Best of the Brokers for 12 November 2015 November 12, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com Canaccord Genuity reiterated its “buy” rating on the insurance firm, but increased the target price from 800p to 910p. The broker noted reports that Novae is set to launche a new special purpose syndicate to underwrite US excess and surplus lines property and [...]
FTSE closes up despite losses from Sainsbury – London Report November 12, 2015 FALLS in supermarket, miner and housebuilders’ shares yesterday did not prevent the FTSE 100 rising marginally. The UK’s blue-chip index rose 0.35 per cent to 6,297 points. The largest casualty, by some way, was Sainsbury, which reported profits had slumped 18 per cent and slashed its interim dividend by a third. Sainsbury’s group sales were down [...]
Inside the rock: Gibraltar’s strategic and military importance is complemented by financial and gaming leadership November 12, 2015 Covering an area of just 6.8 square kilometres, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar punches well above its weight. At the last count, despite a population of only 32,000 people, it was home to 67 insurers with £9.95bn in total assets, 13 banks, 72 trust and company service providers, 14 pension fund administrators, and [...]
Bump in the road: What does platform failure mean for investors? November 12, 2015 The peer-to-peer industry suffered a platform failure last month, in the full glare of media attention. Back in 2011, P2P platform Quakle failed. This time around, it was Sweden-based TrustBuddy, which was shut down by the Swedish regulator, with lenders’ money frozen. The reasons for the failure of these platforms have been widely reported. [...]
Macy’s and oil weigh heavily on Wall Street – New York Report November 11, 2015 INVESTORS sold oil companies and dumped brick-and-mortar retailers yesterday after a disappointing full-year forecast from Macy’s pulling US stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 56.52 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 17,701.69, the S&P 500 lost 6.77 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 2,074.95 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 16.22 points, or 0.32 [...]
City Moves for 12 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 11, 2015 Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Michael Bond has been appointed mid markets relationship director in the bank’s technology, media and telecommunications team in London. He previously held a similar role at Lloyds, looking after clients in the education, communities and government sector across the South East. State Street Global Advisors State Street’s asset management arm has [...]
India isn’t the new China – but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UK visit is worth exploiting November 11, 2015 In 2010, David Cameron chose Bangalore for one of his first transcontinental visits as Prime Minister, promising that taking the economic relationship between India and Britain “to the next level” was a political priority. Since then, bilateral trade, investment and banking have shrunk relative to the size of the two countries’ economies. Both nations have [...]
EU referendum: Will Brexit make you happier? It depends on whether you’re frightened by freedom November 11, 2015 Most analyses of the impact of a potential Brexit from the EU naturally focus on the economic costs and benefits as a proportion of GDP. But what about the potential impact on subjective well-being or life satisfaction? Would Brexit make people happier? The answer will of course be found in the revealed preference on the [...]
Groucho Marx and property bubbles: Why the Bank is right to rein in market exuberance November 11, 2015 The commercial property market in London has been booming for several years and the Bank of England is concerned about yet another property bubble building up. The executive director for financial stability strategy and risk at the Bank, Alex Brazier, argued in a speech last month that positive sentiment in the industry must be tempered [...]
Could the collapse of Portugal’s government reignite the Eurozone debt crisis? November 11, 2015 Chris Bailey, European strategist at Raymond James, says Yes. So far this year, the Eurozone has avoided significant region-wide volatility as spill overs from events in Greece have not sustainably infected other countries or markets. But the still inconclusive outcome from Portugal’s General Election does not auger well. If the only viable government is one [...]
