Equities to leap as Santa Claus rally comes to town December 12, 2010 European stocks are forecast to power on ahead on the open this morning, building on recent gains as positive economic data are for now seen out-weighing fears that the region’s debt crisis could spread. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open up 32 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,844. The [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD December 12, 2010 The December rally may be reaching its climax, with just two weeks to go before Santa Claus makes his midnight run. Dwindling volume, excess optimism, and history all point to a stock market that could be running out of steam. Investors appear to have grown complacent as the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX has fallen [...]
Take a punt on the Three Lions’ quest for Ashes victory December 12, 2010 IT IS hard to know what England fans are enjoying more. Their team’s dominance down under, or the pitiful showing by Australia so far. Going into the series, England were the better team on paper, but most observers expected more from the Aussies in their own back yard – a fact that was reflected in [...]
THE TIPSTER December 12, 2010 THE rail and bus company Go Ahead might be a reasonable long call. The company seems to be trying to focus more on core aspects of the business but the share price is continuing to struggle to make an impression. There’s clearly longer term exposure to the rail franchise renewal mechanisms and also government intervention [...]
SPREAD BET GURU December 12, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, why is it more risky trading in stocks with low market capitalisations than large caps? A. It’s all down to underlying liquidity and this means that one has the ability to get in, but more importantly, out of the market with ease and at a good price. The more [...]
Mitigate your currency risk December 9, 2010 THE ONGOING Eurozone sovereign debt crisis might have been disastrous for most Europeans, but for some Brits, it must have provided welcome relief. Thanks to European worries, the pound has rallied by nearly 6 per cent against the euro in little more than a month. For many pensioners living abroad on sterling denominated pensions, or holiday [...]
How to splurge intelligently this Christmas December 9, 2010 1 WATCH OUT FOR THE VAT RISE VAT is going up to 20 per cent on 4 January, so this year don’t wait for the sales to get your big purchases in. According to Santander, 28 per cent of Brits are planning on a pre tax hike spending spree, with people in the South East [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS December 9, 2010 NEW INVESTMENT MANAGER AT SPARK Albion Ventures has been appointed the investment manager of SPARK VCT and SPARK VCT 2, both technology venture capital investment funds. SPARK is planning to move its fund management focus away from retail funds and towards regional and institutional funds, and is bringing in a new manager to try to achieve that. They also [...]
Banks propel FTSE upwards after interest rates decision December 9, 2010 BANKS helped Britain’s top shares rise yesterday after the Bank of England kept interest rates and quantitative easing measures unchanged, while US jobs figures raised hopes that a recovery was under way. The FTSE 100 was up 13.43 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,807.96, eradicating Wednesday’s losses, though gains were muted, with some traders [...]
Wall St riding high as confidence soars December 9, 2010 US stocks edged up yesterday, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at a two-year high, a trend investors expect to continue through the rest of the year. “A lot of traders thought the market would have a little bigger bump” after breaking a key technical level of 1,228 on the S&P, said Alan Valdes, director [...]