The word bounce-backability has officially been adopted by the dictionaries.

For some companies, this could be used to describe their recovery hopes, having made it over the net and into the FTSE 100, only to be smashed cross court and into the lower league of the FTSE 250. Steelmaker Corus is the latest local-interest company hoping for a slice of bouncebackability.

It will be game, set and match for its career in the FTSE 100 at the end of the quarter, its market capitalisation ruled to be outside the baseline of the largest 100 companies.

As the equivalent of new balls please, Corus, as announced last week, has intimated that when it serves up half-year results in August, it will make a modest payment to shareholders. This will be the first dividend since 2000, with profits having recovered significantly in the past couple of years.

Worldwide steel consumption should rise by about four per cent this year, as China's hunger for the metal shows no sign of let-up. The drop shot to this fuelling of confidence is the weak demand in Corus's major markets of Europe and North America. The company has not changed its mind, maintaining its prediction that trading conditions will become more difficult during the next six months.

The advantage of dividends should help to rally the share price, but it will need a volley of further good news to push the price to the level of promotion back to the centre court of the FTSE 100.

Royal Ascot at York was a huge success last week, and the sporting attention now turns to tennis. With Wimbledon under way, the prospect of slipping down to SW19 is very tempting, but most traders can monitor the trials and tribulations of Henman's latest challenge for the trophy on their computer screens. With a minor adjustment to the settings, the latest score can be displayed next to the FTSE 100 screen. Just as shares going up are displayed in blue, and shares going down are displayed in red, Henman winning can be set for blue, and, vice versa, in red.

This allows traders to get on with some real work, against a background of a bullish stock market. Having seen the market drift during March and the latter part of April, May and June have seen a dramatic recovery. The mantra of "stay away in May" has once again been proved wrong. In the past eight weeks, the market has increased by well over five per cent, even before dividend income is taken into account.

Tomorrow, electrical retailer Dixons announces results for the year to April 30. The company warned on May 11 that it had suffered a dramatic slowdown in the second half of its financial year.

With wider and flatter-screened televisions proving to be unreliable, the demand for the latest generation of plasma TVs is growing. This is proving to be a cat and mouse game, though, as consumers are very astute at spotting bargains. Prices are tumbling as manufacturers and retailers fight it out in a very competitive market. Dixons is having to take on Internet retailers in a match that looks like going to a fifth set.

For investment advice contact Anthony Platts on 01642 608855.

Published: 21/06/2005