CHINA’S GDP THREATENED BY US SAVERS July 21, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LAST week China released its GDP figures for the second quarter of 2009. While it missed the vaunted 8 per cent target, the country’s economy did expand at an impressive rate of 7.9 per cent. Compared with the miserable results from the G3 universe (US GDP -2 per cent, [...]
Adjust your tactics to the time horizon July 21, 2009 MARKET volatility during the financial crisis meant that traders shortened their time horizons and looked only to trade in the very near-term. Massive swings in the markets, currencies included, meant that it was impossible for investors to make long-term trading decisions and hedge them appropriately. But with conditions calming considerably to pre-Lehman levels, medium and [...]
MAKE SURE YOUR WILL IS SHIP SHAPE July 21, 2009 WYNNE THOMASSENIOR PARTNER AND A PRIVATE CLIENT PARTNER AT DAWSONS LLP THE death of Michael Jackson has, predictably, turned into something of a circus, with doctors, hangers-on and family members all keen to get across their side of the story. What has added to the interest and drama in this sad case is the fact [...]
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 [...]
ASIAN SURGE DEPENDS ON US RECOVERY July 19, 2009 JANE FOLEY RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM STRONG earnings reports from both Goldman Sachs and Intel and an improvement in some economic data releases last week partially cleared the cloud of economic gloom that has been hanging over the global recovery. The particularly strong gains in Asia finally added some substance to the belief that the global [...]