Analyst picks for 17 January 2012 January 16, 2012 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short sterling-dollar, long euro-Swiss Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week The Eurozone’s financial troubles have deepened heading into the new year, and we will feel the repercussions. However, euro-dollar is already exceptionally downtrodden. The spillover hasn’t fully happened for the [...]
AAA-ratings are ready to go the way of the dodo January 16, 2012 THE downgrades of France and Austria on Friday followed by yesterday’s walloping of the European Financial Support Facility (EFSF) may have been widely anticipated, but that does not mean that they are irrelevant. After all, analysts have predicted the timings of seven of the last three sovereign downgrades. But more than anything this latest move [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD January 15, 2012 US STOCK investors will return to a tug of war between signs of domestic strength and overseas concerns this week as a batch of critical earnings reports look to add credence to the idea the economy is improving, while credit rating downgrades in Europe will keep that region’s difficulties in view. Bank stocks will probably [...]
Helping new businesses to cut away useless fat January 15, 2012 Q. WHAT ARE THE KEY TENETS OF THE LEAN STARTUP? A. The word “lean” comes from lean manufacturing, the system of management that has its origins in Japan with the Toyota Production System. The Lean Startup applies these principles to the process of innovation. Unlike the traditional approach to new product development, The Lean Startup [...]
FAITH IN NEW BUSINESS HAS GONE ABROAD January 15, 2012 IN A worrying sign, UK based entrepreneurs have signalled their lack of confidence in Britain, whereas entrepreneurs worldwide have more confidence in their local economies. This was one of the key messages found in the most recent edition of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Global Entrepreneur Indicator, which was conducted in November last year. Twice a [...]
Educating your kids requires a plan January 15, 2012 TONY Blair said “education, education, education”, while Abba said “Money, money money”. It’s still hard to get the best of the former without a pile of the latter. Many parents are faced with massive dilemmas due to the spiralling costs of giving their children what they believe to be the best start in life. For [...]
A scheme to help cut the cost of schooling January 15, 2012 WE HAVE devised a model that can significantly reduce, and potentially eliminate, the tax burden that comes with privately educating children, which is aimed primarily at higher rate taxpayers who own their own businesses. Since it was introduced a year ago, we have saved our clients tens of thousands of pounds. For families interested in [...]
10 key points for your investment diary in 2012 January 15, 2012 WHILE we remain cautious about the coming months and are positioned accordingly, we see the market environment slowly improving. Improving economic data, better than expected corporate earnings, fair equity valuations and low interest rates are all supporting equity markets and the longer-term global recovery. We still maintain that a global recession will be avoided and [...]
NEWS IN BRIEF January 15, 2012 CREDIT CARD SPENDING DOWN According to analysis of customer spending data carried out by Santander Credit Cards, the average credit card spend has fallen four per cent over the past 12 months. The data reveals that while the total number of transactions has increased by one per cent over that time period, the value of [...]
FTSE ends lower as retailers reveal a miserable Christmas January 12, 2012 BRITAIN’S leading shares fell yesterday after a profit warning from Tesco triggered sharp falls in retailers and eclipsed a lift for banks from a successful Spanish debt auction and restructuring at RBS. The FTSE 100 index closed down 8.40 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,662.42, once again missing out in a tilt at the [...]