Weak sterling helps push up inflation rate January 17, 2010 INFLATION is forecast to have surged in December, fuelling concerns that the Bank of England’s ultra-loose monetary policy is allowing inflationary pressures to build up. Economists on average expect the annual rate of inflation in December – published on Tuesday – to hit 2.5 per cent, with further rises in the pipeline. December marks the [...]
Markets are still at risk of a relapse January 17, 2010 AS anybody who has ever watched a medical drama on television will know, signs of recovery are not always what they appear to be. This is especially true when the illness has been serious and the recovery is swift. This is just as true for the markets as it is for photogenic hospital patients. It [...]
THE TIPSTER January 17, 2010 Retailers have had mixed fortunes over the Christmas period. Although shoppers spent huge amounts of cash in the run-up to the festive season, not everybody has gained in the same way. Supermarkets and cheap high-street chains have out-performed – department store John Lewis recorded its best ever revenues in December. But others could not keep [...]
Smart idea to take a punt on the tech sector January 17, 2010 Jaws dropped on Wall Street late Thursday after Intel, the computer chip maker, reported an 875 per cent increase in profits between October and December last year. Profits were $2.3bn, up from $234m in the same quarter in 2008, smashing analyst expectations. But while a nine-fold increase in profits is unlikely to be replicated this [...]
Give your charting abilities a boost January 17, 2010 ALTHOUGH more than 80 per cent of regular spread betters use technical analysis when they are making their trading decisions, scouring the charts in search of patterns that might indicate an imminent breakout or a trend reversal can take hours. And that assumes that you have managed to learn all the chart patterns – of [...]
Bank earnings to give initial lift ahead of UK inflation data and MPC minutes January 17, 2010 Stocks are expected to start the week higher this morning, supported by the prospect of an improvement in the US corporate earnings picture after last week’s disappointing numbers from JP Morgan. GFT is forecasting the FTSE 100 to open at 5,475, up 20 points from Friday’s close. For the technical analysts out there, 5,495 is [...]
Economic Diary January 17, 2010 WHILE US banks will be dominating the calendar across the Atlantic next week, in Britain it is definitely the economic releases that will be taking centre stage. Kicking off is the property website Rightmove’s January house asking price survey, released this morning. The survey shows a monthly rise of 0.4 per cent and a 4.1 [...]
Banks and miners lift FTSE but retail shares take a dive January 14, 2010 STRENGTH in miners helped Britain’s top share index to a 0.5 per cent rise by yesterday’s close after soaring output figures from Rio Tinto boosted the sector, but retailers fell on weak trading updates. The FTSE 100 ended 24.72 points higher at 5,498.20 after falling for two days, pressured by China’s decision to tighten banks’ [...]
Technology stocks boost Wall Street January 14, 2010 TECHNOLOGY shares drove Wall Street higher yesterday on bets ahead of Intel’s quarterly results that business spending will bolster profits in the sector. After the bell, Intel Corp, a Dow component and the world’s largest chipmaker, reported a quarterly profit that beat expectations. Its shares rose 2.5 per cent ahead of the results. Intel results [...]
Take the plunge, don’t be afraid January 14, 2010 SITTING in a leather armchair in the atrium just below his office in Chancery Lane, Grant Challis is musing on the last two years. In that time he has gone from working for a listed investment bank to starting up his own firm, Frostrow Capital: “The scary part is taking the plunge, the reality is [...]