The Deputy Prime Minister thinks we are irresponsible – the feeling is mutual, Nick January 16, 2012 NICK Clegg wants to give tax breaks to John Lewis style, employee-owned companies. This is just the latest salvo in the “responsible capitalism” debate. But when a government dictates which forms of capitalism are responsible, and which ones aren’t, it overrides the individual morality of its citizens – and not for the better. After all, [...]
The global battle for the internet is about to begin January 16, 2012 2012 is the year that freedom online will be challenged. In the UK and the US, proposals are being introduced for website blocking in the name of copyright and child protection. In America, the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) is already causing seismic protests. But in 2012 we will also see a push to [...]
Do not blame Opec for a rise in the price of oil January 16, 2012 WHEN discussing oil prices, it is common to encounter two views that are confused: the first is that Opec, the cartel to which many of the world’s oil-producing countries belong, sets the price of oil, the second is that it can cause inflation by increasing the price of oil through restriction of the quantity it [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 16, 2012 Clubcards are gold I disagree with Richard Perks’s analysis of Tesco. [Tesco’s marketing strategy needs a new broom in 2012 to sweep away its Clubcard, last Friday] If Tesco invested in a cost-cutting exercise it would probably discover what most businesses using voucher/discount schemes are finding; that cheap customers pay at the cheap price and [...]
Powering your trading ambition January 16, 2012 AS MORE and more providers hone their mobile trading apps, you can almost trade from anywhere. But if you are serious about your trading then you will probably want a dedicated computer. But what features are important and what do you get for your money? Generally speaking, you will get faster processing, the ability to [...]
GOLD REMAINS A PRECIOUS COMPONENT OF A PORTFOLIO January 16, 2012 Ionce heard an analyst say that gold should be viewed as an insurance policy, not as an investment. That’s good advice for anyone who is contemplating a position in the yellow metal in 2012. Gold has very little industrial use and yields no return, so its investment credentials are dubious. However, throughout history gold has [...]
THE TIPSTER January 16, 2012 WHEN Rio Tinto becomes the first of the big miners to update the market this year with its full-year report, there will be plenty of informative nuggets for investors to dig through in the update. The memory of Alcoa’s update and bullish forecast last week is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Traders will be hoping [...]
Analyst picks for 17 January 2012 January 16, 2012 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short sterling-dollar, long euro-Swiss Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week The Eurozone’s financial troubles have deepened heading into the new year, and we will feel the repercussions. However, euro-dollar is already exceptionally downtrodden. The spillover hasn’t fully happened for the [...]
AAA-ratings are ready to go the way of the dodo January 16, 2012 THE downgrades of France and Austria on Friday followed by yesterday’s walloping of the European Financial Support Facility (EFSF) may have been widely anticipated, but that does not mean that they are irrelevant. After all, analysts have predicted the timings of seven of the last three sovereign downgrades. But more than anything this latest move [...]
Tom Aikens’ return is a hit January 16, 2012 Tom Aikens Restaurant 43 Elystan St, SW3 3NT T: 020 7584 2003 FOOD ***** SERVICE ***** ATMOSPHERE **** Cost per person without wine: £90 Popular culture can be a depressing economic barometer. In the 90s and early 2000s British music was all working-class swagger and barefaced ambition. It was a time when it didn’t seem [...]
