JAPAN CAN’T RESCUE ITSELF BY SPENDING January 11, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST month I pointed out that the Nikkei’s chart looked terrible and said that Japan’s economic fundamentals were grim – national debt is around 200 per cent of GDP (and rising) and the country’s demographics look terrible. While other major indices had ground steadily higher following a shallow summer [...]
Orange futures still promising juicy returns January 11, 2010 AS TEMPERATURES plunged across Europe and much of the US last week, the price of orange juice futures was far from frozen. Bitterly cold temperatures and a rare frost in Florida sent the price of March 2010 futures surging to a two-year high of 151.15 cents. The contract surged as much as 18 per cent [...]
Strength in energy issues is offset by weakness in miners January 11, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended flat yesterday with strength in energy issues countering a sell-off in miners, weak financial issues and uncertain progress on Wall Street. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was up 3.83 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,538.07, having touched a 16-month intraday peak of 5,600.48 early in the session. [...]
Dow edges up as China data cheers January 11, 2010 US industrial shares lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 yesterday to new 15-month highs after China bolstered expectations the world economy would strengthen, but the Nasdaq fell on profit-taking in tech stocks. China reported record imports of some commodities and stronger-than-expected exports, boosting US companies with large international operations, like construction machinery maker Caterpillar [...]
New Year has positive start with surge on stocks January 10, 2010 Stocks have begun 2010 with a bullish surge, and even after Friday’s employment data from the US revealed a surprising drop for December, we should see a broad appetite for risk get us off to a positive start to this week. GFT is calling the UK’s FTSE 100 index to open up 11 points at [...]
WEEK AHEAD ON WALL STREET January 10, 2010 US stocks could be in for a bumpy ride this week as three Dow components kick off the quarterly earnings reporting season, with investors clamoring for reassurances on future profits. While the latest earnings are widely expected to show a sharp improvement compared with the abysmal 2008 fourth quarter, the stock market could still be [...]
Brown drags down Labour’s election chances as punters look to Lib Dems January 10, 2010 RIGHT at the height of the aborted coup attempt by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt last week, a Labour local council leader went on the radio and said that the leadership of the party is not an issue. Even if Jesus Christ came back and took over, he said, some people would never vote for [...]
Retail is a sell as customers desert the UK’s high streets January 10, 2010 THE BRITS lived up to their reputation as a nation of spenders and splashed their cash with abandon over the festive period. Major retailers swept up and some, like fashion chain Ted Baker, saw sales rise 20 per cent in the latter part of 2009. John Lewis, Next, Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury also [...]
THE TIPSTER January 10, 2010 THERE’S been no shortage of news regarding the increased demand for natural gas by UK consumers as the cold snap continues to grip the country. As a result, BG Group (formerly British Gas) has got the year off to a cracking start, outperforming the FTSE-100 by over 100 per cent. But the cold (hopefully) won’t [...]
Strong energy stocks fail to offset poor day for Vodafone January 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index inched lower by the close yesterday, as weakness in heavyweight Vodafone offset modest gains from energy stocks. Investors shrugged off a decision from the Bank of England which left interest rates on hold at 0.5 per cent and kept the scale of its asset purchase programme unchanged at £200bn. The FTSE [...]