CITY VIEWS: IS THE FSA LIVING UP TO ITS PROMISE TO CLAMP DOWN ON THE CITY? May 26, 2009 GARETH LAWSON K&L GATES“I don’t think the FSA is a very effective regulator. In the past, it has always taken a very light touch, and only recently has it shown any bite. It is now trying to take a harder line, something which is long overdue, but I think it is just trying to become [...]
Budget forecasts in question May 26, 2009 Chancellor Alistair Darling faced fresh embarrassment last night as a survey of independent forecasts for the Treasury forecasting UK growth were more negative than his own predictions. Last month’s Budget predicted that growth would be 1.25 per cent in 2010 before bouncing back to 3.5 per cent in 2011, 2012 and 2013. But the average [...]
SDI reveals retail contract wins May 26, 2009 SDI Group, the Aim-listed distribution services firm, yesterday announced a number of new contract wins totalling around £8m. Distribution deals have been struck with student clothing retailer Jack Wills and discount store chain TK Maxx. The group also said it had won contracts to build automated warehousing systems for Dutch clohing retailers Noppies and Wolverine [...]
Evercore appoints new chief May 26, 2009 Boutique advisory firm Evercore Partners has named Ralph Schlosstein chief executive officer and president with immediate effect, chairman Roger Altman announced yesterday. Schlosstein, a co-founder and former president of fund manager BlackRock, will work with the chairman to expand Evercore’s global reach and diversify its operations. “Our goal is to build Evercore into a global, [...]
Boosting your immune system will help you make the most of summer May 25, 2009 TO the great vindication of blokes the world over, it seems that man flu may not be a myth after all. Research recently published found that oestrogen boosts the immune system, meaning that women are better able to fight off infection than men. Chaps, it seems, really do get iller and take longer to recover [...]
Nikkei to be dragged down by demand slump May 25, 2009 THINGS can’t get any worse for Japan, it seems. That at least is the view held by the Bank of Japan, which upgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in three years, despite a record economic contraction in the first quarter of 2009. GDP data released last Thursday showed that the Japanese [...]
THE GLOOMY NEWS ISN’T ALL OVER YET May 25, 2009 THERE was a little corrective activity in the middle of last week, but the story this quarter for the S&P 500 has been positive: the index has notched up gains of over 11 per cent. But we shouldn’t start getting too excited just yet. The S&P’s gains sit uncomfortably with the gloomy rhetoric that is [...]
THE TIPSTER May 25, 2009 RETAIL sales might have been under pressure during the downturn but last week’s bigger-than-expected rise and a flurry of good corporate results have boosted the outlook. Picks of the sector are Mothercare, Britvic and online retailer ASOS. Mothercare came out with some great results on Wednesday and although the shares look relatively expensive at a [...]
Gilt prices on course to fall as UK public debt threatens credit rating May 25, 2009 MARKETS were rattled last Thursday when ratings agency Standard & Poor’s announced that it had downgraded its outlook on Britain’s AAA credit rating to “negative” from “stable” for the first time since October 1993. Lower credit ratings result in higher borrowing costs because the borrower is considered more likely to default on its debt. If [...]
Traders should look to Asia for volatility and long-term bets May 25, 2009 WHATEVER Alistair Darling might be saying about V-shaped recoveries, in Europe and the US most of the talk is about a slow and protracted upturn. It’s otherwise in Asia, where economies are widely tipped to be the first to pull out of the global recession. There are three reasons for this: firstly, lower commodity prices [...]
