Married to a bull market: gold just keeps on climbing May 2, 2011 THEY say the beauty of gold is that it loves bad news. And reliably, the gold price has responded by going through the roof, smashing through record highs practically every week. A decade ago the price of an ounce of gold could buy you a flight to Istanbul; today it could land you in Sydney. [...]
THE TIPSTER May 2, 2011 THE FOMC announcements and Bernanke’s speech on monetary policy last week ensured that the dollar took a hammering and that spot gold traded at an almighty $1,533 per ounce. As long as the interest rates remain low and inflation pressures remain, it may become difficult for shorters to find the right time to enter the [...]
A green tax that risks economic sustainability May 2, 2011 FROM 2013, a tax on carbon producers will be unilaterally implemented by the UK upon carbon intensive industries. Costs to UK based businesses are estimated to be in the region of £9.3bn, undermining their competitiveness, damaging energy producers and users, and ultimately hitting the wallet of consumers. Presently, about half of Europe’s emissions are covered [...]
MAKING UP FOR NEGLECT NEEDS POLITICAL WILL May 2, 2011 FORECASTING the future behaviour of an economy is fraught with difficulties. There are many bodies making economic forecasts and sometimes those forecasts differ markedly. We use the monthly HM Treasury publication Forecasts for the UK Economy: a comparison of independent forecasts, as it compares 38 different forecasting bodies. The average GDP growth figure for 2010 [...]
FTSE flat as investors await news of Fed’s monetary policy April 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index ended flat yesterday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s news conference which could provide clues on the Fed’s future plans for its monetary policy. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 1.2 points or 0.02 per cent at 6,068.16, having hit a 9-week closing high on Tuesday. Volume was only 87.6 [...]
Bernanke message cheers US markets April 27, 2011 THE Nasdaq jumped to a 10-year high as US stocks rallied yesterday after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s first-ever press conference did nothing to short-circuit investors’ optimistic outlook on the economy. All three major US stock indexes extended gains after comments from Bernanke at his press conference, where he reiterated the Fed’s stance that inflation was [...]
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 [...]