Deflation fear prompts Eurozone rate cut talk November 4, 2013 But a single data point is unlikely to convince the ECB that immediate loosening is necessary European shares traded close to five-year highs yesterday amid speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) will cut its policy rate on Thursday. The FTSEurofirst 300 Index rose above 1,296, a near 6 per cent increase from Friday’s levels. [...]
CNBC Comment: Vanilla trading for the end of 2013 November 4, 2013 IT ALL got a bit catty behind the scenes on the set of SquawkBox this week. During one of our daily market open strategy debates, one of my guests told the audience that his big idea for the rest of the year was to “buy the winners of 2013 and sell the losers”. At this [...]
DailyFX: Analyst picks November 4, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Selling rallies in euro-dollar and sterling-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks The US dollar has strengthened over the past few days on the back of steadily rising Treasury yields. The yield curve has exhibited signs of repricing [...]
SAC Capital to plead guilty to insider trading and pay $1.8bn November 4, 2013 Wall Street giant SAC Capital is expected to plead guilty to insider trading later today, and to announce that it will pay a total of $1.8bn (£1.1bn), the largest settlement of insider-trading probe in history. A sum of just $1.2bn had been expected. SAC will pay a fine of $900m and forfeit a further $900m. [...]
Tesco to scan customers’ eyes for tailored advertising November 4, 2013 Tesco is to start scanning its customers, in a bid to tailor advertising towards them. Tesco petrol station users will be scanned at forecourts, using high-tech "OptimEyes" screens. The new system will be rolled out to all 450 of Tesco's petrol stations, with the screens predicted to reach a weekly audience of over five million [...]
Seven things you wouldn’t hear from any chief executive who isn’t Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary November 4, 2013 “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the new and cuddly Ryanair press conference.” So began Michael O’Leary’s attempt to paint his airline as a consumer-friendly service as he revealed the firm’s disappointing first-half results. Here are some extracts from the notoriously outspoken boss’s press conference this morning: “Our website is inferior, it’s way behind the likes [...]
Centrica boss pledges not to take bonus this year November 4, 2013 Sam Laidlaw, the chief executive of Centrica, has pledged not to take his bonus for this financial year. Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry, Laidlaw admitted public trust in the energy industry is at an all-time low. His promise, made as part of a debate on "Business Trust Under the Spotlight" responds to the [...]
Blackberry shares crumble in pre-market as Fairfax deal collapses November 4, 2013 Shares in tech giant Blackberry are down nearly by nearly a fifth in pre-market trading as the smartphone maker has announced that an offer of purchase from a Fairfax-led consortium is off, along with the departure of its chief executive Thorsten Heins. Now Blackberry will raise around $1bn (£630m) from institutional investors and former Sybase [...]
Twitter to close books a day early after float sees strong demand November 4, 2013 After many considered the float undervalued, Twitter has hiked its range from $17 to $20 up to $23 to $25 a share. That brings up the company's value from $11bn (£6.9bn) to $17.4bn (£10.9bn). Now the company will close books a day early due to high demand, according to Reuters sources. At that previous range, [...]
Kellogg will cut seven per cent of staff by 2017 with “Project K” November 4, 2013 Cereal company Kellogg has announced plans to dramatically reduce staff numbers – cutting numbers by seven per cent by 2017. The four year program – dubbed "Project K" – is expected to generate a significant amount of savings. The company will take a charge of $1.2bn (£0.75bn) to $1.4bn (£0.88bn) in order to do reduce [...]