Morning Call by Traders University

The FTSE 100 index of leading shares inched up 0.33 percent Monday to close at 3,542.40 points. Vodafone being the most traded stock, seeing 173 million units change hands, followed by Lloyds Banking Group, which saw 131 million shares switch owners. Insurer Aviva was the best performer on the index, bouncing back from last week’s heavy losses to rise by 8.38 percent — or 13.7 pence — to finish at 177, followed by Tullow Oil, which rose 7.89 percent — or 58 pence — to stand at 793.Property investment group Land Securities was the biggest fall, losing 10 percent — or 42.25 pence — at 380, while British Land Co fell a further 9.8 percent — or 32.75 pence — to finish at 301.25. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.89, or 1.2 percent, to 6,547.05. Uneasiness about the economy eclipsed a bounce in troubled financial stocks as well as news of a merger between drugmakers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. On another note, the U.S. economy is urgently looking for growth engines, and one such engine the nation should seriously consider is nuclear power.From a economic perspective, it makes a great deal of the sense for the United States to imitate the French model and build nuclear power plants — 100 percent publicly funded if necessary — on a grand scale. The US dollar ended last week mixed across the majors as the currency gained against the British pound, euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar but fell versus the Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar, and Australian dollar. However, when looking at the big picture – aka the DXY Index – the greenback remains in the uptrend that started in mid-December, which presents potential for further gains. At 9:30am , GBP high news for the Manufacturing production expected to be better than previous and at 12:30pm, Fed Chairman Bernanke Speaks.