Graduates with chutzpah can find jobs July 28, 2010 IT’S tough out there for graduates. A survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters found that for every job there are 68.8 applicants, with the number going up to 205 for jobs in food, confectionary and cosmetics. Aldi, the supermarket chain, received 12,000 applications for 50 places on its management scheme. Seventy-eight per cent of [...]
HOW TO MAKE THE RIGHT IMPRESSION July 28, 2010 IMAGE IS EVERYTHING Look conservative with a small c – think West Wing, not Sex and the City. Make sure that you accessorise carefully and avoid any novelty fashion. If in any doubt, aim for a smarter look than you think is needed – it’s better to be safe than sorry. ACT CONFIDENT EVEN IF [...]
What now? Prepare for the next crisis July 28, 2010 PREDICTING the future can be a notoriously tricky business. If people declare with certainty that things will happen, they often don’t. While things that no one saw coming have a horrible habit of actually happening. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 came as everyone was talking about an “Asian economic miracle”, while the most recent [...]
FTSE 100 climbs to a 10-week high as strong UBS results boost bank sector July 27, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a 10-week closing high yesterday, as a buoyant banking sector boosted by strong results from Swiss lender UBS countered weak US consumer confidence data. The FTSE 100 closed up 14.55 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,365.67, its highest closing level since 13 May, having retreated from an intra-day peak [...]
Mixed earnings dampen recent Wall Street rally July 27, 2010 The S&P snapped a three-day winning streak yesterday after mixed earnings reports and a fall in consumer confidence, but analysts said US stocks were taking a breather and the rally could pick back up. Solid earnings from Dow component DuPont and Cummins cheered investors, but that was offset by gloomy comments from steelmakers, including US [...]
Indemnity market must be liberalised July 27, 2010 THIS year’s round of Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) renewals promises to be one of the most turbulent ever, but it could spur much-needed changes to the way the system is run. All law firms in England and Wales have to renew their PII by 1 October, but last week insurer Zurich, which insured 13 per [...]
Changes in extradition regime are a pipe dream July 27, 2010 CUBISM LAW OUR special relationship with the US has, of late, appeared rather strained. The noises from across the pond have been somewhat anti-British and not it seems influenced or restrained by any relationship, special or otherwise. The BP oil spill suddenly became the British Petroleum spill and the release of the Lockerbie bomber a [...]
Sterling’s time to shine July 27, 2010 STERLING might not have become the darling of the FX markets but it has certainly shed its image as their whipping boy. In what has been described as an ugly contest between the G4 currencies (US dollar, sterling, euro and yen), the pound is looking the rosiest. Last week’s GDP figures, which showed stunning growth [...]
DOLLAR HAS POTENTIAL TO REBOUND July 27, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT The biggest story in the currency market last week was not the Eurozone stress tests, but rather the surprisingly robust economic results reported by Germany and France. While the stress tests proved to be entirely anti-climactic, the news on the economic front was much better than expected. Eurozone flash PMI [...]
The real test for the euro is yet to come July 27, 2010 WITH the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stress tests now out, euro optimists are coming out of the woodwork. Goldman Sachs upgraded its forecast to predict the euro will hit $1.35 against the dollar in early 2011, while ETX Capital similarly forecasts that its current rally could last to the $1.35-36 level. Evolution Securities is likewise [...]