FOREX FLASH November 17, 2009 Bank fuels new high for the poundSterling hit its highest level in a year against the US dollar yesterday after Bank of England MPC member Andrew Sentance said in a speech on Monday night that he believed the UK had emerged from recession and that loose monetary policy cannot continue indefinitely. Mark O’Sullivan at Currencies [...]
THE TIPSTER November 17, 2009 OPTIMISTIC comments earlier this week from Bank of England committee member Andrew Sentance saw sterling-US dollar march higher, hitting a year high against the buck during mid-morning trading yesterday. But although the inflation bounce added extra fuel to yesterday’s spike, the move higher proved to be unsustainable. There’s likely to be a clear psychological barrier [...]
Japan will become the land of the falling yen November 17, 2009 RATHER worryingly for Japanese exporters and the policymakers trying to prop them up during the recession, the yen has staged two attempts in as many days at breaking below the ¥89 level. Yesterday it fell as low as ¥88.74, close to the Japanese currency’s all-time low of ¥87.11 against the dollar, which it hit in [...]
REVALUATION OF YUAN WILL BE GLACIAL November 17, 2009 BORIS SCHLOSSBERGDIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT CURRENCY traders now widely assume that Asia will continue to lead the world economy to a recovery in 2010. Last weekend’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting only reaffirmed that fact, with members pledging to maintain their fiscal stimulus programmes. Another rally in risk currencies should result as FX markets [...]
Crossrail’s chairman says the 16bn project is set to push ahead in 2010 November 17, 2009 The last time I saw Terry Morgan was a year ago at 2am, underneath Leicester Square. Then he was the Tube Lines chief executive and was standing on the underground tracks between Leicester Square and Covent Garden stations, telling a couple of engineers exactly what he thought of their work. This meeting could not be [...]
Profits down at Enterprise as pubs suffer November 17, 2009 BRITAIN’S second-biggest pubs company, Enterprise Inns, yesterday blamed consumer belt-tightening, higher costs and competition for lower profits and warned of more woe this year. Enterprise, which has 7,400 leased and tenanted pubs, said underlying pre-tax profit fell 21 per cent to £208m in the year to the end of September, just below a forecast for [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS November 17, 2009 BT GROUPJP Morgan downgraded BT to “neutral”, saying that the group delivered on earnings in its first-half, but that there is reduced upside and scope for positive surprises. This and the increased pension liability drove the downgrade to the broker’s valuation, with the target price dropping to 170p. It believes the pending pension review will [...]
City warns on harmful tax policies November 17, 2009 BUSINESS leaders yesterday implored the government to consider the long-term effects of tax and spending policies on the future competitiveness of the UK as a global financial powerhouse, in a new report co-authored by the City of London Corporation and business group London First. Baroness Jo Valentine, the chief executive of London First, said London [...]
Reshaped Fortis is in the black after strong inflows November 17, 2009 BELGIAN insurer Fortis yesterday unveiled a profit for the third quarter and said revenues in 2009 would at least match last year’s. The former Dutch-Belgian banking and insurance group, which was broken apart after becoming one of Europe’s largest victims of the global financial crisis, said net profit totalled €196m (£173m) between July and September. [...]
Sainsbury’s ramps up price war November 17, 2009 J Sainsbury has fired another shot in the supermarket discount war by matching Tesco with a buy one, get one free later offer. The offer, which has been welcomed by food waste campaigners, allows shoppers to pick up their free product when they want it via a voucher system. Sainsbury’s said its offer will also [...]
