SPREAD BET GURU July 18, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, what are the main weightings behind the FTSE 100 index? A. The FTSE 100 is a weighted index of the leading 100 companies, as measured by market value, that are listed on the London Stock Exchange. As you might expect, the companies with the highest market capitalisation have the [...]
London shares decline due to weak US data with banks and miners hit worst July 15, 2010 WEAK US data intensified anxiety about economic recovery and dragged Britain’s top share index to a lower close yesterday, with risk-sensitive banks and commodity stocks hit hardest. The FTSE 100 ended 42.23 points or 0.8 per cent lower at 5,211.29. It closed down 0.3 per cent on Wednesday, snapping a six-day winning streak. Producer prices [...]
Wall Street flat despite Goldman and SEC deal July 15, 2010 US stocks ended little changed yesterday, recouping losses late in the day, led by a sudden turnaround in Goldman Sachs and BP. A jump in BP’s US-listed shares after the company said no oil is leaking from its blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico boosted the market shortly ahead of the close. BP gained [...]
Keep your pension in funds July 15, 2010 THE government this week announced that it will abolish compulsory annuitisation, giving millions of pensioners more flexibility in how they generate their income. Annuitisation by age 75 has technically not been compulsory since 2006, but the only other permissable option, an Alternatively Secured Pension, was so highly taxed upon death as to mean only 4,000 [...]
2009: A GOOD VINTAGE FOR BORDEAUX July 15, 2010 MD & FOUNDER OF FINE WINE MERCHANT BORDEAUX INDEX MORE column inches have already been devoted to 2009 Bordeaux than to all the campaigns over the past decade, it would seem. This en primeur has been the biggest, craziest and most highly talked-up in memory. So as the dust settles and we can finally begin [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS July 15, 2010 BP: ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY At last, some good news for BP. Its stock has sunk so low – closing yesterday at 401.75p – that investors are jumping at the chance to snap up cheap stakes in the oil giant. Clients of Barclays Stockbrokers have been piling into the stock – a third of [...]
The rising star of online retail July 15, 2010 YOU’VE just given birth and one of the first things your husband asks you to do is to sign a cheque for your new boutique (Powder, based in Crouch End. ) That was Sarah Curran’s experience of the first hours of motherhood to son Jake, now seven-years old. It is no surprise that Curran says [...]
Mortgage overhaul hurts entrepreneurs July 15, 2010 NEWS that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to overhaul the mortgage market may have left some entrepreneurs a little uneasy. From now on, to get a mortgage you need to pass an “affordability” check and self-certified mortgages will be banned. Business groups were quick to state the drawbacks of these plans: “Business owners who [...]
London ends its six-day winning streak due to weaker banks and mining firms July 14, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index fell back yesterday, snapping a six session winning streak, weighed down by weaker banks, on fresh stress test concerns, and by commodities, on caution ahead of Chinese data. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 17.50 points, or 0.3 per cent at 5,253.52, slipping back after having hit its highest [...]
Wall St falls after gloomy Fed cuts growth forecast July 14, 2010 US stocks broke a six-day winning streak yesterday, with the S&P 500 ending a hair lower after the Federal Reserve suggested additional measures may be needed to combat a weakening economy. Optimism over the start of earnings season limited declines after Intel reported better-than-expected results on signs of renewed corporate spending. Shares of Intel rose [...]
