State Street profit upgrade lifts stocks July 7, 2010 US stocks logged their best one-day gain in about six weeks yesterday after a bullish forecast from financial company State Street fuelled optimism about the coming earnings season and helped the S&P 500 break above a major resistance level. State Street shares closed 9.9 percent higher at $36.63 after the asset manager and custody firm [...]
Understanding exposure to counterparty risk is crucial July 7, 2010 RISK is an acceptable, even a welcomed part of trading. Every trade comes with some risk attached; it’s just a case of knowing what the potential problems are and being comfortable with them. But as the financial crisis showed, pinpointing where the risk lies is not always so straightforward – even big institutions didn’t always [...]
Income is looking exceedingly good July 7, 2010 IN AN otherwise gloomy week for economic news – firstly Europe is in crisis, next the US and China are having trouble sustaining their growth rates – a ray of sunshine has emerged for equity investors. Dividends are set to be big for the next 12 months, even without BP, which has been forced to [...]
THE TIPSTER July 7, 2010 GOLD has sold off sharply although rather than the usual risk appetite explanation, fingers are pointing towards central banks offloading the asset to the Bank of International Settlements. However, with the risk a double-dip still looming, there’s no shortage of reasons why the foray below $1,200/ per oz will be short lived. The current IG [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS July 7, 2010 ETF SECS ROLLS OUT ETCS TO GERMANY ETF Securities has extended its euro-based exchange-traded currencies (ETCs) offering to the German stock exchange this week, giving further flexibility to European investors – they were first listed on the LSE in November 2009. They now include eight euro-based ETCs with long or short exposure to the US [...]
Don’t let technology take over your life July 7, 2010 RECENTLY I went to a presentation of some research into the uses of technology at work, at the London office of Google. They had commissioned a think-tank to look into the ways that technology will help us “collaborate” and become more “creative” in the years ahead. But there was a strange situation when those of [...]
FTSE hits one-week closing high aided by miners as low prices tempt traders July 6, 2010 FIRMER miners helped push Britain’s top share index to a one-week closing high yesterday on improving risk appetite, while signs of strength in Europe’s banking system lifted banks. The FTSE 100 closed up 141.47 points, or 2.9 per cent, at 4,965.00, its highest closing level since 28 June, and its biggest one-day percentage rise since [...]
Banks boost US as Dow ends 5-day losing streak July 6, 2010 WALL Street rebounded yesterday, but strong buying interest evaporated in the afternoon as bearish sentiment reasserted itself. Ending a five-day string of losses, the major indexes bounced back after the S&P 500 closed at a 10-month low on Friday, but investors used the morning’s gains as an opportunity to sell rather than establish new long [...]
No longer safe or sound July 6, 2010 WITH disappointing datasets coming out of the US – from employment to house prices – and equity markets looking shaky, some analysts have started to question whether this could be the beginning of the end for the greenback as the world’s “safe haven”. While such scenarios are usually imagined to play out over five- or [...]
THE AUSSIE IS NOT JUST A RISK PLAY July 6, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT WITH the economic calendar light on both sides of the Atlantic this week, the most interesting event risk is taking place down under where the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) just left its benchmark rates unchanged at 4.5 per cent. Although the RBA acknowledged that the global recovery is beginning [...]
