Jim Mellon: wise words from a master investor April 3, 2011 WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MARKETS TO TRADE IN? Forex and indices. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF SPREAD BETTING? Tax, convenience, leverage and cost. WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON MISTAKE MADE BY TRADERS? Sticking with losers. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON FOR A TRADER TO LEARN? Don’t trade unless you have a high degree of [...]
TRADE BETTER BY REVIEWING YOUR RESULTS April 3, 2011 TOM HOUGAARD CONSULTING ANALYST, INTERTRADER HERE is an exercise that my own trading coach Steve Ward taught me. I may be paraphrasing, but to the best of my recollection these are his exact words: “Tom, you will never make the progress you want, if you don’t go back and review your old trades. On your [...]
Real world social networking helps to keep the Silicon Roundabout turning April 3, 2011 FORGET Silicon Valley and Cambridge’s Silicon Fen, the Silicon Roundabout celebrated by David Cameron in a speech late last year is the UK’s newest and coolest hub of entrepreneurship. Dozens and dozens of IT start-ups lie just around London’s Old Street roundabout, spreading into Shoreditch and further east. The area’s cheap rent drew them in [...]
FTSE ends six-day rally after Irish bank stress test results March 31, 2011 BRITISH bank shares fell on further concerns about the state of finances in the peripheral Eurozone countries, dragging the country’s top shares lower by the close yesterday and ending a six-day winning run. Ireland said its four remaining banks require another €24bn ($34.1bn) to enable them to withstand potential losses from a worsening of the [...]
US treads water ahead of jobs data March 31, 2011 US stocks ended a solid quarter with the barest of moves yesterday, as investors looked ahead to Friday’s US jobs report to provide a catalyst to push indexes to new highs for the year. After gaining 5.4 per cent in the first quarter, the benchmark S&P 500 hovered near 1,330, a level the index has [...]
FTSE rally continues despite earnings woes for retailers March 30, 2011 THE FTSE 100 closed higher for a sixth consecutive session yesterday, its best run since August 2010, as investors ditched retailers over earnings worries in favour of growth sectors such as industrials and mining. Dixons issued a profit warning and gloomy outlook as a survey from the CBI showed the underlying trend for retail sales [...]
Quarter-end dash pushes up Wall St March 30, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as investors positioned themselves for the quarter’s end and the S&P 500 attempted to hold above a key technical level. Stocks advanced as money managers re-allocated positions for the end of the quarter, with the S&P 500 up 5.9 per cent. The S&P broke through 1,330, which was noted as a [...]
A fight through the fund acronym jumble March 30, 2011 UCITS IV, or to give it its full title, the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive IV, comes into force in July. A set of EU directives aimed at allowing collective investment schemes to operate freely throughout the EU, they try to harmonise financial regulation throughout Europe. The aim of the original Ucits [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS March 30, 2011 OFGEM FORCES NOTICE CHANGES Ofgem has responded to pressure from consumers to force energy suppliers to give increased notice of rate changes. Suppliers have been ordered to give their customers 30 days notice before implementing price hikes. Geared towards protecting consumers from shock utility bill increases, the energy industry regulator Ofgem has issued new changes [...]
The clock is ticking to keep your savings from the taxman March 30, 2011 IF YOU are in the 20 per cent of Londoners who, according to research from Fidelity, put off getting their individual savings account (Isa) to the last week of the financial year, now is the time to shelter your savings from taxation. You will have to act quickly to pick up the best deals. Of [...]