NO END IN SIGHT: SMALL BUSINESS BANKING WOES October 9, 2011 I RUN a small but fast-growing group of pubs called The Draft House. We’re known for selling a wide range of craft beer, simple food and – I hope – a warm welcome. In 2009, we were days away from opening our second site in Northcote Road, Clapham. We were managing our cash carefully but [...]
FTSE lurches up on economic optimism October 6, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares advanced yesterday as sentiment was lifted by hopes policymakers will take the necessary measures to stabilise stressed European banks and by the Bank of England’s decision to launch a second round of quantitative easing. “Central banks have come to the party and said ‘look, we’re really concerned about growth; we’re going to [...]
Europe lifts Wall St for a third session October 6, 2011 US stocks rose for a third day in a row yesterday as developing Eurozone plans to backstop European banks gave investors hope the threat of a financial crisis was waning. Bank shares led gains on Wall Street as the EU planned to recapitalise banks and the European Central Bank said it was ready to buy [...]
The Fear Index: The day has come to make a real killing… October 6, 2011 THEY gathered around the trading screen in Execution. One of the quants vacated his desk to give them a better view. “So, this is VIXAL-4 in operation,” said Hoffman. He stood back to let the investors get closer to the terminal. He decided not to sit: that would have let them see the wound on [...]
… but our writer disagrees. Algos mean no harm October 6, 2011 THE avarice and greed of traders leading themselves and others to ruin. The creation of powerful computer-driven algo systems that nobody understands. Another creation by grasping bankers trying to churn and burn viable publicly listed businesses as fast as they can. Whipping up uncontrollable market volatility. Exacerbating terrifying sounding “flash crashes.” All happening in the [...]
Greek progress lends a hand to FTSE despite retail worries October 5, 2011 RALLIES by hard-pressed banks, insurers and commodity stocks led a bounce back by Britain’s top shares yesterday as support for debt-laden Greece revived investor appetite for riskier assets. Financial issues were boosted after the International Monetary Fund said it “definitely participate” in a second bailout package for Greece if the Washington-based lender was happy about [...]
Wall Street gains again on tech talk October 5, 2011 US stocks rallied for a second day yesterday, as investors bid up materials and energy shares on rising commodity prices and poured into beaten-down tech names after days of selling. Stocks continued to recover from a decline that briefly took the S&P 500 into bear-market territory. That turned abruptly on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 [...]
Giving ninety per cent of its tickets away is P&G’s winning 2012 strategy October 5, 2011 COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 295 DAYS TO GO Irwin Lee explains why being the Proud Sponsor of Mums makes business sense for Procter & Gamble Q.WHAT WAS YOUR BRAND’S PRIMARY REASON FOR BEING INVOLVED WITH THE GAMES? A.Our first involvement with the Olympics came in Vancouver with the 2010 Winter Games. We [...]
Not Spooks, but still exciting October 5, 2011 THE BBC’s Spooks is not a realistic depiction of working life at MI5, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that working for the UK’s national security intelligence agency would be cool. If you’ve ever longed to know state secrets or work on The Grid, now could be your chance. The Security Service is recruiting [...]
A day on M15’s digital forensic specialist team October 5, 2011 AFTER graduating from university with a degree in IT, I spent eighteen months working in the finance sector. I enjoyed the work, which had good prospects, but I realised that I wanted to do something that offered me the chance to put my IT skills to use while making a real, tangible difference. When I [...]