Be ready to leap when the market turns September 15, 2010 THE popular obsession with City pay has not gone away, as was in evidence recently when the news that Bob Diamond will become CEO of Barclays was accompanied by lurid headlines about the “bonus banker”. City remuneration might be a dog-whistle issue for tabloids, but it’s also a big issue for everybody who works here, [...]
ODD JOBS September 15, 2010 CRIMINAL BARRISTER I became a lawyer because I struggled at school socially and wanted to go to the local college, but you could only do that if you took a subject they didn’t do at the school, so I chose to do law A-level. I was taught by a female barrister and she was so [...]
FTSE edges up as hunger for mining shares boosts trading September 14, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares edged higher yesterday, matching modest gains on Wall Street following above-forecast US retail sales data, with commodity issues standing out. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 1.88 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,567.41, marginally extending Monday’s four-month closing high. “The last-minute push higher by bulls gives further evidence [...]
Promising US retail data fuels optimism September 14, 2010 STOCKS were little changed yesterday after promising data from the retail sector fed recent optimism that the economic recovery, while slow, is proceeding. Retailers were a bright spot after data showed US retail sales rose in August for their largest gain in five months. Best Buy’s higher-than-expected quarterly profit and raised outlook validated the government [...]
Unloved European equities are cheap and attractive September 14, 2010 IT WAS not so long ago that European equities were underloved and underowned. A combination of the sovereign debt crisis and fears of a patchy economic recovery saw investors dumping European-listed stocks in favour of almost anything else. Global fund allocations to European equities languish at around 13 per cent, close to the lows of [...]
Ethical investors cannot have their cake and eat it September 14, 2010 AcademicS were making waves in the socially responsible investment (SRI) community this week, as a new study suggested that SRI funds offer lower returns than simple index-trackers. Conducted by the EDHEC-Risk Institute, the paper updates a study of French SRI funds by looking at 172 funds’ returns between 2002 and 2009. It shows that while [...]
Policies prop up pound September 14, 2010 STERLING bulls breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after a broad sell-off in the dollar pushed cable to as high as $1.5588. This raised hopes that sterling would remain the best of a bad bunch and avoid weakness caused by looming austerity measures. Although sterling has appeared the best of the G3 currencies, it has [...]
FX MARKETS ARE POWERED BY BEIJING September 14, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT As I prepare for my “all-things-forex” seminar with Allister Heath on 23 September between 8 and 10am at the Grange Hotel (register at gftuk.com/cityam), I can’t help but marvel at the idea that China is now the primary driver of trade in the FX market. Although its own currency is [...]
All to play for as the dollar either rallies or divebombs September 14, 2010 NEXT Thursday 23 September at 8am, analysts and commentators will convene for a forex jamboree at the Grange Hotel near St Paul’s. City A.M. editor Allister Heath will be talking forex with leading currency analyst Boris Schlossberg of GFT, and all readers are invited to attend – for free. Heath says: “This is a great [...]
FOREIGN EXCHANGE NEWS September 14, 2010 fxcm enhances automated trading Automated trading has become increasingly popular among foreign exchange traders and online forex and CFD provider FXCM has this week launched Strategy Trader, a free, all-in-one automated forex trading solution that allows clients to code strategies, perform advanced back tests, run detailed optimisation analysis, and execute trades from a single platform. [...]