Wall Street is boosted by support for Bernanke January 25, 2010 US STOCKS snapped a three-day slide yesterday as signs that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would win a US Senate vote for a second term helped ease investors’ concerns. After the closing bell, iPod maker Apple reported sharp gains in quarterly revenue and profit, sending its shares 1.9 per cent higher to $207 in after-hours [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 25, 2010 HMV Numis has cut its forecasts on HMV and shifted its recommendation to “hold” despite the retailer’s Christmas trading update which was in line with market expectations. Numis said the decline in HMV’s sales categories along with its growing fixed cost base meant the potential for profitability to evaporate was clear. PETROPAVLOVSK Canaccord Adams has [...]
Luxury brands sure to suffer as consumers trade down January 25, 2010 THE LUXURY brands sector finished 2009 on a high note. Luxury goods groups including Burberry, Richemont and Swiss watch-maker Swatch all reported strong sales growth in the last three months of the year and stock prices have duly headed north as consumers snapped up handbags, jewellery and watches to beat the recession blues. But there [...]
Jaguar Land Rover chief to quit post January 25, 2010 THE boss of Jaguar Land Rover is quitting the Indian-owned luxury car manufacturer. Jaguar Land Rover yesterday said David Smith was stepping down as chief executive shortly and would be replaced by Ravi Kant, the vice chairman of Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company Tata Motors, until a permanent successor is announced. The firm did not say [...]
DON’T FORGET THE IMPACT OF POLITICS January 25, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST week equities hit a brick wall. The US fourth quarter earnings season has been a disappointment so far. Companies are finding that a decent result on the bottom line just won’t cut it with investors if revenues haven’t improved. Also, the actions taken by the People’s Bank of [...]
CFD ANALYST PICKS January 25, 2010 TECHNICAL STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Short FTSE at 5,500 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 5-10 days Explanation: Last week’s recommendation – short FTSE – has worked and we are now fast approaching our objective. But we also realise that markets have been quite choppy, and with the index testing key rising [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 25, 2010 Investec The investment bank has hired Paul Bail as a director in its debt advisory team, focusing on expanding its profile in the private equity space. Bail joins from Barclays, where he was managing director of leveraged finance in the financial sponsors group and a board director of Barclays Financial Investments. Prior to that, he [...]
New rules for whistleblowers will do no good January 25, 2010 JOANNA CHATTERTON EMPLOYMENT PARTNER, FOX WILLIAMS LLP SINCE 1998, employees who raise concerns about possibly unlawful activities by their employer have enjoyed protected status. Employment tribunals have not been obliged to pass information on to the police or any regulatory body about alleged wrongdoing. Unless the whistleblower does so, they often never know about it. [...]
An oath can’t make lawyers more honest January 25, 2010 BIG changes are afoot in the legal world, not least those arising from the reforms which the profession is going to see under the Legal Services Act. This will include the introduction of so-called Tesco Law, which will see non-lawyers increasingly involved in the provision of legal services. In the face of this brave new [...]
The right brew can help you beat the winter blues January 25, 2010 GREEN tea has been trendy in the West for a while now, along with black-skinned fruits and yoga. But in this case, trendiness does not indicate mere faddishness. There is ever-mounting evidence that green tea (along with yoga and black-skinned fruits) is seriously good for you. A new study published in the Journal of Clinical [...]
