Upbeat US outlook lifts FTSE but Eurozone worries linger August 16, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares ended a shade higher yesterday, notably banks, after a better than forecast report on industrial output in the United States and as Fitch confirmed that nation’s top credit rating with a stable outlook. The UK benchmark index ended up 7.05 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,357.63, having spent much of the [...]
Wall Street breaks its winning streak August 16, 2011 US stocks fell yesterday after three days of gains when a meeting between the heads of France and Germany failed to quell fears about the ability of the Eurozone leaders to contain the region’s sovereign debt woes. Efforts to stem the spreading European debt crisis have so far been ineffective, partially causing the equity market [...]
Sarkozy and Merkel announce plans for closer EU integration August 16, 2011 THE story of the crumbling Eurozone took a new twist yesterday with a joint press conference given by German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy. This followed an afternoon of meetings between the two premiers, as they discussed ways to shore up the euro. The plight affecting the euro has largely been centered [...]
CALM SHOULD RETURN FOR FX MARKETS August 16, 2011 JUST how volatile was currency trading last week? To understand it better, let’s take a look at euro-Swiss franc and dollar-Swiss franc – two pairs that carved out enormous ranges in last week’s tumultuous markets. For the past 250 trading days, the average daily range in euro-Swissie has been 149 points. Last week it expanded [...]
THE TIPSTER August 16, 2011 EURO-STERLING rallied hard last week on the back of the UK riots, but ran into a blockade of its own as it approached strong moving average and Fibonacci resistance in the £0.8820-40 area. There also appears to be good support in the £0.8650 area so playing the edges of this range for now, with a [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS August 16, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Long dollar-yen and sterling-Swissie; short Aussie-kiwi Expertise: Fundamental/technical analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: One day to one week Risk aversion was strong in the past few weeks, although euro-dollar didn’t participate, given the shared troubles of both economies. Conditions have settled in the past few [...]
FTSE rises but Eurozone still weighs on some bank stocks August 15, 2011 ARALLY by commodity issues on a brighter demand picture pulled Britain’s top share index higher yesterday, though weakness in banks dented some sentiment as investors looked cautiously ahead towards a key meeting today on the Eurozone debt crisis. French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet German chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris to discuss further steps to [...]
Wall Street has a third day of gains August 15, 2011 WALL Street stocks rose for a third day yesterday as investors saw Google’s offer for phone maker Motorola Mobility as a signal to jump back into the market after weeks of sharp selling. Acquisition activity is often viewed as a sign major corporations sitting on big cash piles are willing to pay for shares even [...]
Questioning FTSE price earnings ratio forecasts August 15, 2011 OVER the last few weeks, investor uncertainty has driven a mass sell-off in equities, as market volatility has pushed investors to seek safe havens until the waters calm a little. But with prices being driven so low, is it time to pile back into UK equities? Looking at price/earnings ratios seems to suggest that the [...]
DON’T COUNT ON A MERKEL – SARKOZY DEAL August 15, 2011 I’VE been abroad for the last two weeks which has meant that I managed to miss the unpleasantness of the riots, and the market volatility of the past fortnight. As I left the country, Congress and the White House were still at loggerheads over raising the US debt ceiling. Now I’m struggling to find any [...]