There could be baa-bad news for retailers afoot June 6, 2011 DE-BLEAT-ING sheep numbers across the globe could have traders flocking into short positions on retail stocks later this year. Wool hit a 23-year high last week. Clothing retailers were decrying the increase yesterday, speculating on how long they can absorb the cost. The UK managing director of Hugo Boss Bernd Hake said that they would [...]
GLOOMY JUNE DATA NOT ALL DUE TO JAPAN June 6, 2011 WELL, that was a poor start to the new month. Last week saw the release of a stack of economic numbers from around the globe, the majority of which were significantly weaker than expected. The US data were particularly disappointing as the Chicago PMI, consumer confidence, S&P/Case Shiller house price index, vehicle sales, ADP employment, [...]
FTSE set to drop as Dow has worst losses since 2004 June 5, 2011 THE FTSE is set to take a negative steer from the US this morning, with the Dow Jones blue chip index hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the weekend press, having hit its worst losing streak since 2004. In out-of-hours trading, GFT is forecasting the UK index to trade lower from Friday’s [...]
Expect a roller-coaster of a time with European equities June 5, 2011 AFTER a decent year, European equities had a volatile and underwhelming time of things last month. Looking forward, it is a tale of two futures: either strong international companies profiting on the back of emerging market growth, or national divisions bringing an end to monetary union. Either way, there will be opportunities for spread betters [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD in association with GFT June 5, 2011 COMPANIES ● Today, Eckoh reports its earnings. It provides the technology for automated call centres. Sorry, could you please repeat that? ● Also today, Gesco, which works with oil and gas companies, will report. Investors will hope that – like others in the sector – it has been able to drill into the gushing profits [...]
THE TIPSTER June 5, 2011 SHARES in online clothes retailer Asos tumbled nearly £2 on Friday, despite pre-tax profits rising 41 per cent to £28.6m. Asos is an AIM-listed company with a market cap of £1.6bn, so the question remains how sustainable the price is at almost five times sales. You can’t knock the ambition though. It has big plans [...]
A man on a mission to the Moonpig.com June 5, 2011 MOONPIG was a nickname I had at school,” says Nick Jenkins. “I needed a two syllable domain name, something comic and unique on Google.” It took him four days of checking potential names on Network Solutions to stumble upon Moonpig. Now a household name, it is also one of the UK’s fastest growing and most [...]
Investor knowledge is business power June 5, 2011 THE news is never short of headlines about small businesses struggling to get hold of start-up capital and nobody is ever short of an opinion on the matter. But until now, few have put their heads together to find a solution. Stepping into the breach, City A.M. and Entrepreneurs World have created a conference to [...]
UK shares recover from shock of poor US data June 3, 2011 Britain’s top share index, bruised by concerns over the global economy in the previous two sessions, rebounded from lows following poor US jobs numbers yesterday to close marginally higher. US non-farm payrolls increased by 54,000 in May, the weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 per cent. Economists had expected payrolls [...]
FTSE falls again as fears over economy continue June 2, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares slid for a second day as worries over weak economic data drove investors from risky assets ahead of Friday’s US non-farm payroll numbers. The FTSE 100 closed down 80.69 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 5,847.92, with volume 93 per cent of its 90-day average. The index fell one per cent in [...]