We will never know the full extent of City fraud February 1, 2010 ACCORDING to accountancy network BDO’s recent Fraudtrack survey, there was more than £2bn of reported fraud in 2009, a 76 per cent increase on the previous year. The chief motivator for fraud is – perhaps unsurprisingly – greed and a desire for a lavish lifestyle. Other possible motivators, such as debt, marital problems, drugs, alcohol, [...]
Boost your trading toolkit by watching moving averages January 31, 2010 FUNDAMENTAL traders have been speculating for some time about two trends: a resurgent greenback and an asset price bubble in China. And, if the technical analysis is correct, confirmation of both these moves came at the end of last week. On Wednesday, the US dollar index – which is a measure of the US dollar [...]
George Soros is wrong to say that gold hasn’t got much higher to go January 31, 2010 GEORGE Soros, often known as the man who broke the Bank of England, could find his title is about to change to the man who tried to break the gold vault. The billionaire investor spent last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he said that gold was the “ultimate asset bubble”. [...]
THE TIPSTER January 31, 2010 FRIDAY’S upbeat house price data from the Nationwide was well received by home owners, but it might only last for the short-term. Whether the upward trend in home values can be sustained for any length of time is clearly open to debate. The prospect of rising interest rates threatens to squash demand as mortgage repayments [...]
There’s money to be made in London bricks and mortar January 31, 2010 ONLY a year ago, property prices were plummeting across the country. But news on Friday from mortgage lender Nationwide that UK house prices surged 1.2 per cent this month – the biggest monthly rise since August and a number that beat expectations of a meagre 0.3 per cent gain – was cause for optimism. The [...]
Markets likely to fall as uncertainty prevails January 31, 2010 European stock markets are headed for a major tumble this morning, as a sell-off on US markets gathered steam on Friday evening. GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open down a hefty 90 points from Friday’s close, around 5,212. The German DAX is expected to open down 105 points at 5,590 and the French CAC 40 [...]
FTSE hits lowest level since November on valuation fears January 28, 2010 RENEWED worries about the global economy dragged Britain’s top share index to its lowest close in nearly three months yesterday, with commodity stocks falling sharply and drugmaker AstraZeneca dipping on weak results. The FTSE 100 ended down 1.4 per cent, or 71.73 points, at 5,145.74, its lowest close since 6 November, after the index finished [...]
Wall St hit as tech results disappoint January 28, 2010 US stocks fell yesterday as poor outlooks from Motorola and Qualcomm dented optimism in the technology sector while worries about Greece’s fiscal health dragged on sentiment. Qualcomm shares tumbled 14.2 per cent to $40.48 and Motorola slid 12.4 per cent to $6.48 after both companies’ earnings and outlooks fell short of expectations. “They did exactly [...]
The man with the Midas touch January 28, 2010 FEW people can say that Gordon Brown gave them a great business idea. Paul Tustain, the founder of BullionVault.com, the internet-based gold trading firm, can. When the current prime minister, then chancellor of the exchequer, sold off the nation’s gold supply in the late 90s, Tustain decided that was a good signal to buy. But [...]
Update your business profile January 28, 2010 For the past couple of years Facebook’s primary use has been to keep in contact with old friends and family. Likewise, when people think of Twitter they might think of Ashton Kutcher or Stephen Fry tweeting their latest thoughts in less than 140 characters. But the need to cut overheads during the recession – especially [...]