Stocks dive again as worries return August 10, 2011 Fear returned to Wall Street yesterday, sending the S&P 500 to another four per cent decline, triggered by worries that Europe’s debt crisis could engulf French banks and spill onto the US financial sector. Trading was once again marked by sharp moves on heavy volume. For a fifth straight day, the Dow industrials fluctuated in [...]
Millions in Britain don’t have a pension August 10, 2011 RESEARCH undertaken by Baring Asset Management (Barings) released exclusively to City A.M. estimates that 13.6m, or 38 per cent of British adults, don’t have a pension. This is worrying, as pensions remain the best option for those looking to hang up their working boots before popping their clogs – and the sooner you start the [...]
The rising renminbi August 10, 2011 IN 2003, the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority came to an agreement to allow Hong Kong banks to conduct business in renminbi. Since then, the offshore renminbi market has expanded rapidly but has created a complex currency situation: one country with two systems, three currencies and four yield curves (see [...]
FTSE bounces up but all eyes move to Fed’s announcement August 9, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index bounced off 13-month lows yesterday, along with indexes across the Atlantic, as investors hoped an announcement by the US Federal Reserve would calm nerves over global debt and growth problems. “There has been some chatter that the Fed will bring forward the FOMC meeting to announce QE3 [quantitative easing] to the [...]
Wall St rebounds after volatile day August 9, 2011 US stocks rallied yesterday in a volatile session as investors struggled to decipher the Fed’s signals on the economy after a dizzying two-week slide. Buying accelerated into the close and the S&P 500 posted its best day in more than two years, following a drop of nearly 17 per cent over the past weeks. The [...]
Glacial growth threat to commodity currencies August 9, 2011 AS WELL as the devastating crash in equities, commodities have been hit hard by recent market turmoil. Both are driven by the public and private debt burdens on Western economies combined with declining expectations of the prospects for global growth. As such, the commodity currencies – seen by many as safe havens – have suffered [...]
SWISS FRANC IS STILL THE SAFE OPTION August 9, 2011 WE ARE on a bumpy road with a very few spare tires,” said Pimco chief executive Mohamed El-Erian, just before US equity markets opened for trade yesterday morning. I couldn’t agree more. Capital markets are in turmoil and the primary reason for the meltdown is the absolute lack of confidence in American and European leadership. [...]
Sterling is no shelter from the storm August 9, 2011 WITH the downgrade of US government debt by Standard and Poor’s last week, and the ongoing turmoil in the crumbling Eurozone, George Osborne could be forgiven for feeling a little bullish in his outlook for the UK economy, referring to it as a harbour in a financial storm. In comparison with the US debt ceiling [...]
THE TIPSTER August 9, 2011 WITH attention being drawn to cable tomorrow with the BoE quarterly inflation report, investors are likely to see a fall in the sterling-dollar pair. There should be a further downward revision to the bank’s growth forecast. However, inflation itself should be revised up, at least in the near term. And with cable under pressure and [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS August 9, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short euro-dollar below $1.4000 and $1.3800 Expertise: Fundamental analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week Markets have been roiled, as building momentum in risk aversion met the accelerant of an earlier-than-expected US sovereign credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor’s. Though much [...]