S&P in reach of five-year high as jobs data looms October 4, 2012 THE S&P 500 extended gains to a fourth day yesterday, putting it on the cusp of a new five-year high if today’s jobs report shows encouraging signs for the labor market. The rally was broad, with all 10 S&P 500 sectors up and financials in the lead. The S&P’s financial index gained 1.5 per cent. [...]
Popularity of defensive stocks sees FTSE rise but Spanish fears remain October 3, 2012 BRITAIN’S benchmark share index rose yesterday, driven by gains in “defensive” stocks seen as the most resilient to an economic downturn, although traders said concerns over Spain’s debt crisis could limit gains. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.3 per cent, or 16.36 points higher, at 5,825.81 points. Increases in heavyweight “defensive” stocks such [...]
HP weighs on Wall St despite strong data October 3, 2012 WALL Street ended modestly higher yesterday on stronger-than-expected US labor and service-sector data, but the Dow industrials were hobbled by a slide in Hewlett-Packard. Shares of Hewlett-Packard dropped sharply after the company warned yesterday of a darker outlook for 2013 earnings, reflecting slow progress on CEO Meg Whitman’s turnaround plan while technology spending sputters and [...]
Masters degrees for a post-crisis business career October 3, 2012 FIVE years on from the collapse of Northern Rock, and the ensuing crisis is still keenly felt in the world’s business schools. It’s been the source of some soul-searching – professors have had to question their roles as the educators of some of the crisis’s leading figures. Much of the critique is rightly rebutted. Michel [...]
FTSE swings lower as rumours of Spanish bailout spook investors October 2, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index continued its choppy trend and was pulled marginally lower yesterday, as weakness in banks and miners overpowered results-related gains for companies such as Babcock and Tesco. The FTSE 100 closed down 11.00 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,809.45. The index has swung in a 100-point range over the last five [...]
Europe weighs on S&P as car firms improve October 2, 2012 WALL Street ended little changed in a volatile session on Tuesday as uncertainty over when Spain might apply for a bailout shackled a market struggling to build on gains that took the S&P 500 to its highest in nearly five years. The market was also hamstrung by concerns about the upcoming reporting period that kicks [...]
Aussie outlook spinning around October 2, 2012 THE Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday called the end of the country’s commodities boom, citing the effects of the Chinese slowdown on the mining sector. At the same time, it announced that the official cash rate will be cut by a quarter of a point – down to 3.25 per cent. This latest drop [...]
Stimulus could lift FTSE index October 2, 2012 THE FTSE 100 is the only G5-nation equity index (ex-Japan) yet to hit a new high for the year. The index is up a mere 5 per cent this year, compared to 24 per cent for the Dax 30 and 15 per cent for the S&P 500. But we deem the FTSE’s underperformance to be [...]
Bears prepare to pull British bulldog down October 2, 2012 THE FUNDAMENTAL CASE I F CURRENCIES reflect the health of their economies, there are many reasons to be bearish on sterling. Although recent data has been mixed, sterling-dollar (or cable) looks overvalued. The days of the UK’s position as an apparent safe haven look to be numbered. MYTH OF SAFETY The idea of the UK [...]
The chartists’ case for going short sterling October 2, 2012 THE TECHNICAL CASE STERLING-DOLLAR, or cable, has been a rewarding trade over the last few months, rallying by over 1,000 pips (one pip is equivalent to one hundredth of 1 per cent) since the lows in summer. This has been on the back of weakness and uncertainty in both the US and Europe. However, the [...]