Dragon takes to the barricades January 21, 2010 CONTESTANTS on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den dream of getting one of the show’s successful entrepreneurs on board to support their business. They could be in luck. Earlier this week, former Dragon Doug Richard launched the rather grandly titled The Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto and Declaration of Rights. “A spectre is haunting the United Kingdom – the spectre [...]
The billion pound money manager January 21, 2010 LIFE could have been different for Chris Oulton, but in 1982 he answered an advert at the back of the Saturday Telegraph, which offered an “unusual opportunity” to a bright young graduate. He applied and within weeks he had the job and was thrust into the world of commodity trading. He found himself working for [...]
Cadbury deal is first in an M&A boom for 2010 January 20, 2010 KRAFT’S takeover of Cadbury will not change our love of Dairy Milks and Creme Eggs, but it will take time before we start thinking of Cadbury as an American, rather than a British, institution. Before the year is out, though, we might have to get used to other much-loved businesses going the same way. Market-watchers [...]
A DERIVATIVE THAT covers all the bases January 20, 2010 ALEXANDRE HOUPERT HEAD OF LISTED PRODUCTS, NORTHERN EUROPE, SOCIETE GENERALE THERE was a time when people were frightened to enter into investments. The financial crisis meant that many investors took a painful hit, and elected to steer clear of the markets. But 18 months on, and investors are starting to come back. As before, many [...]
The unstoppable rise of exchange-traded funds January 20, 2010 WHEN one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, Marshall Wace, announced earlier this week that it would be launching an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to track its flagship strategy, it was further confirmation that ETFs are entering the mainstream on this side of the Atlantic. In their standard form, ETFs passively track the performance of an underlying [...]
NEW BREED OF ETFS SPREAD DEFAULT RISK January 20, 2010 MARK WEEKS CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ETF EXCHANGE FOLLOWING the financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, investors are more keenly aware of the problems that can ensue if a financial institution were to collapse. Those using passive investment tools such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are also more conscious about liquidity and index replication. ETFs have [...]
Lending restrictions in China turn the screw on the miners January 20, 2010 TOP shares recorded a three-week closing low yesterday as more signs of fiscal tightening in China hurt commodity stocks. The FTSE 100 closed down 92.34 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 5,420.80 – the lowest closing level since December 31, 2009. It posted its biggest one-day fall in a month. The index is up 57 [...]
Dow suffers worst 2010 trading drop January 20, 2010 THE Dow suffered its worst drop of 2010 yesterday day as US stocks succumbed to fears that China’s curbs on bank lending might jeopardize the global economic recovery, while IBM’s outlook sparked caution about the technology sector. Chinese authorities have ordered some major banks to curb their lending over the rest of this month after [...]
CFTC action is good for UK forex dealers January 19, 2010 After giving energy traders a relatively easy deal in a bid to curb speculation in the commodity markets last week, the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) has now turned its attentions to forex. The agency is proposing a dramatic regulatory overhaul for the foreign exchange markets in the US, worth more than $3.6 trillion a [...]
EURO-DOLLAR HANGING IN THE BALANCE January 19, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT Although the year is barely two weeks old it is already becoming abundantly clear to most currency traders that rates on both sides of the Atlantic are like to remain stationary for most of 2010. Last Thursday, at the European Central Bank’s monthly press conference, president Jean-Claude Trichet provided a [...]