The champagne days are over as firms cut costs July 21, 2009 ONE OF THE less visible casualties of the credit crunch has been the corporate and press hospitality industry. Legal journalists wistfully recall the days, now gone, in which they were magically whisked away by a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars to take first class transatlantic flights to check out Linklaters’ New York office or when they [...]
Supermarket sweep pushes FTSE to seventh rise in a row July 21, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index rose for a seventh-straight day yesterday, boosted by supermarkets after a trading update from Wm Morrison, and after strong US quarterly results, with miners also lending support. The FTSE 100 closed 37.55 points higher, or 0.9 per cent, at 4,481.17, following a gain of 1.3 per cent on Monday. The index [...]
Bernanke warning fails to curb cheer July 21, 2009 THE Dow rose yesterday as a solid profit from Caterpillar eclipsed unease about the company’s outlook for the current quarter, while both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 clung to tiny gains after a round of profit-taking. Trading was choppy, with the broader market initially charging higher after the open and the benchmark S&P 500 [...]
Wall Street cheers as CIT is rescued July 20, 2009 US stocks jumped yesterday, driving the S&P 500 to an eight-month closing high, after stricken lending giant CIT Group was thrown a lifeline to avoid bankruptcy, and investors bet corporate America would log another strong set of earnings this week. Broker upgrades of technology bellwethers, including Cisco Systems, propelled the Nasdaq to its ninth straight [...]
Savvy traders look to profit from surge in takeover deals July 20, 2009 FOLLOWING a dearth of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity during the depths of the financial crisis, upbeat figures released last Friday by Thomson Reuters showed that UK target M&A is up 39 per cent year-to-date compared to the same period last year. There has been a recent pick-up in global M&A activity with London dominating [...]
US EARNINGS WILL GIVE THE MARKET FRESH DIRECTION July 20, 2009 MARTIN SLANEYHEAD OF DERIVATIVES, GFT THE fate of the markets over the coming weeks hangs on the second-quarter results being announced daily by US companies. The market’s take so far has been positive – approximately 80 per cent of earnings have beaten or were on a par with consensus, and last Wednesday Intel was proof [...]
FTSE gains on broad-based rally led by banks and miners July 20, 2009 A BROAD-BASED rally in the stock market saw Britain’s top share index recording gains for a sixth straight day, with banks leading the surge and commodity shares jumping on stronger crude oil and metal prices. The FTSE 100 index ended 54.87 points, or 1.3 per cent, higher at 4,443.62 — the highest close since 11 [...]
Plenty for markets to feast on as firms update investors July 19, 2009 REPORTING season is definitely upon us and this week offers up a cornucopia of corporate reports for the markets to devour. Dominos Pizza UK & Ireland serves up the first slice today and investors will be keen to hear whether the firm has continued to be a recession winner. It reported a nearly 10 per [...]
US corporate news continues to rule July 19, 2009 BEN Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, will make his semi-annual report on monetary policy tomorrow at 2pm London time. It’s expected to take a fairly upbeat overall tone on the state of the economy, but the markets will be focussing on the implications of his thoughts on inflation, and the merest hint of [...]
High volatility will add sizzle to your summer trading July 19, 2009 DURING the summer months, the stock markets, like everything else, quieten down in July and August as people head off on holiday and companies scale back their activity. The result is noticeably lighter trading volumes and relative illiquidity in the markets. As a spread better, you might therefore be inclined to take a break like [...]