Play the Bank’s QE decision with a punt on gilts October 25, 2009 THIS year we have witnessed the Bank of England take the unprecedented step of buying billions of pounds worth of assets – mostly government bonds – in order to loosen monetary policy further than can be achieved through interest rate cuts alone. It goes without saying that this policy of quantitative easing (QE) has had [...]
CHINA’S YUAN POLICY COMES UNDER FIRE October 25, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMBY ALMOST everybody else’s standards, an annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent in the third quarter would be an opportunity to break open the champagne and put on the party hats. But expectations for Chinese expansion had been higher and this “disappointing” figure was enough to see investors lose, at least [...]
THE TIPSTER WATCH OUT FOR ENERGY FIRMS’ EARNINGS October 25, 2009 PROFIT taking has been the order of the day in energy stocks and with crude oil prices looking toppy at the $80 a barrel mark, the upward trend for some oil and gas equities may be over. Oil giant BP reports its third quarter results numbers on Tuesday and the stock has so far struggled [...]
Ski season classics October 25, 2009 IT’S a favourite debate among snow nuts – which continent lays claim to the best skiing? When you’ve got the multi-valley likes of Val D’Isere and Verbier up against Rocky Mountain resorts such as Aspen, Steamboat and Vail; Whistler inCanada, Snowbird in Utah and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada range, it comes down to [...]
ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND October 25, 2009 St Moritz may be the grand old man of the European skiing scene, but it remains the most glamorous destination in the Alps, crowded with luxury boutiques, Michelin-starred restaurants and the film stars and royals flitting between them. It’s a good place to come if anyone in your family doesn’t ski, since there are numerous [...]
VAIL, COLORADO October 25, 2009 After Whistler and Blackcomb near Vancouver, Vail is the biggest ski resort in north America – seven miles wide, with 5,289 acres of “freeride” terrain. It’s been voted best resort in the US 14 times in the last 17 years for its combination of space, snow quality, diversity of trails and state-of-the-art lifts and gondolas. [...]
LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA October 25, 2009 Where rich Californians go to play, the Sierra Nevada range surrounding the crystal clear Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada is arguably the most beautiful ski area in the US. The lake itself is 12 miles wide, 22 miles long and 1,645 feet at its deepest. Surrounding it are numerous ski resorts, [...]
WHISTLER, CANADA October 25, 2009 In terms of sheer intensity and choice of skiing, Whistler Blackcomb rules north America and quite possibly the world. About 100km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, the two valleys add up to 8,171 acres, with Whistler set to host most of the snow sports of the 2010 Winter Olympics. With elevations of 2,182 metres [...]
SESTRIERE, ITALY October 25, 2009 Sestriere is perhaps the most famous Italian resort – a place with history, style and fantastic slopes. With its neighbouring resorts it is part of the “Milky Way” ski circuit, which includes over 400km of pistes in a truly magnificent setting. The resort was purpose-built in the 1930s by the Agnellis, the family behind the [...]
COURCHEVEL, FRANCE October 25, 2009 Sitting close to the Swiss and Italian borders in southeastern France, Courchevel is a resort made up of five villages known by their metric heights – 1850 at the top, down to 1100 at the lower end of the valley. Predictably, the higher you go the more upmarket and expensive things get, but you can [...]
