NEW YORK REPORT June 22, 2009 US STOCKS suffered their worst one-day loss in two months yesterday, dropping the S&P 500 back into negative territory for the year in a broad-based sell-off, as investors reconsidered the health of the economy. A sharp drop in US crude oil futures and other commodities hit shares of companies sensitive to those prices, including Exxon [...]
TROUGHING UK ECONOMY WILL BOOST POUND June 21, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM WE might still be knee deep in recession, but policy makers have started to talk about how they will mop up in the aftermath of their generous fiscal and monetary incentives. In essence, it is prudent that this discussion takes place now. Even when deflation was a real fear in many [...]
THE LONDON REPORT June 21, 2009 THE JUNE gauntlet of retail company statements is set to continue this week, with two UK electronics giants due to issue full-year 2009 results. DSG, Kesa and Inchcape are lining up to report, following last week’s announcements from Tesco, J Sainsbury, Whitbread and Morrison. Kesa Electricals, which runs electronics store Comet among its Europe-wide retail [...]
MARTIN ON THE MARKETS June 21, 2009 AFTER three months of virtually non-stop rallying, are the brakes finally on? Despite a US data-led push ahead on Friday, the FTSE 100 index still finished the week down nearly 100 points. Even Friday’s fight-back may be tested this morning following a fade in US stocks after London’s close. GFT is calling the FTSE to [...]
British stocks lead the way in defence aerospace boom June 21, 2009 IT was a bad few days for civil aerospace firms at the Paris Air Show last week. After the first four days, total orders and commitments for civil aircraft totalled $14.1bn. To put that in context, at Farnborough in 2008, total orders and commitments for Airbus and Boeing alone came to more than $64bn. The [...]
THE TIPSTER June 21, 2009 BUYERS have been snapping up banks with decimated share prices, but there are still some crisis-resilient picks in the financial sector, such as Standard Chartered. On Thursday the bank will be in the spotlight when it releases its trading update. It has managed to survive the credit crunch relatively unscathed and its share price has [...]
Vodafone saves the day as the high street struggles on June 18, 2009 STRENGTH in Vodafone and defensive tobacco stocks pushed the FTSE 100 into positive ground yesterday, but gains were muted and offset by sliding commodity stocks. The index closed 2.40 points lower at 4,280.86, having closed down 50.11 points, or 1.2 per cent the previous session. Heavyweight mobile phone operator Vodafone was the biggest positive impact [...]
Positive jobs data boosts Wall Street June 18, 2009 US STOCKS gained yesterday after a recent small pullback as data on the jobs market and regional manufacturing revived hopes that the recession-hit economy is stabilising. Government data showed that while the amount of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week, the number of people collecting aid after the first week fell [...]
BANKING WOE PUTS EURO ON THE BACK FOOT June 17, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM AFTER months of heavy handed fiscal and monetary stimulus, the fact that central bankers and finance ministers are turning their attention to exit policies offers some reassurance that conditions must be returning to normal. This is not, however, a time for complacency. Over the past couple of months, investors’ fears have [...]
SUSTAINABLE BANKING IS WAY FORWARD June 17, 2009 MOORAD CHOUDRYHEAD OF TREASURY, EUROPE ARAB BANK THE financial crash of 2007-2008 was caused by the interaction of several different factors, some of which had been building for years. Since then markets have entered a period of restructuring that reflects the realities of the crash: key to this is an awareness that much of the [...]