Lowest FTSE close in ten months as US manufacturing lull fuels double dip fears July 1, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares hit a 10-month closing low yesterday as downbeat data from the US, China and Britain sparked double-dip recession fears, triggering a broad sell-off, with banks and miners the hardest hit. The FTSE 100 fell 111.12 points, or 2.3 per cent, to 4,805.75 – its lowest close since 3 September 2009. Markets were [...]
Labour figures and metal miners drag on Wall St July 1, 2010 US stocks fell yesterday as manufacturing and labour market data heightened fears of a double-dip recession before today’s key employment report. Major indexes were lower for a fourth straight day after suffering their worst quarter since late 2008, but losses eased near the end of the session. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 41.49 points, [...]
Pick your money manager wisely July 1, 2010 AS A nation, we are apparently more likely to seek professional advice on our hair, our gardens and our cars than on our personal finances. Yet with the growing number and complexity of products on offer, it is becoming more important for people to seek advice before they take a decision – particularly if their [...]
fine wine is the ultimate liquid asset July 1, 2010 GARY BOOM MD & FOUNDER OF FINE WINE MERCHANT BORDEAUX INDEX Welcome to what is the first in a series of short articles looking at wine investment. While the City is well acquainted with the sensory pleasures of wine, it tends to be much less familiar with holding and trading wine as an asset. With [...]
Master of the antiques world July 1, 2010 ECCENTRIC springs to mind when I meet Thomas Woodham-Smith. He bounds into the Mallett showroom on Bond Street where he is managing director, second to chief executive Giles Hutchinson Smith, and shows me a picture he had taken on his way to the interview: “It’s a happy piece of string, I just saw it lying [...]
It’s official, hard graft is in fashion July 1, 2010 ALEX PRATT ENTREPRENEUR IN THE beginning the word was George. And George said, “Let there be cuts”. And there were cuts. And George saw that the cuts were good…. So what are we to do at this dawning of the new Age of Austerity? We’re hardly likely to move our offices north to take advantage [...]
LISTING July 1, 2010 Q.I would one day like to float my company, what steps should I implement to prepare for this? A.Before you list on a stock market like Aim you have to be assessed by a nomad, a nominated advisor such as an investment bank, corporate finance firm or accountancy firm. The nomad will look at your [...]
Pick a moment and hold on for property gains June 30, 2010 WITH the trajectory of the UK real estate market far from clear, property investment might seem like a risky business. But many UK property-tracking exchange-traded funds (ETF) have nonetheless seen steady asset inflows in the last year since prices began to recover in 2009. ETFs offer exposure to property without the long-term commitment of buying [...]
China’s stock index is getting oversolda June 30, 2010 INVESTORS barely had time to digest the news that the Conference Board had downgraded its leading indicator for China before stock markets tumbled across the world earlier this week. And although the markets’ sensitivity to the powerhouse of the east remains as strong as ever, the equity market in Shanghai has suffered more than its [...]
IT’S THE HALF YEAR BLUES, AND THERE IS PLENTY OF RED INK June 30, 2010 GEOFF WILKINSON HEAD OF RESEARCH, MINT EQUITIES AND so another quarter wends its way to a weary end. The simple fact is that the S&P 500 is currently down 10 per cent on the quarter, which is woeful enough, but supposedly buoyant China has fallen twice as much. Our money is safely tucked away in [...]