Careers clinic February 10, 2010 One of the people on a team I manage made a costly mistake recently. I’m worried about him becoming demoralised, so what’s the best way to manage it? The first thing to realise is that this shouldn’t be too much about finger pointing. You need to acknowledge a mistake has been made, but do it [...]
Brushing up on your email etiquette can make you more successful and efficient February 9, 2010 LAST week, I received an unsolicited email that began, “Alright mate”. I did not read on. Email etiquette can be tricky, and it is easy to inadvertently cause offence. Lawyers, I am told, often receive emails from their superiors ending with “pls dl”, shorthand for “please deal with this”. Something which is more likely to [...]
Hawks, hares and tortoises in Scandinavia February 9, 2010 SCANDINAVIAN economies managed a soft landing during the global financial crisis. Unemployment and GDP held up strongly in Norway, and Sweden’s economy is starting to accelerate. With the Swedish central bank expected to strike a more hawkish tone when it meets later this week, now is a good time to pit the two currencies against [...]
The Tipster February 9, 2010 THE US dollar has performed strongly against the euro and sterling but the greenback hasn’t managed to keep up the strong performance against the yen; it has fallen by 5 per cent against the Japanese currency so far this year. If we see a dip back below ¥90 this could provide a good buying opportunity [...]
There can be no happy ending for the euro February 9, 2010 JUST as the mythical Cassandra predicted the destruction of Troy at the hands of the ancient Greeks, her modern-day counterparts are watching as Athens’ fiscal troubles wreak the very foundations of the European currency union – just as they predicted nine years ago when the Hellenic Republic was first admitted to the Eurozone. Questions about [...]
Despite its fiscal weakness, dollar remains attractive February 9, 2010 THE US dollar has staged an impressive rally against the euro and sterling. The US is benefiting from safe haven flows as investors ditch the euro over fears of a sovereign debt crisis for Greece that could spread to Portugal, Spain and even to the UK. But are the US’s finances actually any better than [...]
BUGS SHOULD NOT GIVE UP ON GOLD YET February 9, 2010 AS GOLD fell sharply last week while the dollar rose, it attracted a chorus of I-told-you-so critics who pointed to gold’s rapid decline as proof that the metal was a poor source of safety in times of market turbulence. In the short term, the critics are correct. At present the dollar, not gold, is the [...]
THE LONDON REPORT February 9, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed up yesterday, led higher by miners and banks, but lingering concerns over Europe’s fiscal problems weighed on sentiment. The FTSE 100 ended 19.51 points or 0.4 per cent ahead at 5,111.84, having hit a session high of 5,132.93. Metals prices regained some ground after sharp falls last week, helping mining [...]
THE NEW YORK REPORT February 9, 2010 THE Dow posted its largest one-day percentage gain in three months yesterday, boosted by reports of an aid plan for heavily indebted Greece. A senior German ruling coalition source said euro zone governments have decided in principle to help Greece, comments that calmed investors worried about a threat to global economic stability. “There’s a relief [...]
Recent sell-off reason to buy oil, not short it February 8, 2010 AFTER a week where the price of crude oil futures slid to below $70 a barrel and oil giants disappointed the markets with poor earnings and weak outlooks, contracts for difference (CFDs) traders might be finding it difficult to justify going long on crude right now. The markets are still cautious – sovereign debt crises [...]