Turning your ideas into a business November 24, 2010 NICK BADMAN CASS BUSINESS SCHOOL WHILE politicians and senior bankers slug it out in public about whether the banks are lending enough to small businesses, what can entrepreneurs do to increase their chance of success in the competition for scarce capital resources? Firstly, you should consider whether you really need external capital to make your [...]
ASK THE EXPERTS November 24, 2010 LAST week the government said that it wants to measure the country’s wellbeing, and not just GDP. But it’s not just politicians who should be interested in wellbeing, but employers and workers too. So how do you make work a happier place? Dr Jo Perkins Coaching psychologist, Orbit Consulting Research demonstrates that psychological wellbeing is achieved [...]
FTSE drops to a six-week low as fears grow over Eurozone debt and Korea November 23, 2010 THE leading share index dropped to a six-week closing low yesterday, weighed down by weak banks and commodity issues on worries over the Eurozone debt crisis and rising tensions in the Korean peninsula. The FTSE 100 ended down 99.55 points or 1.8 per cent at 5,581.28, its lowest close since 4 October. Banks led the [...]
Wall Street tumbles on global woes and oil prices November 23, 2010 US stocks sank yesterday as investors dumped risky assets on escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula and as Eurozone debt worries mounted. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 142.21 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 11,036.37. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 17.11 points, or 1.43 per cent, to 1,180.73. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 37.07 [...]
It’s not easy to price in the actions of dictators November 23, 2010 YEONPYEONG island was obscured by smoke yesterday after North Korea launched an shell attack on the South Korean island, marking the greatest escalation of violence between the countries for decades. This is a dismal reminder that the line drawn between the two countries is still mired in dispute. It also caused the line on the [...]
CONTAGION IS STILL A RISK FOR THE EURO November 23, 2010 BORIS SCHLOSSBERG DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT AFter several weeks of tense negotiations and turbulence in the credit markets, Ireland accepted a financial aid package from EU and the IMF. Although the size of the deal will not be known for days, analysts put the total at about €100bn – 40 per cent of the [...]
Fear and loathing on the edges of Europe November 23, 2010 SOMETIMES it seems as though the foreign exchange markets can only deal with one news story at a time. Whereas a month ago, the dollar was being attacked for quantitative easing, now the euro is the point of focus. Given the depth of the fiscal problems in Ireland and Portugal and even potentially Spain or [...]
THE TIPSTER November 23, 2010 THE long sterling-New Zealand dollar position has already proven to be profitable, and it looks as though we could start to see an acceleration of gains following the latest surge beyond NZ$2.0700. The fundamentals have certainly been supportive, with a dovish central bank, problems with local fruit, and a ratings downgrade all helping to strengthen [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS November 23, 2010 FOREX STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Long sterling-New Zealand dollar at NZ$2.0500 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 month-12 months A couple of weeks back we recommended buying this cross with the market trading at cyclical lows and looking poised for some major upside. The trade has proven to be profitable and [...]
Low correlations and high liquidity ensure currency’s continued appeal November 23, 2010 FOR about a decade before the crisis, institutional investors were happy to accept that the currency markets were an area where active fund managers could add value. But they lost their faith in the asset class during 2008 when many currency managers lost money. Some of those managers who were running quantitative strategies and who [...]