Murdoch’s London Paper closes its doors for now August 20, 2009 NEWS International’s decision to close the London Paper will come as a huge blow to its 60 staff, who will now enter a month-long consultation. They have worked hard to create a product which has been a massive success in many ways. Its revolutionary design, for example, has been critically acclaimed and the paper has [...]
Lending sees improvement August 20, 2009 GROSS mortgage lending rose 26 per cent in July on the previous month but remains 36 per cent down on 2008, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday. In the latest sign of a relative improvement for the UK housing market, the CML figures showed that gross mortgage lending totalled an estimated £16bn last [...]
Firms’ confidence about the future rises to 13-month high August 20, 2009 BRITISH businesses are more confident about their trading than they have been for 13 months, according to a monthly survey published today. The Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets Business Barometer shows that a balance of 30 per cent of businesses questioned in July expected their business activity to rise over the next year, compared to 17 [...]
Strong growth in retail sales in July boosts recovery optimism August 20, 2009 THE high street breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as retail sales rose twice as fast as expected in July. Official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that sales volumes rose 0.4 per cent in July on the previous month and were up 3.3 per cent on July 2008. For predominantly food [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS August 20, 2009 AEGISNomura reduced its full-year earnings per share forecast for Aegis from 8.8p to 8.1p to reflect adverse exchange rate movements and a slightly more cautious view on media buying margins. The broker expects client spending trends to improve as the recession begins to ease, and rates the stock “neutral” with a 114p price target. TT [...]
Tightening spreads and QE make corporate bonds more attractive August 19, 2009 CORPORATE bond issuance so far this year smashed through the $1 trillion mark, the first time that this amount has been raised by non-financial corporates in a single year, figures from data provider Dealogic showed earlier this week. And while the European corporate bond market has typically been less developed than the American market, European [...]
Gold still strong, but don’t expect any record highs August 19, 2009 YOU must have seen the adverts on the television. Since the recession started to bite, smiley men and women have appeared on our screens telling us that we ought to send in any spare gold in an envelope, and we will receive a lovely fat cheque in the post. While the extra cash will no [...]
Picking the right moment is the key to forex trading August 19, 2009 SINCE Monday we have learnt that Japan exited recession in the second quarter, that German investors are more confident in August than they were last month, that UK inflation still stands at 1.8 per cent, and that three members of the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee considered extending quantitative easing in this country to £200bn. Today [...]
CENTRAL BANK POLICIES ARE DIVERGING August 19, 2009 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOVHEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI UK LOOKING at macroeconomic events over the past few weeks, it is becoming increasingly clear that central banks around the world are considering different monetary policy frameworks going forward. Over the past 18 months, many central banks were forced to follow similar policies of cutting interest rates as quickly [...]
RELOADING ON RISK DURING THE AUTUMN August 19, 2009 BRIAN DOLANCHIEF CURRENCY STRATEGIST, FOREX.COM OVER the course of this summer my colleague Jane Foley and I have been consistently cautious on the extraordinary rebound in risk appetite and the accompanying rally in virtually every risky asset class (stocks, commodities and carry trades in forex). We argued that markets were overly optimistic about the prospects [...]
