Wall Street flat despite Goldman and SEC deal July 15, 2010 US stocks ended little changed yesterday, recouping losses late in the day, led by a sudden turnaround in Goldman Sachs and BP. A jump in BP’s US-listed shares after the company said no oil is leaking from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico boosted the market shortly ahead of the close. BP gained [...]
Keep your pension in funds July 15, 2010 THE government this week announced that it will abolish compulsory annuitisation, giving millions of pensioners more flexibility in how they generate their income. Annuitisation by age 75 has technically not been compulsory since 2006, but the only other permissable option, an Alternatively Secured Pension, was so highly taxed upon death as to mean only 4,000 [...]
2009: A GOOD VINTAGE FOR BORDEAUX July 15, 2010 MD & FOUNDER OF FINE WINE MERCHANT BORDEAUX INDEX MORE column inches have already been devoted to 2009 Bordeaux than to all the campaigns over the past decade, it would seem. This en primeur has been the biggest, craziest and most highly talked-up in memory. So as the dust settles and we can finally begin [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS July 15, 2010 BP: ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY At last, some good news for BP. Its stock has sunk so low – closing yesterday at 401.75p – that investors are jumping at the chance to snap up cheap stakes in the oil giant. Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers have been piling into the stock – a third of [...]
The rising star of online retail July 15, 2010 YOU’VE just given birth and one of the first things your husband asks you to do is to sign a cheque for your new boutique (Powder, based in Crouch End. ) That was Sarah Curran’s experience of the first hours of motherhood to son Jake, now seven-years old. It is no surprise that Curran says [...]
London ends its six-day winning streak due to weaker banks and mining firms July 14, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index fell back yesterday, snapping a six session winning streak, weighed down by weaker banks, on fresh stress test concerns, and by commodities, on caution ahead of Chinese data. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 17.50 points, or 0.3 per cent at 5,253.52, slipping back after having hit its highest [...]
Wall St falls after gloomy Fed cuts growth forecast July 14, 2010 US stocks broke a six-day winning streak yesterday, with the S&P 500 ending a hair lower after the Federal Reserve suggested additional measures may be needed to combat a weakening economy. Optimism over the start of earnings season limited declines after Intel reported better-than-expected results on signs of renewed corporate spending. Shares of Intel rose [...]
Our nation of shoppers is not about to quit the habit yet July 14, 2010 SINCE the onset of the recession, the pressure has increased to turn the UK economy into a manufacturing centre of excellence and at the same time become a nation of savers. But has the nation really turned its back on its former favourite pastime, shopping? Well, the hard data would suggest no. According to the [...]
There’s an ETC for your every need July 14, 2010 FANCY investing in emerging market equities, hedge fund performance or copper? If so, then there’s almost certainly an exchange-traded product (ETP) for that. For ETPs are rather similar to the ubiquitous smartphone application: they are cutting-edge, give users fast, simplified exposure to investments and providers can quickly launch in response to user demand. And as [...]
THE TIPSTER July 14, 2010 THE combination of a falling dollar and rising gold prices lends yet more support to the theory that precious metal traders were spooked by the massive quantities of gold that were deposited with the Bank for International Settlements last week. While the spectre of sovereign debt default still can’t be ruled out, the market seems [...]