Tech funds: a decade after the demise of pets.com April 27, 2011 IT has now been more than a decade since the dot-com boom and bust, which at its height resembled a gold rush as investors wanted to pile into anything and everything tech-related. But after tech funds imploded with the demise of pets.com and its litter, is it a case of once bitten, twice shy for [...]
Marry for love not money: get a prenup April 27, 2011 THE couple that has been plastered across everything from tea towels to canvas shoes will be married tomorrow. While everyone celebrating will be wishing them a long and happy life together, many have speculated on whether or not the couple have signed – or should sign – a prenup. After all, William’s mother reportedly walked [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS April 27, 2011 WITHOUT A WILL IN THE WORLD More than half (51 per cent) of British adults don’t have a will drawn up, according to research by Standard Life. The research conducted by the long-term savings and investment company reveals that these figures become even more worrying when broken down by age. Nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) [...]
Reaching for the economic chiefdom April 27, 2011 COMPANY chief economist jobs are pretty cool. Not only do you get the academic kudos of being an “expert” you often get to appear on the news to prove it. But how does one get to work on the sexy side of the dismal science? There are hardly entry-level job adverts or graduate schemes that [...]
FTSE closes at two-month high despite light volumes April 26, 2011 aBRITAIN’S FTSE 100 closed at its highest level in over two months yesterday, albeit in light volumes, as earnings from the US and Europe supported gains ahead of results from UK companies such as ARM and BP. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed up 0.9 per cent at 6,069.36, with volumes still thin after the four-day [...]
Corporate results boost US stocks April 26, 2011 A FRESH batch of corporate results pushed US stocks to their best levels since June 2008 yesterday, renewing optimism that profit growth will remain resilient enough to keep equities on the rise. The S&P 500 barreled through the 1,344 level, seen as a key resistance point the benchmark index needed to surpass in order to [...]
Federal Reserve chairman faces press scrutiny April 26, 2011 TODAY, for the first time in its 97-year history, the US Federal Reserve will start hosting quarterly press conferences in an attempt to better explain the decisions of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Replicating the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB), these press conferences will help to make the chairman’s [...]
AN UNCERTAIN ENDGAME PUTS FOCUS ON FOMC April 26, 2011 WHAT’S good as gold these days? Absolutely nothing, except perhaps silver. As the holiday-shortened week opened for trade, gold continued to set new highs, climbing above the $1,500/oz. level while silver surged, coming to within a few points of breaking above the psychologically important $50/oz. barrier on the way to setting a new record high. [...]
THE TIPSTER April 26, 2011 THE pound is set to take centre stage today with first quarter GDP due out at 9:30am. A figure in excess of 0.7 per cent could well see further sterling-dollar gains towards $1.6800 on a break above the recent highs of $1.6600. A figure below 0.5 per cent could well see the pound slip back [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS April 26, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short euro-dollar, short euro-Canadian dollar, long dollar-yen Expertise: Fundamental and Technical Analysis with Risk Management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week The Kiwi dollar-dollar’s bearish reversal I was looking for didn’t play out from last week as fundamental support in the form of risk appetite [...]