Know the perils of poaching January 14, 2010 ANYBODY working in a client-facing business and thinking of starting their own firm has to be aware of the legal tangle surrounding “poaching” your former clients. What is allowed all hinges on the contract you signed with your former employer. If you have a contract with “restrictive covenants” then you need to tread carefully. A [...]
Q&A January 14, 2010 Q. I am running a small start-up business and I need to find an office. I want something that is value for money but also looks good for our clients. Can you give me some tips? A. When cost is a factor you must consider all of the other charges involved in the upkeep of [...]
Sell-off in bank and mining shares rocks the FTSE 100 January 13, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index shed 0.5 per cent yesterday as weakness in commodity and banking issues countered gains in selected defensive stocks, reflecting fading risk appetite among some investors. At the close, the FTSE 100 was 25.23 points lower at 5,473.48, having lost 0.7 per cent on Tuesday following China’s decision to tighten banks’ reserve [...]
Financial bonanza hopes boost Dow January 13, 2010 US stocks rose yesterday as investors bet on recently weakened technology and financial shares ahead of earnings from bellwethers Intel and JPMorgan Chase & Co, taking the Dow industrials to a fresh 15-month high. A brokerage upgrade of drugmaker Merck & Co and an upbeat outlook from Kraft Foods gave an extra boost to the [...]
If it’s control and independence you want, then boutique is best January 13, 2010 A GENERATION ago boutique financial firms were viewed with suspicion. Unless you were the owner, then if you were involved with a boutique firm you probably earned less, and had fewer career opportunities than your peers who worked for large, well-known institutions. But in the last decade boutiques have been revolutionised and the previous reasons [...]
Businesses are not out of the woods just yet January 13, 2010 DAVID HUDSON LONDON HEAD OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY, BAKER TILLY WHILE businesses fail during recessions, many also fail coming out, having spent the cash reserves during the hard times that they so crucially need when they have to grow again to serve a more confident customer base, against revitalised competition. The underlying message of Baker Tilly’s [...]
Go against the grain and take a punt on the buck January 12, 2010 INVESTORS have found plenty of reasons to sell the dollar in recent months, including a terrible fiscal outlook in the US and a central bank that remains wedded to stimulus measures and low interest rates. Added to that list this week was a weak start to the US earnings season after aluminium producer Alcoa reported [...]
CHINA BUBBLE IS A RISK FOR YEN SHORTS January 12, 2010 BORIS SCHLOSSBERG DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT ASK FX strategists what their favourite trade for 2010 is and the chances are most will say long dollar-yen. The conventional wisdom in the forex market – despite last Friday’s disappointing US jobs data – is that US short-term rates will inch higher. Their choice of trade is [...]
Revaluation of the yuan bad news for the Aussie dollar January 12, 2010 PRESSURE has been building on China to let its currency, the yuan, appreciate against the US dollar, to which it is pegged. This week, these calls only intensified after China posted strong trade data, putting the country firmly on course to usurp Germany’s position as the world’s number one exporter. But while Beijing so far [...]
THE TIPSTER January 12, 2010 WHEN it comes to economic growth, China has been stealing the limelight in recent years. But India’s economy is also forecast to power ahead in 2010, with the IMF forecasting an annual growth rate of 6.4 per cent. The country’s more liberal environment (compared to China’s) should encourage investors into Indian assets and boost the [...]