BEARS GAINING GROUND AS GREECE PUSHES FTSE SLIDE May 21, 2012 CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST THE impending arrival of Facebook into global markets did little to shore up optimism last week, as markets tracked relentlessly lower for the entire week. As with the preceding week, Greece remained the centre of attention, dragging Spain and Italy into its mire. Better German GDP figures provided only the briefest relief [...]
FOLLOWING THE PROFESSIONALS May 21, 2012 Though the large commodities funds can be taking position sizes in the hundreds of millions, spread betting and contracts for difference can allow the retail investor to take positions on commodities and still see returns. Taking a position on gold bullion would usually take a huge amount of capital to take advantage of a $10 [...]
Costly new Italian is a safe bet for good clients May 21, 2012 RESTAURANT COTIDIE 50 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HN Tel: 020 7258 9878 FOOD *** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** You wouldn’t think London needed yet another high-end Italian restaurant. Well, apparently, it does – or at least, it won’t say no to one. For a late sitting one recent Thursday, the (fairly) new Cotidie was surprisingly [...]
How to invest in a beautiful smile May 21, 2012 Smile, and the world smiles with you. It sounds simple enough, but missing, wonky or stained teeth can leave you wanting to keep your gnashers firmly to yourself. Fed up with feeling self-conscious about your smile? Thought about getting dental treatment, but wrote it off as too much hassle? You might be surprised to learn [...]
Barclays to sell $6bn BlackRock stake May 21, 2012 Barclays bank is to sell all of its $6.1bn (£3.8bn) stake in US asset manager BlackRock, which it has held for almost three years. Barclays said the shares would be sold by way of an offering and a related buyback by BlackRock of up to $1bn of the stock. A prospectus was filed by BlackRock [...]
Bank rally helps steady FTSE May 21, 2012 The FTSE 100 was solid this morning despite the storm clouds – created by the Eurozone crisis – still hanging over markets. Over the weekend G8 leaders stressed their “imperative” was to promote growth and jobs and gave verbal backing for Greece to stay in the euro. But despite calls from the United States for [...]
Britain must embrace 30pc tax revolution to boost growth May 21, 2012 IT is time for Britain to make a vital choice. Our economy is stagnant, with unemployment at horrendous levels, crippled by excessive public spending and a punitive tax system. There are two options. We can either tweak the status quo – try to keep a lid on spending, reform bits of the public sector and [...]
Mitie profit rises as order book swells May 21, 2012 British outsourcing firm Mitie posted an 8.9 per cent rise in full year profit and said it was upbeat about growth prospects in the coming year as governments and businesses seek to cut costs and secure energy supply. Mitie, which provides catering, cleaning and maintenance services for clients like Vodafone, Tesco, and the British government, [...]
Ryanair warns that profit to be dented by Eurozone May 21, 2012 Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, warned surging fuel costs and a worsening economic outlook meant profit would slip by up to 20 per cent in the coming year, the first fall in four years. The Dublin-based airline, which posted a record annual profit and has posted profit growth of at least 25 per cent every [...]
Britain and France back Eurobonds May 20, 2012 THE UK and France have joined forces to demand that Germany underwrites Greece’s crippling debts by issuing so-called eurobonds. Eurobonds would pool sovereign debt issuance among all of the euro’s 17 member states, allowing weaker countries such as Greece to lean on the triple-A ratings of Germany and others. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has long [...]
