Wall Street is unimpressed by Spain deal June 11, 2012 US stocks fell yesterday as Europe’s aid package for Spanish banks did little to alleviate investor concerns about the Eurozone’s finances and a slowdown in the wider global economy. The equity market bounced in early trading, but the rally was quickly snuffed out by sellers and a sharp decline accelerated into the market’s close. Spanish [...]
Why private bondholders need to share in Spain’s banking pain June 11, 2012 IT’S under control. That seemed to be Mariano Rajoy’s message as he left for Poland to watch Spain take on Italy, hours after finalising a €100bn euro rescue deal for the country’s banks. The Spanish Prime Minister and EU finance ministers can certainly be pleased at achieving such a quick deal, but they should not [...]
Football has a lot to teach those in power about good economic policy June 11, 2012 EURO 2012 is in full swing, which is great, not least because of the many parallels between the economy and football. Monetary policy has a similar function to goalkeepers. Central banks are the last line of defence and their primary task is to avoid making mistakes. Goalkeepers will rarely win you a match, but they [...]
There’ll be no UK Zuckerberg while we fear all failure June 11, 2012 POKE fun at Facebook’s plummeting shares all you like. Call the company overhyped. Doubt its lofty valuation. But the facts remain: Facebook, born eight years ago in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room, has nearly a billion regular users and dominates internet social networking. Whether or not it continues to grow at breakneck speed, we’re all [...]
As Tesco reports a drop in UK sales, has the retailer been pursuing the wrong strategy? June 11, 2012 YES Richard Perks “Retail is detail” and Tesco has been getting too many of the details wrong – poor quality, bad service, tired stores and an inept marketing function that couldn’t cope with Asda’s price guarantee. Very basically, Tesco has been using the UK as a cash cow to provide funds for development elsewhere. But, [...]
RAPID RESPONSES June 11, 2012 Moral hazards [Re: It’s time governments stopped bailing out bankrupt banks, yesterday] Banks won’t stop behaving responsibly until they know that behaving irresponsibly results in unmitigated disaster for them. That means letting them fail and making sure directors and executives enjoy a level of liability for their actions. Failure would suddenly seem much less appealing if [...]
Lobbying for gains over the election cycle June 11, 2012 AS WE head towards a Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama showdown in November, what does this year’s presidential election mean for the stock market? Can we look at past election cycle trends to gain an advantage in this cycle? As you can see from the chart on the right, based on cumulative data from the [...]
MARKETS SET TO RETURN THEIR FOCUS ON THE FED June 11, 2012 MOST global stock indices rallied strongly in the first two months of this year. Investors bought equities in response to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) two Long-Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO), which provided around €1 trillion in liquidity to Europe’s banking system. But the indices have struggled since March, with the sell-off accelerating from early May. [...]
THE TIPSTER | Consulting an upbeat 2012 June 11, 2012 CONSULTANCY WS Atkins was quite upbeat about its full-year results back in April, so it will be interesting to see if the company can indeed deliver. The shares have dropped back noticeably from their 2012 high around 800p, so the company will be hoping that its figures are enthusiastically received by investors. IG’s price on [...]
Pain in Spain will continue to reign June 11, 2012 AFTER opening to a flurry of optimism – following this weekend’s agreement to bail out Spanish banks – stock markets had sunk back down by the end of yesterday. It’s business as usual for Europe, and business is usually pretty bad right now. “Friday’s late price action on the Ibex 35 was indicative – traders [...]
