2004	Broader Market View
05/14/2004	Interest Rates or GDP?
04/30/2004	The Run Up To May
04/23/2004	Some Big Picture Views
04/16/2004	Growth Spurt or Splutter
04/13/2004	The interest in Interest rates : beware and prepare.
04/07/2004	Pick a Direction Already
03/26/2004	After Gordon's Words
03/24/2004	Hidden Opportunities
03/10/2004	Hidden Opportunities and Big Momentum
02/26/2004	So Much Uncertainty
01/13/2004	The Resolutions
01/02/2004	The Year's High
12/22/2003	Slow down or Ramp up?
12/16/2003	Xmas Rally or Not?
12/09/2003	That good news is bad for the markets
11/27/2003	It's not Christmas Yet
11/13/2003	Now they have risen
11/07/2003	From here until rate rises
10/30/2003	The Best Advice from now until end Dec

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Alpesh Patel – A weekly look at market opportunities and pitfalls

Alpesh B. Patel is one of the UK's best-known traders and financial journalists. He writes a regular column for the Financial Times, has written seven bestselling books on trading, and makes regular television appearances for Bloomberg, Sky Television, Channel 4, The Money Channel, and the BBC.

What You Need To Know

01/12/2005

Is it too early to look for trends for the New Year? What do we need to know in these first few days of the year? Trends often change at the start of the New Year, sometimes for no other reason than the psychology of a New Year.

Shire Pharmaceuticals and Reuters are leading the way so far this year on the FTSE 100. The Shire trend is strong (although due for a short-term profit-taking fall) and way off its highs of several years ago suggesting the upward potential is not unknown.

Reuters has quadrupled in 18 months. It would quadruple again before hitting all time highs. Given recent positive press coverage, whilst that will not happen in 2005, the year looks good for the news company.

Dixons, even before results was one of the early New Year best performers. Looking for it to hit 180p in the short term seems likely - quick short-term profit.

Momentum

Looking for the pure momentum price plays, ignoring value and growth for a moment the strongest trends are in the following and are worth examining: Punch Taverns, Bradford and Bingley (ready for some short-term profit-taking).

Value-Growth

On my value growth criteria which are based on stocks meeting revenue and profit growth and good value based on criteria such as price earnings growth, the following names come up. Remember they are for a 6 month outlook: Eurmoney, Gooch & Housego, DTZ, Marchpole, Royal Bank of Scotland, Speedy Hire, BHP Billiton.

Bids

For those who like to look for bid candidates - here are my estimations: lastminute.com, Avis, Compass, and a complete wild-card - AstraZeneca!

Crazy Small Stock

These are high risk volatile stocks which could move sharply higher or move sharply lower in my view, but will almost certainly not stand still. Names on the radar include: Bisichi Mining, Safeland, Sportech.

Also, if you would like a free multi-media CDROM on 'Investing Better' posted to you then drop me an email with your postal address to alpesh@tradermind.com.