Best of the Brokers for 28 March 2014 March 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com DOMINO’S PIZZA Numis is upbeat about the food chain ahead of an interim management statement for the first quarter due on Wednesday next week. “We expect it to be strong,” Numis says, keeping its “buy” rating and 710p target price, and adding that [...]
London Report: Financial and mining stocks weigh on FTSE March 28, 2014 BRITAIN’S top stock index fell yesterday, with miners leading the retreat on lingering concerns their earnings could be hurt by weaker metals prices following an economic slowdown in China and improving supplies. Banks also lost ground after the Federal Reserve blocked the US units of Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC from paying higher dividends [...]
New York Report: Falls in bank shares drag Wall St lower March 28, 2014 US stocks fell yesterday, erasing most of the S&P 500’s year-to-date gain, as banking and technology stocks led the sell off. The benchmark S&P 500 turned nearly flat for the year after falling almost one per cent this week as many of the market’s biggest trading favorites lost their momentum. “The decliners once again are [...]
Microsoft’s new CEO has revealed his first big strategic play: Office for mobile March 27, 2014 Microsoft is finally bringing its Office suite to Apple's App Store, with support for devices including the iPad and iPhone. It's a same day launch, and you can already find the Excel, Word, and PowerPoint apps online. The reveal from the tech giant's new CEO, Satya Nadella, is his first since he took the company's [...]
€22 per pensioner – the cost of new EU rules on UK PLC March 27, 2014 One easy way to gauge the complexity of any new government rules change is to count how many clauses or sub-sections they contain. In the case of new EU rules on pension schemes unveiled today, they have ballooned, from 24 articles and rules to 81 articles – leading to much higher costs for pension schemes. [...]
UK labour costs have grown more slowly than any other major EU economy March 27, 2014 The UK’s labour costs have stalled more than any other major EU economy, with no increase at all in the five years since the crisis, according to official European statistics released this morning. Denominated in euros, labour costs actually dropped 0.3 per cent between 2008 and 2013, illustrating both the slow pace of UK wage [...]
Mysterious Pears dynasty backs new venture to build £1bn of London homes March 27, 2014 One of the biggest and most private landlords in London and the South East has thrown its weight behind a £200m joint venture that aims to build £1bn of new homes in central London over the next five years. The Pears family, which owns the Coutts bank building on London’s Strand and the Coronet theatre [...]
Boris hits Twitter launching new yellow Barclays bikes and professing love for the Queen March 27, 2014 London’s favourite blonde bombshell took to Twitter this afternoon, with a new, grown-up profile pic, launching a yellow Barclays bike and answering questions from the Twittersphere. The canary-hued bikes, 101 of them to be exact, are to celebrate Le Tour de France’s British leg on 7 June (not because Barclays is ending its sponsorship – [...]
Scottish independence could impact results says Centrica March 27, 2014 Energy giant Centrica has warned of the consequences of a yes vote in Scotland's independence referendum as well as political interference in the energy market. The company made the comments in its annual financial report for the year to 20 February 2014. In the event that Scotland became independent parts of Centrica's upstream assets would [...]
What you need to know before the US open March 27, 2014 US GDP fourth quarter results showed the economy grew a bit more quickly than expected in the fourth quarter (by 2.6 per cent), bolstered by stronger consumer spending. Futures were up ahead of the numbers, which will no doubt boost investor sentiment. Separate data releases show that initial jobless claims fell to 311,000 in the week [...]