Last week the index generally saw small falls across the board, which is not suprising considering the all-time high in world markets experienced the previous week, when the index was created. Reuters shares held steady, as the prospect of acquisition by Thomson looked more and more likely, while Q1 earnings announcements triggered significant share price movement in a number of US-listed index companies.

Major gainers
S1 closed the week up 10.8% to $7.4, as it returned to the black with Q1 net income of $3 million on $47.6 million in revenue, compared with a net loss of $444,000 on $43.4 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2006. The board expressed its confidence in the company's growth prospects by authorising a stock repurchase program under which the company may repurchase up to $30 million of its common stock as market and business conditions warrant.

S1 also benefited from the news that competitor Corillian had posted a Q1 loss of $1.1 million ahead of its pending acquisition by CheckFree Corporation.

EFunds was up 8.5% to $31.05, as the company admitted that it has been approached by third parties that want to explore alternative strategies, including potential merger opportunities. This came as the company reported Q1 revenues down four percent year-on-year and net income of $10.5 million, almost the same figure as a year ago.

Major losers
ORC Software was down seven percent to DKr186, which could be seen as a correction after a rapid rise in value at the end of April when market operator OMX sold four percent of the company to bring its ownership down to 25%.

Morningstar was down five percent to $49.09 as the stock continued to fall after posting below-expectation Q1 earnings growth of 18% on 3 May. The company said costs rose in the quarter due to acquisitions, such as its purchase in March of Standard & Poor's mutual fund data business, hurting operating margins

Cognizant was down four per cent to $80.65, despite a positive Q1 earnings announcement and the news that it has teamed up with European services company Ordina to win a major outsourcing deal with Rabobank, the largest banking group in the Netherlands. But the firm is also under pressure from rising payroll costs in India, where its major BPO and software services operations are based in Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. As a result, it has had to reduce its hiring plans, as analysts call for it to achieve better employee utilisation rates.