Pips and pairs: forex trading comes to a screen near you July 23, 2008 Phil Thornton takes a look at some of the new retail forex platforms out there Just a decade ago, the closest that even the savviest investors came to foreign exchange trading was deciding when and where to buy foreign currency for their summer holiday. Thanks to financial liberalisation and massive advances in technology, private investors [...]
HBOS City advisers rights issue storm July 22, 2008 Investment bankers at Morgan Stanley and Dresdner Kleinwort will have breathed a collective sign of relief yesterday when they managed to find buyers for 29 per cent of the HBOS rights issue rump. The whole experience has been an unnerving one for the bank and its advisers, left holding billions of pounds worth of HBOS [...]
Bank of America adds cheer to bank stocks July 22, 2008 Shares in Bank of America, the largest retail bank in the US, surged after the mortgage lender revealed better-than expected second quarter results, despite a 41 per cent drop in profits and a rise in bad loans. The stock climbed 6 per cent higher after the bank topped earnings forecasts, boosting confidence amongst investors that [...]
House prices plunge July 21, 2008 Distressed sellers driving the gloomy housing market down cut average asking prices by a dramatic £4,345 or 1.8 per cent in July, new figures out today show. The 1.8 per cent fall in values this month follows a 1.2 per cent drop in June, as house prices registered their first year-on-year decline since property website [...]
City: FTSE to bounce back July 21, 2008 London’s benchmark equity market could stage a dramatic recovery by the end of this year, according to leading strategists who predict the FTSE 100 will end the year above 6,000. Analysts at brokerages Charles Stanley and Brewin Dolphin expect the FTSE 100 to end the year at 6,800 and 6,200 respectively. The more optimistic forecasts [...]
London and New York need each other July 21, 2008 Much fuss is made about the “lead” or “lag” that London shows vis-ą-vis New York in the financial and business sector. Whenever studies such as the Global Financial Centres Index report is published, many commentators pore over the tables to see by what degree London or New York is ahead. This misses the point: more [...]
Business confidence plummets July 21, 2008 Worsening economic conditions are taking their toll on business confidence in the capital, according to the latest Business in Britain survey. The study, from Lloyds TSB Commercial, revealed that firms’ optimism for the coming six months is lower than ever, with London-based companies hit hardest. The Business Confidence Index for July showed that the balance [...]
High oil price leads Ryanair to cut flights July 18, 2008 Europe’s largest airline Ryanair said yesterday it will cut flights at Stansted by 14 per cent, or 250 flights, this winter because of soaring fuel costs and high airport charges. The Irish carrier’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said the move will see it carry 900,000 fewer passengers and trim its Stansted fleet to 28 planes [...]
Fiscal rules to change July 18, 2008 Treasury officials are working on plans to reform Gordon Brown’s fiscal rules to allow for increased borrowing. The move comes as the government comes dangerously close to breaking its rules limiting public sector debt to 40 per cent of national income. Any changes are likely to be announced in the autumn pre-budget report, once the [...]
Surge in UK jobless July 17, 2008 Expectations that the Bank of England would keep interest rates on hold were heightened yesterday as official data revealed the number of people claiming unemployment benefit had surged by the highest monthly amount for 16 years. The Office for National Statistics said unemployment rose by 15,500 last month, after an upwardly revised 14,300 increase in [...]