European markets rise on Greek talks February 20, 2012 EUROPEAN shares closed at a near seven-month high yesterday as Eurozone finance ministers edged closer to a long-awaited agreement on a rescue package for Greece. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares rose 0.7 per cent to 1,090.95 points. Volume was low, at 69.5 per cent of the 90-day average, with Wall Street closed [...]
China’s monetary easing puts FTSE close to the 6,000 level February 20, 2012 A SURPRISE easing in China’s monetary policy drove Britain’s FTSE 100 within striking distance of a seven and a half month closing high as miners rallied on the prospect of revived demand from the world’s most voracious consumer of raw materials. Miners were the top gainers as London’s blue chip index climbed 40.18 points, or [...]
Oil’s recent surge may sink in sands February 20, 2012 TRADERS looking at the recent actions of the theocracy of Iran – which confirmed its ban on the sale of crude oil to the UK and France on Sunday – might be forgiven for assuming that the escalating tensions between it and the West are going to be the biggest factor impacting the price of [...]
NEAR-TERM EURO-DOLLAR RISKS MAY LIE TO UPSIDE February 20, 2012 FX 360 Despite every possible effort by the shorts, euro-dollar refuses to go down. Over the past four weeks the pair has traded in a narrow $1.3000-$1.3300 range, rebounding every time it has broached the key $1.3000 level. One reason for this remarkable resilience is the persistent skew in positioning. After a few weeks of [...]
THE TIPSTER TRADERS HOPING TO BOOK SUITE OF PROFITS February 20, 2012 RESULTS last week from Intercontinental Hotels pointed to a resurgence in bookings outside of the beleaguered Eurozone, so investors in Millenium & Copthorne will be hoping that the company can replicate its larger peer’s success in areas such as China and the US. The operations in these areas should benefit from continuing economic growth, so [...]
Why not to position for a gold crash February 20, 2012 GOLD has traded in a channel for the last month, but despite this, it remains at a price nigh on unimaginable 18 months ago. “Although the last month has been a quiet one for the price of gold, the metal is still up by around 10 per cent for the year and is still almost [...]
Analyst picks for 21 February 2012 February 20, 2012 FOREX STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Looking to sell sterling-yen Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week This market has been very well bid over the past several sessions and while we could indeed be in the process of seeing a major structural shift, we also cannot ignore the [...]
Israel – a national hub of intense innovation February 20, 2012 WHAT INSPIRED STARTUP NATION? Israel has more startups than anywhere outside of Silicon Valley. It has two and a half times as much venture capital per capita as the US – 30 times as much as Europe. We realised it was a matter of culture and history, that there is a lesson about the nature [...]
A SELECTION OF LONDON’S START-UP HUBS February 20, 2012 TECH HUB Contact: info@techhub.com / @TechHub Locations: Old Street, London and Riga (Prague is due to open in May). Membership costs: £275 (monthly) for resident membership, or £375 (annual). Both include member-only events and up-to-date member network news (and more). Description: TechHub is “not just an office space.” Instead, “it’s a community hub for the [...]
The environment is vital for sowing start-up seeds February 20, 2012 Features Writer City A.M. IDEAS matter. H.G. Wells was onto something when he wrote: “Human history is, in essence, a history of ideas.” But they don’t happen in a vacuum – external factors to the individual entrepreneur establish what ideas and businesses are likely to arise. Interviewing Saul Singer (see article left) – author of [...]