EU Commission warns governments should consider hiking the pension age July 7, 2010 COUNTRIES in the European Union may have to increase the retirement age to prevent a collapse of their social security systems as life expectancy increases and birth rates fall, the EU executive said yesterday. Launching a debate on overhauling pension rules, the European Commission said pension systems would come under severe stress in coming decades. [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 7, 2010 Religare Enterprises The Indian financial services group has appointed Stuart Pearce, pictured, and Kathryn Matthews as independent board directors. Pearce has over 35 years of experience in the sector and was previously chief executive and director general of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. He has also worked as chief executive of UK investment management at [...]
FTSE is boosted by banks as stress test fears begin to ease July 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S leading share index ended higher after a choppy session yesterday, driven by a recovery in banking stocks on reassuring comments from US peer State Street and an easing of stress test fears. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 49.82 points higher, or up 1.0 per cent, at 5,014.82, its high for the [...]
State Street profit upgrade lifts stocks July 7, 2010 US stocks logged their best one-day gain in about six weeks yesterday after a bullish forecast from financial company State Street fuelled optimism about the coming earnings season and helped the S&P 500 break above a major resistance level. State Street shares closed 9.9 percent higher at $36.63 after the asset manager and custody firm [...]
Understanding exposure to counterparty risk is crucial July 7, 2010 RISK is an acceptable, even a welcomed part of trading. Every trade comes with some risk attached; it’s just a case of knowing what the potential problems are and being comfortable with them. But as the financial crisis showed, pinpointing where the risk lies is not always so straightforward – even big institutions didn’t always [...]
Income is looking exceedingly good July 7, 2010 IN AN otherwise gloomy week for economic news – firstly Europe is in crisis, next the US and China are having trouble sustaining their growth rates – a ray of sunshine has emerged for equity investors. Dividends are set to be big for the next 12 months, even without BP, which has been forced to [...]
THE TIPSTER July 7, 2010 GOLD has sold off sharply although rather than the usual risk appetite explanation, fingers are pointing towards central banks offloading the asset to the Bank of International Settlements. However, with the risk a double-dip still looming, there’s no shortage of reasons why the foray below $1,200/ per oz will be short lived. The current IG [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS July 7, 2010 ETF SECS ROLLS OUT ETCS TO GERMANY ETF Securities has extended its euro-based exchange-traded currencies (ETCs) offering to the German stock exchange this week, giving further flexibility to European investors – they were first listed on the LSE in November 2009. They now include eight euro-based ETCs with long or short exposure to the US [...]
Don’t let technology take over your life July 7, 2010 RECENTLY I went to a presentation of some research into the uses of technology at work, at the London office of Google. They had commissioned a think-tank to look into the ways that technology will help us “collaborate” and become more “creative” in the years ahead. But there was a strange situation when those of [...]
Drama in the Deep South July 7, 2010 FORD COUNTY BY JOHN GRISHAM ARROW PAPERBACK, £7.99 BY ZOE STRIMPEL John Grisham, trusty friend of travelling businessmen for 20 years, is the definition of “best-selling author”. But what distinguishes him from the slews of so-called best-selling thriller writers, many of them attempting to be just like him, is the watertight quality of his writing [...]
