Industry rises from the ashes to drive growth February 17, 2010 AMERICAN industry appears to be benfitting from a second wind. As the world’s largest economy emerges from recession, it’s industry that’s leading the way while the service sector is only just managing to hobble back to life. In recent years the US has re-directed its economy towards the service sector and, in particular, the consumer. [...]
DOLLAR AND GOLD SPELL UNCERTAINTY February 17, 2010 STRONG demand for gold from investors in recent weeks has been prompted in part by the current issues surrounding Greece. For much of the past year, if gold was rising then the US dollar was likely to be falling, given that gold is often used as a dollar hedge – especially during the unprecedented monetary [...]
The Tipster February 17, 2010 SOVEREIGN debt troubles had created plenty of turmoil in the global markets, but over the past few days, equity markets have been discounting the negative news flow to stage a bit of a recovery. Traders should be aware that the strength in European equities is often preceded by a good performance in the Asian markets [...]
INVESTORS’ GLOSSARY February 17, 2010 CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP (CDS) A CDS is a derivative instrument that can protect the holder of corporate or sovereign debt from the event that a company or government defaults on their debt obligations. It works like a basic swap: the buyer of the CDS gives the seller a series of payments. In return, the buyer [...]
Good day for blue-chips sees FTSE flirt with the 5,300 level February 17, 2010 Britain’s top share index rose for the third consecutive day yesterday, led by financials and miners on bullish corporate results and economic data, and adding to growing optimism over the health of the global economy. The FTSE 100 ended up 32.58 points, or 0.6 per cent at 5,276.64, touching a two-week high during the session [...]
US shares gain as data boosts mood February 17, 2010 Stronger-than-expected corporate results and upbeat economic data drove US stocks higher yesterday as they fed expectations the recovery will bolster corporate profits. Deere & Co, the world’s largest farm equipment maker, led markets after its results beat expectations and it raised its outlook for the year ahead. Shares gained five per cent to $56.48. The [...]
Competition still fierce as grad vacancies go up February 17, 2010 THE graduate recruitment market is showing significant signs of improvement in 2010 after being brought to all but a standstill by the recession, according to two recently published reports. But while there is positive news, many of this year’s graduates will be lucky to see its effects, with competition remaining extremely intense. A study published [...]
Strong Barclays results help FTSE to chalk up solid gains February 16, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed sharply higher yesterday as Barclays led a banking sector rally after its 2009 forecast-beating results, and oils and miners were buoyed by firmer commodity prices. The FTSE 100 ended up 76.59 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 5,244.06, extending gains into a second consecutive session after closing 0.5 per cent higher [...]
US stocks boosted by Merck earnings February 16, 2010 US stocks posted their biggest daily percentage gain in three months yesterday after strong revenue from drugmaker Merck and regional manufacturing data instilled confidence in the economic outlook. Resource related shares were among the strongest gainers as a weaker US dollar sparked buying in oil and other commodities. The CRB commodities index marked its largest [...]
Technical signs point to dollar domination over the euro February 16, 2010 THE latest revelation in the Greek debt saga is that investment banks on Wall Street helped Greece and other southern European economies to move some of their debt off of their balance sheets through the use of securitisation and swaps over the past 15 years. This allowed them to reduce their official budget deficit figures [...]