Banks drag FTSE down as UniCredit prices at discount January 4, 2012 CONCERNS over the Eurozone sent Britain’s top shares into reverse yesterday after the previous session’s sharp gains, as Italian lender UniCredit priced a rights issue at a huge discount, and a German bond auction failed to excite. The FTSE 100 fell 31.46 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5,668.45, albeit in light volume, at 79 [...]
Undiversified portfolios were a risky bet in 2011 January 4, 2012 BEFORE the bust of 2008, investors coveted their neighbours’ investments, jealously looking elsewhere for the next big thing. Now in a bust, success is measured not by how much you make, but by how little you lose. 2011 was cut through with fears about persistent inflation, while the equally unrelenting crisis – or crises – [...]
Three expert insights on how to invest in 2012 January 4, 2012 ALLOCATING ASSETS WILL BE DIFFICULT TOM STEVENSON FIDELITY WORLDWIDE INVESTMENT THE nervous tone of early trading in 2012 has carried on where it left off at the end of a year that investors will gladly forget. An initial rally has soon run out of steam as European bond yields rise again and everyone remembers that [...]
Perfect the art of networking with these simple tips January 4, 2012 CAREER DEVELOPMENT EXPERT ONE of the first things to greet executives on their return to the office in the new year should be the fruit of attending all those pre-Christmas hospitality events – a neat stack of business cards promising new business leads. But perhaps not. Many people will be lucky to have amassed a [...]
Virtual connections are the smart choice this year January 4, 2012 ONLINE NETWORK ENTREPRENEUR MOST people I know hate organised networking. Walking into a room filled with people that they don’t know but that they feel under pressure to get to know, is just daunting and quite frankly inefficient. Digital networks remove those annoying situations that inevitably occur at cringeworthy business networking events simply through the [...]
US markets begin the year on a high January 3, 2012 STOCKS and the euro started the year with a sharp rally yesterday, boosted by better-than-expected global data and hopes the Fed could ease monetary policy further, even as crude surged on tensions between the US and Iran. A number of Federal Reserve officials believed economic conditions could “well” warrant a further easing of monetary policy, [...]
Manufacturing data sparks FTSE’s racing start to 2012 January 3, 2012 BRITAIN’S top shares powered ahead at the start of the new trading year yesterday as upbeat economic data from the United States, Europe and China boosted risk appetite and helped investors set aside fears over the Eurozone debt crisis. The pace of growth in the US manufacturing sector accelerated in December, its best month since [...]
2012 will mimic 2011 in Aussie dollar volatility January 3, 2012 MARKETS across the globe are suddenly hinting at the promise of economic renewal. Apart from the earth successfully travelling once more around the sun, to the delight of the planet’s Homo sapiens, has anything really changed from jittery 2011? For a short time at least, confidence is high. “Traders and investors seem prepared to take [...]
GEOPOLITICAL THREATS TO 2012 TRADING January 3, 2012 AS THE currency markets opened for trading at the start of the new year, investors remained in a party mood, bidding up the Australian dollar, after PMI readings from the region printed better than expected. China’s official PMI Manufacturing report crossed back above the 50 boom/bust level, allaying concerns that the Asian giant was heading [...]
THE TIPSTER January 3, 2012 THE last few weeks have been uncharacteristically quiet on the European crisis front – but pessimists may just view this as the calm before the next inevitable storm. The optimistic view could be that surely all of the bad news is getting close to being priced in for the euro and its death has been [...]