London Week Ahead: Mark versus market in first public speech August 26, 2013 BANK of England governor Mark Carney’s keynote lunch speech to business leaders in Nottingham tomorrow has already been dubbed “Mark versus Market” – with market watchers dubious about Carney’s claims for long-term low interest rates. Rob Wood, economist at Berenberg Bank, said: “Growing momentum in the economy, rapidly rising house prices, and wide disagreements on [...]
CNBC Comment: Emerging Asia is in a dangerous situation August 26, 2013 THE STORY of money being withdrawn from emerging markets is arguably overdone. But just as it chased a more thrilling adventure in a risk-free world of easy monetary policy, money is now seeking the comforts of home as markets price in tighter conditions. That spells a dangerous road for Asia’s shining hopes. Take Indonesia, often [...]
DailyFX: Analyst picks August 26, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Long dollar-yen Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks Neither the euro-dollar nor the dollar-yen are behaving as desired, but of the two the dollar-yen is acting more in-line with what’s been expected. Last week I was waiting for [...]
Any Other Business – 27/08 August 26, 2013 Pork processor Cranswick held a lunch for private client brokers last week and The Capitalist hears that finance director Mark Bottomley was trotting out the sausage trivia in abundance. Brokers were entertained with sizzling facts from Bottomley, such as if one were to lay all the sausages which were produced by the company during the [...]
US new home sales see biggest drop since May 2010 August 23, 2013 US new home sales have seen a massive fall, dropping from 0.455m (revised from 0.497m) to 0.394m in July. Economists had forecast a fall from the unrevised figure to 0.485m. On a more-reliable 3-month average, new home sales have slipped, but haven't cratered. See the chart. pic.twitter.com/bo91LpBMtc — Rex Nutting (@RexNutting) August 23, 2013 That [...]
Eurozone consumer confidence hits July 2011 high August 23, 2013 Eurozone consumer confidence has risen from -17.4 to -15.6 in August. That's a July 2011 high. Economists had forecast an improvement to just -16.5. Christian Schulz, senior economist, Berenberg: The drop in confidence after the fateful July 2011 decision to impose losses on private holders of Greek bonds has still not fully been recovered. Confidence [...]
Steve Ballmer’s net worth up $1bn as Microsoft announces that he will retire August 23, 2013 Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is to retire within the next 12 months upon completion of the process to find successor, the tech giant has announced (release). Now Bill Gates and a special committee will undertake that process to find the right guy for the job. Stock in the company has been pretty stagnant since Gates' [...]
Fed’s Bullard says no to rate hikes while inflation is below 1.5 per cent August 23, 2013 The Federal Reserve's James Bullard has said that "we don't have to be in any hurry" to make changes to policy and that he'd prefer to be "cautious" and for the central bank to "take our time". Bullard has said that a 1.5 per cent inflation floor before a rate increase would should the the [...]
Ex-Cyprus central bank chief says euro crisis will flare up after German elections August 23, 2013 Athanasios Orphanides, former chief at Cyprus' central bank, has said that the island economy was destroyed by delays in finalising the bailout package it received. Cyprus has seen its biggest industry – banking – wiped out with capital controls overstaying their welcome. While introduced as a temporary measure months ago, they have not yet been [...]
Worker pay sees biggest quarterly growth in 13 years August 23, 2013 Growth in UK incomes, including wages, salaries and pension contributions, was up 2.4 per cent in the second quarter of this year. That's the biggest quarterly increase in compensation in 13 years. The Office for National Statistics' second estimate of these figures showed that those in employment aged 16 or over reached a record high [...]