New York Report: McDonald’s US report feeds a fear of equities October 21, 2013 US STOCKS ended little changed last night as lacklustre earnings reports from McDonald’s and others fed concerns that equities were overpriced after the S&P index’s run to record highs last week. Investors also showed a reluctance to make aggressive bets ahead of today’s release of US payrolls data for September, which was delayed by the [...]
Fed QE taper fears on hold for now October 21, 2013 But a subsequent rally in global equities may be short-lived given the lingering uncertainties Global equities traded close to five-year highs yesterday, in part buoyed by expectations of a delay to the Federal Reserve’s tapering of its quantitative easing (QE) programme. The MSCI world index rose 0.7 per cent before dropping slightly, and the FTSE [...]
CNBC Comment: Euro banks await critical stress tests October 21, 2013 EUROPE’S banks are facing one of their most difficult periods since the credit crisis began. Tomorrow the European Central Bank (ECB), is expected to outline the criteria for its Asset Quality Review (AQR). This is the highly-anticipated stress test of banks’ balance sheets, and will be the first time the ECB outlines just how stringent [...]
DailyFX: Analyst picks October 21, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short dollar-yen, long Aussie-yen Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks My dollar-yen short remains viable, despite cooling US fiscal tensions, as the Fed is unlikely to taper in October. US yields should remain under pressure (if not capped). [...]
Logistics firm Charles Gee goes into administration following Hinkley Point nuclear announcement October 21, 2013 Haulage and shipping group Charles Gee has been forced into administration, after saying it was waiting on Hinkley contracts before making a decision on its future. Express and Star reports that a spokesman for the administrators, FRP Advisory, said: "They have been waiting on Hinkley. That would have been a big source of work and [...]
US existing home sales dip in September October 21, 2013 The number of completed transactions on home sales in the US has fallen 1.9 per cent, with existing home sales index coming in at 5.29m, with prices rising at their slowest pace for five months. The reading follows expectations of 5.30m (revised from 5.37m) and after August's near four-year high of 5.39m (revised from 5.48m). [...]
How Goldman’s cafeteria economics helps cut lunchtime queues short October 21, 2013 Tired of wasting your break waiting in line for food? Many of us in the UK are trying to spend less time queueing at lunch, with the average worker taking just 29 minutes before returning to work according to a OnePoll study. As you might expect, the smart guys at top investment bank Goldman Sachs [...]
Facebook updates plagued by glitches October 21, 2013 Users of social media site Facebook have been unable to update their friends this afternoon as the platform suffers from technological issues, with an error message stating that "there was a problem updating your status. Please try again in a few minutes". Doesn't matter which browser you use, or where you are – the problem [...]
Gove green-lights 3D printers in schools October 21, 2013 Education secretary Michael Gove has given the go-ahead for a £500,000 fund for 60 schools to buy 3D printers and train teachers to use them. This follows a project the Department of Education launched last year which funded 21 secondary schools to trial the use of 3D printers in science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) as [...]
Fed’s Evans sees tapering delayed after Washington battle October 21, 2013 Federal Reserve dove Charles Evans has said that tapering is going to take longer as a result of the US government standoff, saying that the Fed "needs to do whatever is necessary". A little spin on the "whatever it takes" line we're so familiar with central bankers spouting. Evans said that he doesn't think about [...]