News from retailers and job figures will make the week ahead April 15, 2012 WHILE the first couple of days indicate a quiet start for the UK market, activity is likely to increase by the middle of the week. All eyes will be on consumer price index data tomorrow for any signs of inflation moving one way or another. Tesco reports full year numbers on Wednesday. The supermarket lost [...]
London’s property: As unsafe as houses April 15, 2012 INSANITY, Albert Einstein famously said, is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The crash might have petrified property investors at the bottom and middle of the market, but in London’s swankier postcodes prices are back on the up. The question is whether these represent sound long-term investments or another [...]
A watch entrepreneur who timed it perfectly April 15, 2012 FOR entrepreneur Christopher Ward time really is money – his fledgling watch company has grown into a profitable multi-million pound business that takes on the might of the Swiss giants. From humble beginnings in a small Soho workshop, the company’s timepieces are now designed and made in Switzerland, which has given the brand the cachet [...]
A seemingly uninspiring outfit that fashioned over $500m April 15, 2012 I THINK I was having a coffee with friends when one of them, Natalie Massenet, casually asked me to back her new idea, Net-A-Porter.com, a haute couture website with access to the top labels. It was early 2000 and the tech-boom was raging. Valuations were sky-high and every man, woman and dog had a “brilliant” [...]
Startup Britons: Pitch to Branson April 15, 2012 RESEARCH released to launch the Nectar Business Small Business Awards suggests that over a quarter (28 per cent) of Brits claim to have an idea for a completely new invention or service. Of course, every idea isn’t a winner, but for those that would like to see if they have what it takes there are [...]
Miners lead FTSE higher on hopes of strong economic growth in China April 12, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a one-week closing high yesterday as mining stocks jumped on market talk that China, the world’s biggest metals consumer, could report strong economic growth numbers today. Economists polled by Reuters in March forecast that China’s GDP expanded 8.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 versus a year earlier. [...]
Second day of bounce back on Wall Street April 12, 2012 US stocks scored a second day of solid gains yesterday, led by materials and energy stocks, as investors set aside weak figures on the domestic labour market. Rumours about strong growth figures due overnight from China helped wash away some of the worries that hit stocks during a five-day streak of losses that ended with [...]
Banks lead FTSE to a rebound in spite of jitters over the Eurozone April 11, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index rebounded from a three-session slide yesterday as a rise in banking stocks following a positive broker comment and gains in mining shares boosted the index. The FTSE 100 index closed up 39.19 points, or 0.7 per cent at 5,634.74, reversing a downward spiral when the index surrendered almost all its remaining [...]
Good earnings help US shares bounce back April 11, 2012 AN encouraging start to earnings season helped US stocks rebound yesterday five days of losses that pushed the S&P 500 below a key technical level. Equities cut gains late in the session after the Federal Reserve said rising energy costs were a concern for economic growth. Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said the economy would [...]
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