Aussie to struggle in the short term November 3, 2009 IT was a surprise to nobody that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday took the well-publicised step of hiking the interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 per cent. What might have surprised currency traders, though, is the subsequent pullback in the Aussie dollar against the greenback. The Aussie dollar has been a [...]
THE TIPSTER November 3, 2009 THE Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) begins its meeting today to decide whether its QE policies should be extended further. Sterling has fared better than might have been expected, but given the poor economic data and banking sector woes, pressures on sterling remain to the downside. With analysts revising US non-farm payrolls upwards, [...]
Why insider trading is hard to prove November 3, 2009 LAST month, the FBI smashed an alleged $20m insider trading scheme centring on the New York hedge fund Galleon, when they raided its offices and arrested billionaire financier Raj Rajaratnam and five accused accomplices. In the wake of criticism of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in this country over its percveived toothlessness, the regulator is [...]
CSR IS BOTH GOOD AND PROFITABLE November 3, 2009 DESMOND HUDSONCHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE LAW SOCIETY LAST week, City law firm Simmons & Simmons announced that it is putting corporate responsibility at the heart of its new business strategy. CSR-type work will appear on timesheets, and be considered in appraisals. This has ignited the debate about the “real” motivations behind corporate community investment. The rather [...]
Banking shake-up gives the markets a case of the jitters November 3, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest closing level in a month yesterday, led down by banks after shake-ups at Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds and poor results from Swiss peer UBS The FTSE 100 closed 67.29 points or 1.3 per cent weaker at 5,037.21, having surrendered the 5,000 level for the first [...]
Buffet’s bet leads to cheer on WallSt November 3, 2009 The Standard and Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq rose slightly yesterday as news of a major railroad acquisition helped sentiment, but the Dow edged lower on caution before a Federal Reserve statement on interest rates and the economy. Morgan Stanley’s downgrade of semiconductor stocks also limited a broad advance. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rose 5.3 [...]
Traders look to hedge fund guru for lead on Barclays November 2, 2009 AFTER eight months of holding onto his 1.5 per cent stake in Barclays, one of London’s top hedge fund managers announced last week that he has sold his stake in the high-street bank, which has risen in value by 550 per cent over the period. Crispin Odey, head of Odey Asset Management, cited uncertainty over [...]
FOR BRITISH STARS, LOOK TO THE 250 November 2, 2009 MARTIN SLANEYHEAD OF DERIVATIVES, GFT THE FTSE 100 index CFD has always been one of the most popular CFDs for UK traders. It is, after all, the blue chip index that gets the most media coverage. Yet if you really want to trade a UK index, it’s not the FTSE 100 you should be following [...]
Miners and oils jump on improved commodity prices November 2, 2009 BRITAIN’S top shares closed 1.2 per cent higher yesterday, as miners and oil firms rose, underpinned by firmer commodity prices on the back of bullish economic data, while RBS fell as the lender faces asset sales. The FTSE 100 closed 59.95 points higher at 5,104.50 points, recouping some losses from Friday’s 1.8 per cent fall. [...]
Robust economic data buoys Wall St November 2, 2009 US STOCKS rose yesterday after another round of solid economic reports, but pulled off session highs after a Fed official’s warning about banks’ loan losses. The three major indexes had previously risen about 1 per cent earlier in the session as stronger-than-expected data on manufacturing and pending home sales spurred a broad-based advance and soothed [...]
