HSBC leads banking shares down despite bumper profit February 27, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended lower yesterday, pressured by weakness in banking issues after international leaders said more money was needed from Europe to help ease the region’s debt crisis, and with heavyweight HSBC falling after its results. Eurozone countries pledged at a meeting of finance leaders of G20 economic powers on Sunday to reassess [...]
S&P at its highest since mid-2008 February 27, 2012 THE benchmark S&P 500 closed at its highest level since mid-2008 yesterday, extending gains for a third session as oil prices retreated after a recent rally and data showed further improvement in the US housing market. The S&P and the Nasdaq both eked out gains, while the Dow closed barely lower. An industry group reported [...]
Trade the month end balancing act February 27, 2012 AS February draws to its inevitable conclusion, what impact does the passing of another month have on the markets? Though Treasuries or corporate bonds show no significant end-of-month effects, there is a noticeable and measurable effect in equity and in forex markets. THE FIX IS IN Month-end fixings relate to the moves that portfolio managers [...]
DOLLAR-YEN PAIR BENEFITS FROM US RECOVERY THEME AS OIL CASTS ITS SHADOW February 27, 2012 DESPITE the generally positive tone of recent global economic data, analysts remain concerned about the prospect of sustained growth in 2012. At the moment, their chief source of worry is the surging price of oil. In the US, West Texas Intermediate has risen to nearly $110 a barrel, while in Europe the price of Brent [...]
Tech giants provide data boosts for all February 27, 2012 THE last week has seen two important developments for those seeking market data, albeit on opposite ends of the spectrum. Yesterday saw the launch of Bloomberg Next. Bloomberg is constantly tuning and tweaking its terminals, but it decided that the latest changes were large enough to warrant a launch event. “The complexity and interconnectedness of [...]
THE TIPSTER February 27, 2012 IT seems National Express is not the most popular company around at the moment, as it takes advantage of increased passenger numbers due to the high cost of fuel, by jacking up its fares. Traders were shorting it ahead of itsresults on Wednesday, even though it is expected to show a 13 per cent rise [...]
Importance of sticking to the plan February 27, 2012 SITTING down and making a trading plan is fairly straightforward – what is your overall objective, where are you going to place your stops, how much of your capital are you going to have in each trade and in open positions at any one time and so on. But making the plan is the easy [...]
Analyst picks for 28 February 2012 February 27, 2012 FOREX STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Buy dollar-Canadian dollar above Ca$1.0035 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week Our constructive outlook remains intact, with the market still consolidating around parity ahead of what we believe will be an eventual retest of key October highs by Ca$1.0660. Look for interday [...]
Which asset is the true safe haven? GOLD OR SHARES February 26, 2012 TOM WINNIFRITH WE ARE entering an inflationary environment. This is the 1970s all over again. Across the globe governments are relaxing monetary policy. In China and India this is an attempt to keep their economies growing rapidly. In the West it is a desperate attempt to breathe life into economies which face structural issues no-one [...]
It’s not gold but silver that earns first place February 26, 2012 SINCE the 2008 global recession, an increasing number of investors have moved away from the more traditional equities markets and have begun to consider commodities as a promising substitute. More recently, with the Eurozone crisis and various rounds of quantitative easing, interest in alternative investment options has spiked once again. In fact, from 2010 to [...]