EU WOES WILL WEIGH ON THE EURO-DOLLAR January 17, 2012 UK BRANCH MANAGER, EASY-FOREX STERLING is trading near a 16-month high versus the euro and a new low for the year versus the dollar. Sterling strength versus the euro reflects demand for an alternative to the euro because of the EU debt crisis and the pound also benefits from expectations that the UK will maintain [...]
Accounting for good practices: why effective risk management matters January 17, 2012 HEAD OF ACCA UK THE global attitude towards risk management has changed irrevocably in the last three years. Yet, despite the increasingly stringent regulatory controls and development of sophisticated financial modelling, at the end of the day, risk management must address the human factor. People ultimately make decisions based on the best available information, but [...]
FTSE rises as investors shift gaze from Eurozone to China January 16, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares rose yesterday, led by miners, as investors’ attention shifted from the Euro zone debt crisis towards economic data from China. Mining stocks tracked metals prices higher as markets eyed a batch of Chinese data due today, including GDP and industrial production, for further clues on the outlook for demand. “There’s a perception [...]
World shares lift despite dip in Asia January 16, 2012 EUROPEAN shares and the euro gradually recovered yesterday from early losses triggered by the mass downgrade of Euro zone sovereign ratings last week, but they still looked vulnerable amid rising fears of a disorderly Greek debt default. Markets had already reacted to the downgrades on Friday, and European assets steadied by yesterday afternoon, but activity [...]
Powering your trading ambition January 16, 2012 AS MORE and more providers hone their mobile trading apps, you can almost trade from anywhere. But if you are serious about your trading then you will probably want a dedicated computer. But what features are important and what do you get for your money? Generally speaking, you will get faster processing, the ability to [...]
GOLD REMAINS A PRECIOUS COMPONENT OF A PORTFOLIO January 16, 2012 Ionce heard an analyst say that gold should be viewed as an insurance policy, not as an investment. That’s good advice for anyone who is contemplating a position in the yellow metal in 2012. Gold has very little industrial use and yields no return, so its investment credentials are dubious. However, throughout history gold has [...]
THE TIPSTER January 16, 2012 WHEN Rio Tinto becomes the first of the big miners to update the market this year with its full-year report, there will be plenty of informative nuggets for investors to dig through in the update. The memory of Alcoa’s update and bullish forecast last week is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Traders will be hoping [...]
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 [...]