Britain’s FTSE gets fillip from debt crisis hope and earnings October 19, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index closed higher yesterday, buoyed by financials on fresh speculation of a game-changing response to the Eurozone debt crisis at a weekend meeting of regional leaders. Forecast-beating earnings from the likes of spirits group Diageo also helped drive the move, although concerns about growth continued to come through in other results, for [...]
A new faction contesting the foundations of how to invest October 19, 2011 Q. Why are you called The 300 Club? A. This refers to the 300 Spartans who stood against an invading Persian army at Thermopylae. The group went there even though they did not have the support of Sparta or of the other Greek cities. These Spartans understood the risks, but they still decided to make [...]
Lloyds is harnessing the 2012 Games as a transformational opportunity October 18, 2011 COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 282 DAYS TO GO Sally Hancock sets out why Lloyds Banking Group became a partner of the 2012 Olympics Q. What was your brand’s primary reason for being involved with the Games? A. We became the first National Partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for [...]
Exiting difficulties give illiquid Scandis limited appeal as a safe haven October 18, 2011 WITH no end in sight for market volatility, options are dwindling for investors seeking safe haven currencies. Six weeks ago, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) made the bold move of putting a floor under the euro-Swiss franc exchange rate at SFr1.20. When it announced the move, the SNB said that it would protect the franc [...]
FAITH IN EU SUMMIT IS MISPLACED October 18, 2011 THIS week the focus in the currency market is squarely on the EU summit scheduled for 23 October, but the event itself may prove to be anticlimactic and could serve as a perfect sell- the-news moment even if the Eurozone officials manage to produce a reasonable plan to deal with the sovereign debt crisis. Over [...]
THE TIPSTER October 18, 2011 The rally in sterling from recent lows has hit the skids in the last few days, with sterling-Japanese yen playing the technical levels beautifully again. After topping out almost exactly on the 50-day simple moving average at ¥122.47 and just above trend-line resistance going back to the April highs of ¥139, it has pulled back [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS October 18, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Scalp dollar-yen and short Kiwi dollar-dollar Expertise: Fundamental analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week I had a mixed bag last week with my short euro-sterling hitting its stop at its new resistance, while sterling-dollar hit its initial target. We are seeing [...]
Take a binary bet on currency pair movements with GFT’s latest offer October 18, 2011 GFT’S founder and chief executive Gary Tilkin is in bullish mood. This week, his firm launches its latest innovation, a platform for binary trades, where traders can simply make yes/no predictions about whether a financial event will happen. The platform covers foreign exchange, but also popular indices and commodities. “It’s an idea I had a [...]
Global standards are set to provoke continental shifts in accounting rules October 18, 2011 HEAD OF ACCA UK IN THE eye of another economic storm, the issue of whether the world will take a step closer to having one set of accounting standards may not be at the top of most executives’ minds. Yet, in less than a month, the way in which companies around the world report their [...]
Lack of plan to fix Euro debt crisis hits banks and miners October 17, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index closed lower yesterday, giving up early gains, as miners and banks went in to reverse after hopes for an imminent solution to Europe’s debt crisis were dashed by comments from Germany’s finance minister. Wolfgang Schaeuble played down heightened expectations that European governments will resolve the region’s sovereign debt crisis at a [...]