WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD January 22, 2012 STOCKS rising, bulls rampant are motifs you might pick if designing a coat of arms for Wall Street at the moment. But the motto should read: Caveat emptor. Yes, buyer beware. The S&P 500, a broad measure of the market valuation of the biggest US publicly traded companies, is up 20 per cent from its [...]
At least world won’t end in 2012 January 22, 2012 AMONG the many gloomy predictions for the coming year, what really catches the eye is the one that says the world will end on 21 December 2012. This is, debatably, the prognosis of the Mayan calendar of eschatology. If the world were really to end on that date, one suspects it would come as a [...]
A Brit in New York who is truly getting stuck in January 22, 2012 MOST students don’t even consider setting up a business, but at university Will Dean founded an alternative graduation t-shirt company to compete with UK universities’ offerings. He later took near-monopolistic control of the global supply of antique Bollywood posters. But this was small fry compared to his current company: Tough Mudder. After finishing university he [...]
THE BEST LAID PLANS OF SOME ENTREPRENEURS January 22, 2012 JOHN, Jeremy and Joan had a plan. A good plan. A plan to start a business. They were so sure that the business would succeed that each used £100,000 of their own money to fund the start-up costs and take the inevitable losses until they turned the corner into profit. Their hunch was right, and [...]
We should embrace and foster success – not disincentivise it January 22, 2012 IT IS good news that Sir Richard Branson, still the UK’s most famous self-made businessman, will be speaking at this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Liverpool – the first ever to be held in Europe. Taking place from 9 to 16 March, this is the world’s largest gathering of “startup champions”. Branson says: “A [...]
Bank stocks lead the way as the FTSE continues its climb January 19, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday, led by banks after bullish earnings from their US peers and with hopes building that the recent coordinated action by central banks and the IMF would be enough to avoid an economic crisis. The FTSE 100 index rose 38.78 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 5,741.15, after breaking [...]
Third straight day of gains in the US January 19, 2012 US stocks rose for the third straight day yesterday, sparked by results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley and as the latest jobless claims dropped to a near four-year low. The S&P 500 hit a fresh five-month high, with the industrials, consumer discretionary stocks and financials leading gains. Tech shares advanced ahead of earnings [...]
Miners and banks push FTSE to highest end since October January 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S top share index nosed ahead yesterday to close above 5,700 points for the first time since the end of October 2011, as strength in heavyweight miners and banks countered falls in integrated oils. The FTSE 100 ended the day up 8.42 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 5,702.37, just below the intra-day peak of [...]
US stocks jump on word of IMF plans January 18, 2012 US stocks jumped to their highest since July yesterday as the International Monetary Fund sought to help countries hit by the European debt crisis, while forecast-beating earnings from Goldman Sachs dispelled some worries over bank profits. The stronger-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs followed disappointing results from Citigroup on Tuesday and JPMorgan Chase last week. Goldman [...]
Avoid exchange-rate pain in Spain January 18, 2012 DIRECTOR OF FX ADVISORY SERVICES, HIFX I F YOU had invested £100,000 in euros this time last year, it would have bought you €120,000 – almost exactly the same amount of euros as today. Less than four months later you would have only received €111,000. Yes, there are major problems within Europe, but the outlook [...]
