FTSE hits a five-week high on hope of a euro debt plan December 5, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 hit a five-week closing high yesterday with optimism rising that politicians can finally agree a deal to solve its debt crisis in a crunch week for the Eurozone. European Union leaders, urged on anxiously by the United States, are seeking agreement on a convincing rescue plan that has eluded them for two [...]
US stocks drop on S&P rate warning December 5, 2011 HOPES that policymakers are working toward a solution to the debt crisis lifted global shares yesterday, but a late-day credit warning from Standard & Poor’s underscored what was at stake. Reports that the warning was coming caused US stocks to cut gains in the afternoon, while the euro retreated. S&P said after the closing bell [...]
Pig out on the rebound December 5, 2011 WHEN six central banks staged a coordinated intervention last week to lower the cost of dollar swap rates, they gave the European markets a breath of life on the hope that this would sow greater liquidity into the interbank market. The injection of dollar liquidity into the market sent investors trotting out of dollar positions [...]
A CHANGE OF FORTUNES FOR RISK ASSETS December 5, 2011 WHAT a turnaround last week. We saw an extraordinary rally in equity markets which saw them recoup the losses from the sell-off that had persisted through much of November. Personally, I believed that the major stock indices were on the point of a major break to the downside which would only be averted by a [...]
EU summit the new focus as investors waver over the euro December 4, 2011 LAST week saw an extraordinary turnaround in equity markets. The index bounced off 5,100 and shot higher with barely a backward glance. The FTSE 100 tacked on more than eight per cent over the period and on Friday it tested significant resistance at 5,600. This marks the 61.8 per cent Fibonacci retracement of the sell-off [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD December 4, 2011 THE Eurozone will once again serve as the source of Wall Street’s angst, as investors look to a summit of the region’s political leaders for decisive solutions for the ballooning debt crisis. Stocks posted their best week in more than two years last week, driven by central bank efforts to provide cheaper dollar loans to [...]
The sky is the limit December 4, 2011 HAVING condensed for 30 years in the mind of Goichi Hosoda, a Japanese journalist, ichimoku kinko hyo – which translates as “one glance balanced chart” – took Japanese traders by storm when it was unveiled in 1960. It’s now a stock indicator in Japan and has a scattered following in Europe and the US. This [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD December 4, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● TUI Travel announces its preliminary results for the year today. The company is an international leisure travel agency that operates aircraft and retail outlets and services the European and North American markets. ● Northgate will announce its interim results tomorrow. A vehicle rental business, Northgate hopes the first half of its financial [...]
THE TIPSTER December 4, 2011 WHEN Victrex reports its earnings on Tuesday, analysts are expecting revenues of around £93m, up from £75m this time last year. The maker of polymers’s shares have slid 27 per cent from their highs in July of 1,600p, but it looks like it is on the way back from lows of 1,020p. Strong gains and [...]
WE MUST TURN ON THE PRESSES December 4, 2011 IN AN earlier article I said that I was disheartened by the chain of disappointments that are perpetuating the crisis of the Eurozone. Many analysts, and I among them, believe that the European Central Bank has the ability to change history, or is destined to repeat it. To quote the world renowned economist and Nobel [...]