Afren output hits top of guidance January 28, 2014 Shares in Africa-focused oil explorer Afren yesterday rose more than four per cent after the firm reported 2013 output of 47,112 barrels of oil per day, at the upper end of guidance, and revenue of $1.65bn (£1bn). The firm said it plans to increase investment in the Ebok field in Nigeria in the coming year. [...]
London construction jobs to rise January 28, 2014 6,450 more construction jobs are set to be created in London over the next five years, according to new research released yesterday by training body CITB. Construction of Crossrail, the Thameslink and Victoria station upgrades and the Thames Tideway tunnel will all contribute to the increase, as will demand for new homes. “The government’s Help [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 January 2014 January 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND Espirito Santo has a “neutral” rating and a fair value of 365p for the banking group, despite additional litigation and conduct costs amounting to £3.1bn. The broker expects that RBS will have sufficient capital to cover anything coming down [...]
London Report: FTSE buoyed by fall in emerging market worries January 28, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index picked up yesterday from five-week lows after finding strong technical support in the face of easing tensions in emerging markets and prospects of mergers and acquisitions. Emerging market assets steadied after a three-day slump, reviving confidence in global risk assets and reassuring investors worried that companies will be hit [...]
New York Report: US stock index given boost by good results January 28, 2014 US stocks rebounded yesterday after Pfizer’s upbeat results gave investors some relief from the pain of the Dow’s five-day losing streak, and the focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s next move on stimulus. The market’s advance, which also broke the S&P 500’s three-day slide, came after heavy losses tied to concerns about the withdrawal of [...]
How to profit from the fund price war January 28, 2014 Increased competition between platforms is welcome – but the overhaul of charges won’t be a game-changer @AnnabelPalmer1 IN WHAT some are calling a price war, yet another investment platform (Barclays Stockbrokers) has unveiled sweeping changes to its pricing structures. It all began on 15 January, when Hargreaves Lansdown announced that it would overhaul its charges. [...]
Sharp emerging market sell-off creates pockets of value for discerning investors January 28, 2014 The recent chaos in emerging markets has brought back uneasy memories of last summer’s sell-off. The MSCI emerging markets index fell from around 1,003 at the beginning of January to less than 932 on Monday, before stabilising in anticipation of the Federal Reserve meeting taking place today and tomorrow. But should investors be put off [...]
Nearly 80pc of economists believe that Bernanke’s QE1 will be seen positively by the history books January 28, 2014 It's often said that it's hard to find agreement among economists. That's taken to be especially true when you approach the more heavily politicised areas of the discipline – such as macro policy. So that 78 per cent of economists agree with this statement is quite a surprise: Informed postmortems of Ben Bernanke’s Fed chairmanship [...]
Oil giant Shell to see revenues tumble on Thursday January 28, 2014 Oil companies have had a pretty rough start to the year and analysts aren’t holding out too much hope for Royal Dutch Shell’s results on Thursday. The FTSE 100-quoted firm has already warned that fourth-quarter earnings will be “significantly lower”. Earnings are expected to fall to $2.9bn (£1.8bn), from $5.6bn in the equivalent quarter the [...]
Super Mario! How the plucky plumber could revive Nintendo’s fortunes January 28, 2014 The classic video game character Mario could be Nintendo’s saviour, according to pundits weighing in on the company’s options ahead of its expected new management strategy, due to be announced on Thursday. Nintendo’s Wii console – which shipped over 100m units, the most successful gaming console it has ever sold – featured 13 Mario released [...]