NEWS FROM THE TRADING FLOOR May 9, 2010 FXCM ACQUIRES BRITISH ODL GROUP American foreign exchange broker FXCM last week announced that it had agreed terms to acquire ODL Group, an independent broker based in the UK and across Europe. The combined companies will operate as one of the largest non-bank forex brokers globally servicing over 200,000 live trading accounts with total client [...]
THE TIPSTER May 9, 2010 ENGINE-MAKER Rolls Royce has seen its shares rise some 140 per cent since their lows of March of last year and they had climbed in a strong bull channel to highs of 631p last month. But the stock has suffered from the recent sell-off, providing spread betters with an opportunity to jump in to the [...]
SPREAD BET GURU May 9, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. What will traders look at now that we have a hung parliament in the UK? A. The whole issue with a hung parliament is that it breeds an uncertain future for how the UK is governed. With no clear majority for the winning party, it becomes increasingly difficult to govern and [...]
Political limbo puts market in decline for five days May 9, 2010 A FIFTH straight day of declines is on the cards today for the FTSE, with UK shares expected to open down this morning, as the uncertainty surrounding an in limbo-government takes a further toll on investor confidence. European shares are actually headed higher after suffering their worst week in 18 months, on the back of [...]
FTSE falls for fourth day as fears over scale of Greek crisis continue to weigh May 6, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading shares fell for the fourth straight session yesterday, led by banks and miners weighed by uncertainty over euro zone debt concerns, as Britain’s electorate went to the polls. The FTSE 100 index closed down 80.94 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 5,260.99 just above a support level of 5,259 given by analysts. The [...]
Wall Street plunges as trading glitch suspected May 6, 2010 US stocks plunged nine per cent in the last two hours of trading yesterday before clawing back some of the losses as the escalating debt crisis in Europe stoked fears a new credit crunch was in the making. The Dow suffered its biggest ever intraday point drop, which may have been caused by an erroneous [...]
Choosing the most suitable card is not a zero-sum game May 6, 2010 WHEN Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank announced earlier this week their offer of 0 per cent interest on balance transfers for the first 16 months, it threw the cat among the pigeons. The two banks, both UK subsidiaries of National Australia Bank, leapt straight to the top of the best-buy comparison tables with the deal, [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS May 6, 2010 CHELSEA OFFERS FIRST ONLINE ACCOUNT Chelsea Building Society has launched its first ever online account, the e-Saver Reward. The account, which pays monthly interest of 2.57 per cent (2.60 per cent AER), is available to UK residents aged 16 and over and has a minimum deposit of £1. Withdrawals can be made online with only [...]
Venturing into the unknown May 6, 2010 ASKING entrepreneurs what they wanted to be when they were younger is always interesting. Did they have dreams of becoming an astronaut? A milkman? For Patrick Reeve, the founder of Albion Ventures, a venture capital firm, his first hankering was to become an archaeologist, but that idea was shelved early on in favour of business, [...]
SMEs looking for support at Westminster May 6, 2010 SMALL and medium-sized firms make up 99 per cent of all UK businesses, but although our nation relies on entrepreneurs to provide employment to millions of citizens, small firms have felt ignored by politicians during the election campaign and the economic downturn. A survey by accountancy firm Haines Watts, for which 650 business owners from [...]
