Best of the Brokers for 21 May 2014 May 20, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CAMBIAN Numis has started covering the newly-floated care home company with a “buy” rating and 340p target price. The broker reckons Cambian can deliver an earnings growth rate in the mid-teens, and thinks the current price does not reflect the prospects of this [...]
London Report: Vodafone and Marks weigh down on FTSE May 20, 2014 SELL-OFFS in mobile operator Vodafone and retailer Marks & Spencer dragged down Britain’s blue-chip equity index yesterday, after disappointing forecasts from both companies. The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.6 per cent, or 42.55 points, at 6,802.00 points. Vodafone took the most points off the FTSE as it fell by 5.5 per cent [...]
New York Report: Retailers lead a broad drop on Wall Street May 20, 2014 US STOCKS fell in a broad sell-off yesterday, with major indexes hitting session lows in afternoon trading, led by losses in the retail sector after disappointing results from Staples and TJX Companies. All 10 primary S&P 500 sector indexes fell, and nearly three-fourths of Nasdaq-listed names were down for the day. The S&P 500’s top [...]
BoAML: Stocks likely to “rally hard” if war commences May 20, 2014 The chance of war this May is a signal to buy stocks, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Stocks have historically declined in the run-up to war, but then "rally hard once war commences". Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BoAML, points to World War II stock movements to make his point. The chart [...]
Barclays upbeat on brent crude as geopolitical risk keeps prices buoyant May 20, 2014 The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) gave a cheerful outlook on the oil market in its latest monthly report, and now Barclays is getting in on the act. Research today from the FTSE 100 bank said that it expects the brent oil price to stay above $105 (£62.40) per barrel on average this year [...]
Is the love affair with Whole Foods over? May 20, 2014 Whole Foods, the supermarket of choice for health conscious organic food lovers, is being stalked by scores of hedge funds betting on a further fall in its share price, figures out today show. Short selling interest in the business – which is measured by calculating the number of shares out on loan in a company [...]
India’s Modi is being put on a pedestal – and he’s got a long way to fall May 20, 2014 Indian businesses are jubilant about the result of the Indian election, which returned Narendra Modi as the country’s next Prime Minister – MNI’s business sentiment indicator shot up from 61.9 in April to 67 this month (the highest in two years), when it became clear that Modi would take the crown. Anything above 50 signals [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 20, 2014 US stocks futures were flat today, following two days of advances for the S&P 500 and some fairly sombre equities releases. European shares have continued to feel the heat, as political angst ahead of the EU elections outweighed supportive noises from the ECB. Three policymakers are set to speak this afternoon, with economists hoping for [...]
G4S says goodbye to third UK chief in two years May 20, 2014 G4S, the tagging scandal hit security services firm, has lost its third UK chief executive in two years. Eddie Aston, who joined the contract giant from Deutsche Post DHL, has left after just six months in the role, as first reported by the FT’s Gill Plimmer. The company confirmed he left at the end of [...]
Thomas Piketty and the great inequality debate: The Ayn Rand response May 20, 2014 After weeks of debates and reviews Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty First Century is still a subject of fierce controversy and currently ranks 17 on the Amazon bestseller list. Piketty's argument that the rate of return on capital in capitalist economies tends to be higher than the growth rate, leading to a concentration of [...]