The training steps needed to become a trading superstar June 19, 2011 IN ANY popular Hollywood movie that aspires to true greatness, a montage scene, in which the hero learns the skills needed to succeed, is de rigueur. The pinnacle of this cinematographic method can be seen in the 1976 film Rocky. A movie about a retail trader earning a steady income from spread betting might not [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD in association with GFT June 19, 2011 COMPANIES ● Agrekko will make a trading announcement today. The company has benefited from large temporary energy supply contracts following Japan’s earthquake. ● On Tuesday, First Property, Halma and Creston release earnings. The latter provides marketing insights and communications services. ● On the same day, Whitbread will release its interim management statement. With consumer spending [...]
THE TIPSTER June 19, 2011 TEMPORARY power provider Aggreko is due to make a trading announcement today, having enjoyed some really good gains in the last three months. Investors will be hoping that the good news continues with the shares trading near all-time highs. CMC Markets offers a spread of 1,883.60p-1,890.43p. Falling resource prices are doing commodity stocks few favours, [...]
FTSE tumbles as Greek crisis prompts flight from equities June 16, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares fell sharply yesterday as fears over the global recovery and a contagion impact from the Greek debt crisis prompted investors to sell out of riskier assets such as commodity stocks. The FTSE 100 ended down 43.74 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 5,698.81, back at levels last seen after the Japanese earthquake, [...]
Quadruple witching holds up US stocks June 16, 2011 US stocks rose in volatile trading yesterday, thanks only to technical factors and options expirations. But raging uncertainty about Greece prevented investors from committing money to the market. The impending expiration of stock-index futures, single-stock futures, equity options and stock-index options for June — known as quadruple witching — created exceptional volatility, pushing the S&P [...]
Investors should keep control of the currency within their portfolio June 16, 2011 CURRENCY is the world’s largest asset class by its very nature, as every world market is denominated in currency. Forex is also the world’s largest financial market, with daily currency trading exceeding £1.5 trillion. Currency shows weak correlation with other asset classes. As an example, if you take the dollar spot price index (USDX) – [...]
EXPERT OPINION | CURRENCY AS A STANDALONE ASSET CLASS June 16, 2011 Stuart Frost portfolio manager RWC Partners At RWC, we view currency as a standalone asset class as it is a reflection of capital flows around the world and provides income through currency appreciation or interest rate differentials. Some would argue that currency is merely the conduit for commodity, equity or bond investing, but if the world [...]
Weak banks help drive FTSE to three-month closing low June 15, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares ended lower yesterday, weighed down by banks on worries over the UK government’s drive for tougher regulation and Europe’s debt crisis, while commodity stocks also pressured the index. The FTSE 100 closed down 60.58 points, or 1.0 per cent, at 5,742.55, its lowest finish since March 18. Banks fell ahead of chancellor [...]
Two day rally ends on Greek worries June 15, 2011 US stocks sank on Wednesday as Greek debt woes, US data and disappointing profit forecasts fueled bearish sentiment, putting the market back on its downtrend after a two-day rally. Forecasts from companies, including Nucor Corp, Owens Illinois and Ford, underscored concern that economic sluggishness will hit earnings. Bank stocks helped lead the decline after Moody’s [...]
Fed up at work? Don’t slow down, gear up for an entrepreneurial adventure June 15, 2011 OVER 60 per cent of people confess to not being engaged by their work, and 30 per cent of employees feel their strengths would be better suited to another career, according to a Towers Perrin/Gallup poll. A lot of people clearly want to work elsewhere. But for all the talk of “transferable skills,” moving into [...]