EU’s regulation land-grab harms funds sector May 25, 2010 THE Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive took a significant step towards becoming law last week after being approved by the European Council. While a lot of commentary has focused on the high profile hedge fund sector, the directive will regulate all European managers of private funds irrespective of the underlying asset class. In addition to [...]
The beginning of the age of austerity leaves markets cautiously optimistic May 24, 2010 THE markets’ wait to hear more details of exactly where the axe will fall on public spending has come to an end. Yesterday chancellor George Osborne kicked off the “age of austerity” with a list of £6.2bn in cuts for this fiscal year. But due to the extent of the shortfall in the UK’s public [...]
Miners and banks help FTSE overturn three days of losses May 24, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares broke a three-day losing streak yesterday as miners spurred by upbeat comments from China, outpaced falls in oils led by BP as concerns lingered over the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The FTSE 100 ended 6.68 points or 0.1 per cent higher at 5,026.44, in choppy trade. The index is down more [...]
Dow slides on bank woes in Eurozone May 24, 2010 US stocks slid yesterday, driving the Dow to its lowest level since 10 February as fresh signs of Europe’s banking problems emerged. The Eurozone’s turbulence kept investors wary of taking on risk, after the S&P 500’s 4.2 per cent drop last week. Financial shares were among the day’s largest decliners, with the KBW Bank index [...]
Don’t assume the sell-off is a great buying opportunity May 24, 2010 AT THE end of last week, equity markets slumped further into the red and some even entered a technical correction – that is, they are now down more than 10 per cent from their recent peaks. The S&P 500 is down 11.1 per cent from its latest high while the UK blue-chip index is off [...]
FORK IN THE ROAD FOR THE PRICE OF OIL May 24, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT GLOBAL equities have taken a hammering over the past month. A whole host of issues which had been simmering on the back-burner have begun to boil over. The European sovereign debt crisis, concerns over the effects of tighter financial regulation and the continuing withdrawal of liquidity by the Chinese [...]
CFD ANALYST PICKS May 24, 2010 TECHNICAL STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Long FTSE 100 at 5,000 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 5-10 days We had to wait the entire week, but our counter-trend long recommendation was finally triggered on Friday. The market dropped through our psychological barrier to trade slightly below 5,000, before bouncing into the close [...]
Tensions within the Eurozone put the single currency’s future at risk May 24, 2010 RESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM JANE FOLEY IT SEEMS improbable that fiscal issues in a small country such as Greece could make the government of a country as large as the US worried about contagion. Yet this is exactly what has happened. This is only so, of course, because the US government is mindful of its own [...]
Looming hike in capital gains tax is fuelling investor panic May 23, 2010 HIGH-EARNING investors are rushing to sell off assets that will attract Capital Gains Tax (CGT) before next month’s emergency Budget due to indications that CGT rates could shoot up from 18 per cent to as much as 50 per cent. Gains on non-business assets now look set to be taxed in line – or close [...]
Options can help traders when the outlook for the markets is unclear May 23, 2010 THE markets are a mystery sometimes, and it can be difficult to decide which way they are going to move. One way for spread betters to trade even if they don’t have a clear idea which direction prices are going is through options. But how do you actually spread bet on an option? An option [...]
