London Report: FTSE 100 takes breather during corporate lull August 12, 2013 THE FTSE 100 ended down 9.1 points yesterday, or 0.1 per cent, at 6,574.34 points, with technical sellers dragging down the index after it failed to break 6,600, a level that has capped its value since last week. A new failure to break this resistance was seen as a sign of waning appetite for FTSE [...]
New York Report: BlackBerry and Apple keep US stocks sweet August 12, 2013 THE DOW and the S&P 500 indexes dipped slightly yesterday, extending losses from Wall Street’s worst week since June last week, but Apple and BlackBerry kept the Nasdaq index afloat. Trading volume was light, marking one of the five days this year with fewer than 5bn shares traded over a full session. Many traders are [...]
CNBC Comment: A property bubble propelled by fear August 12, 2013 HOW many UK seaside resorts claim to be “Chelsea-on-Sea”? There are at least a dozen in Cornwall and Devon alone. One of them is Salcombe – where I was holidaying last week, and which has more Chelsea 4x4s clogging up its narrow streets than SW10. This may not be relevant to you, but a [...]
DailyFX: Analyst picks August 12, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Closed short Aussie dollar-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks The Reserve Bank of Australia meeting led to steeper declines, but a quicker than anticipated reversal knocked my short Aussie-dollar position for a solid (but admittedly poorly managed) [...]
Any Other Business – 13/08 August 12, 2013 ■ The City could soon be awash with mini-Mervyns. The name of the ex-Bank of England governor blasted into the baby names rankings for 2012, perhaps in a tribute to the central banker. Five Mervyns were born last year, up from none in 2011. Last year also saw 15 girls and seven boys named Diamond. [...]
Bribery may be common practice for drugs firms in China August 12, 2013 Five drugs salesmen working for foreign companies operating in China have told the BBC their firms paid bribes to increase sales of products. None wanted to be identified and the BBC didn’t say which firms were involved. One said his company has paid around $1,000 to get its product back on the shelves at one [...]
Investigation into Deutsche Bank’s role in Libor scandal complete August 12, 2013 The German banking and finance regulator is ready to submit its report of Deutsche Bank’s role in the manipulation of interbank lending rates, a source close to the issue has told Reuters. BaFin has reportedly completed its investigation into Deutsche Bank concerning the manipulation of benchmark interest rates like Libor and Euribor and is ready [...]
Portugal quashes rumours of reneging on austerity obligations August 12, 2013 Portugal’s regional development minister Miguel Poiares Maduro has said the country is “fully committed” to meeting its bailout obligations, amid rumours it may dilute the terms imposed by the troika. Poiares Maduro was reacting to a report in Newspaper Weekly Expresso, which said the Portuguese government was considering a reduction in planned spending cuts from [...]
Spain refuses to back down in border dispute August 12, 2013 Spain has said it will not back down on Gibraltar border controls, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry has said. The government feels that controls are “legal and proportionate”. Tensions were raised after a dispute over fishing rights unleashed an underlying conflict regarding sovereignty, with Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy proposing the introduction of a [...]
Greece another step closer to meeting privatisation target with €654m sale of OPAP August 12, 2013 The Greek government has completed the sale of its 33 per cent stake in gambling firm OPAP to a Greek-Czech fund Emma Delta for €654m (£560m). The deal was agreed in May, but talks stumbled as Emma Delta requested changes be made to reduce the fees paid to Intralot and Scientific Games to run the [...]