Outlook for sterling is getting even grimmer January 5, 2010 BAD noises have been rumbling around sterling for months now, but they got considerably uglier in the past days. The world’s biggest bond fund, Pacific Investment Management Co (the cutely-acronymed Pimco), announced earlier this week that it is to cut its exposure to UK government bonds. This raises the spectre of other large investors losing [...]
IF YOU’VE LOST CONFIDENCE, GO FOR GOLD January 5, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT PERHAPS the biggest irony of the past decade has been the fact that despite all the new financial products – ETFs, CDOs, CDSs and so on – the best return was earned by the oldest asset of all – gold. At the start of 2000, the yellow metal traded at [...]
Blizzards boost loonie, krone as oil and gas demand soars January 5, 2010 WHILE Londoners struggle to get into the work through the snow, clever forex traders are finding a way to profit from the grim weather. Whenever the winter is cold, the commodity markets get hotter as fuel demand rockets. Demand for natural gas in the United States was above its five-year average at the end of [...]
THE TIPSTER January 5, 2010 THE refusal by Iceland’s president to sign a bill to refund the UK some £2.3bn in savings lost in the Icesave collapse has the potential to heap further pressure on sterling. We’ve seen cable struggling to hold above the 1.6000 level in recent days and assuming there are no hints from the MPC later this [...]
Banks push FTSE higher but vaccine worries hit pharma January 5, 2010 THE leading share index ended 0.4 per cent higher on yesterday, hitting a fresh 16-month closing high, as banks and commodity stocks rose, but gains were capped by a fall in drugmakers on concerns over vaccine sales. The blue chip FTSE 100 closed 22.16 points higher at 5,522.50, its highest close since 2 September 2008 [...]
Ford cheers but low home sales concern January 5, 2010 THE S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose yesterday as better-than-expected factory orders and a surge in vehicle sales at Ford provided more evidence of an economic recovery. But a big decline in pending home sales, which fell in November for the first time in nine months, increased concerns about the housing market, capping the broad [...]
Airline search schemes boosting security firms January 4, 2010 IT is probably fair to say that 2009 was a bad year for the airline industry. Afflicted by strikes, falling passenger numbers and fluctuating fuel prices, the year was topped off with a security alert onboard a Detroit bound Delta Airlines flight on Christmas Day. In the aftermath of another terrorist attempt, European and American [...]
BEWARE OF BOND MARKET VIGILANTES January 4, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST year was an extraordinary one in the markets. Following a two-month stock market plunge as investors dumped risky assets, global indices have surged since March and proved surprisingly resilient. Every time they lost momentum or struggled to break up through resistance, they got another boost. The S&P is up 63 [...]
Slimmed down RBS?and Lloyds are attracting clever money January 4, 2010 BANKS have had a torrid time for the past year and a half. But there were signs of life yesterday, at least for some. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group had a good start to the first trading day of 2010, rising more than 9 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. [...]
Manufacturing data lifts New York January 4, 2010 US stocks climbed broadly yesterday after a report showed the manufacturing sector expanded for a fifth straight month, lifting confidence in the global economy as investors eye fourth quarter earnings. The rally, which marked the first trading day of 2010, drove both the Dow and the S&P 500 to their highest closes in 15 months, [...]