Weaker dollar is behind the mining sector rally March 29, 2010 IT IS a sign of the optimism flooding the mining sector at the moment that Rio Tinto’s share price was able to rise yesterday even as a Chinese court jailed four of its staff for between seven and 14 years for taking bribes and stealing commercial secrets. The heavyweight miner was able to shrug off [...]
DEVIL IN THE DETAIL OF NON FARM DATA March 29, 2010 WITH Good Friday marking the start of the Easter holiday, investors could be forgiven for expecting the shortened week to lead to traders’ indifference and an “end-of-term” atmosphere. Yet this could be a crucial period for markets. The first quarter comes to an end on Wednesday, and with it the Fed’s $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities [...]
Despite market worries US insurers are in rude health after Obama bill March 29, 2010 PRESIDENT Barack Obama had his moment in the sun last week when his healthcare reform bill was signed into law. The crux of the reform is the requirement for all Americans to have health insurance by 2014, which will affect more than 30m people who are currently uninsured. The response to the bill in the [...]
The Tipster March 29, 2010 CONFECTIONER Thorntons is looking forward to the Easter weekend. After a couple of years of austerity amongst consumers, general sentiment does seem to be improving and Thorntons will be hoping for a bumper Easter season. The share price has enjoyed a bounce in recent weeks, but the consensus is that there’s still more sweetness to [...]
Greek tragedy will continue despite bailout and bond issue March 29, 2010 RIDING the wave of positive sentiment following the announcement of the EU’s support mechanism, the Greek Debt Management Agency yesterday sold €5bn of seven-year government bonds. As predicted, the response was poor and the yield very high, raising the chances that Greece will have to ask for help and Germany – despite its recent protests [...]
Dow has 11,000 target in its sights March 28, 2010 After hitting new 21-month and 18-month highs on the FTSE and DAX markets last week, European stock markets may take a breather on the open this morning, in a positive but sluggish start to the week. The FTSE turned negative for the first time in four days on Friday, yet GFT is forecasting the UK [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD March 28, 2010 IN the first of two short trading weeks in Britain, domestic economic data remains thin on the ground. Monday sees the release of some consumer credit data, broad money lending and mortgage approvals at 8.30am. On Tuesday, the third revision to fourth quarter GDP data could raise an eyebrow but no change is expected. We [...]
Retailers on a roll but storm clouds looming March 28, 2010 EVEN the worst recession for at least 60 years hasn’t been able to stop the British consumer from flashing the plastic. Snowfall might have deterred the less hardened shoppers from hitting the January sales with full force, but statistics out last week showed we returned to the high street in our droves last month. Retail [...]
Labour sees seats boost post-Budget March 28, 2010 LAST week’s Budget might have got a kicking form most in the City, but spread betters continue to short David Cameron’s Conservative party. “This is the first time that Labour’s popularity has jumped after a budget since Gordon Brown became prime minister,” says Chris Shillington from Extrabet. For the Conservatives to win an outright majority [...]
SPREAD BET GURU March 28, 2010 JOSHUA RAYMOND MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, with the EU and IMF finally agreeing a bailout for Greece, what is the focus now for the euro? A. Make no mistake, the constant uncertainty within the Eurozone concerning the spiralling deficit problems of Greece and the other so-called Pigs nations has been a major factor [...]
