I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat
Water firms get £3.4bn EU loans July 18, 2010 The EU plans to lend the UK’s 10 biggest water utilities €4bn (£3.4bn) over the next five years, as they try to reduce the number of customers who cannot pay their bills. UK water companies including United Utilities and Severn Trent can take out cheap loans from the European Investment Bank to help reduce “water [...]
Donations drop by nearly 10 pc July 18, 2010 The austerity mindset has dented charitable donations this year, says research by Investec. Hard-up workers are giving 9.6 per cent less than a year ago, with almost a quarter admitting to reducing their donations. Londoners have dropped their donations by 9.2 per cent. People aged 34 to 44 are most reluctant to part with their [...]
SUMMER’S SET TO SIZZLE AS CITY’S GOT TALENT MAKES A COMEBACK July 18, 2010 IT’S SUMMERTIME, and if you’re looking for a ray of sunshine to penetrate the daily grind of City life, look no further. Regular readers of this column will remember last year, when The Capitalist whipped the financial world into a frenzy with a rundown of the top ten hunkiest gentlemen and loveliest ladies the City [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 18, 2010 IT’S OFF the beaten track for this week’s bill, racked up by six businessmen celebrating a deal with a short but sweet trip to Malta’s luxury boutique hotel The Xara Palace – frequented by famous faces such as Brad Pitt and Roger Moore. Our lucky travellers headed to the hotel’s award-winning De Mondion restaurant, where [...]
Nervy markets ahead of bank stress test results July 18, 2010 EXPECT a lot of talk and even more nerves ahead of the European bank stress test results this week. For the market open this morning, that means erring to the downside. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open down 28 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,130. The German DAX is [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD July 18, 2010 AFTER ugly economic data and an unexpected downturn in sentiment on quarterly earnings, Wall Street will face a tough time battling back from the latest sell-off. Technology and banking results will once again shape investor mind-set in a week dominated by a blitz of quarterly earnings. But it will be a tough job to shift [...]
Trade volatility if you want to take a view on the markets July 18, 2010 WHEN people think of volatility, images of falling stock prices, anxious traders and massive losses come to mind. But spread betters should use periods of volatility as an opportunity. Most spread betting companies allow traders to take a position on volatility – usually by betting on the Vix index, which measures the implied volatility of [...]
Don’t bet on strong bank earnings July 18, 2010 REACTIONS were mixed as the first of the season’s US bank earnings rolled in last week. Some analysts – like GFT’s David Morrison – were blaming poor revenue growth reported by Citigroup and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML) on Friday for the subsequent dip in the S&P 500 as it plunged 2.09 per cent in [...]
THE TIPSTER July 18, 2010 OIL giant BP has been trading at levels that have been described as an excellent buy opportunity. And with the well-head in the Gulf of Mexico capped, the share price is spurting higher although the company could still be seen as a bid target. Interim results on 27 July will be closely followed as traders [...]
SPREAD BET GURU July 18, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, what are the main weightings behind the FTSE 100 index? A. The FTSE 100 is a weighted index of the leading 100 companies, as measured by market value, that are listed on the London Stock Exchange. As you might expect, the companies with the highest market capitalisation have the [...]
