Businesses back work drive January 24, 2011 A government drive to get more young people into employment through work experience has been welcomed by business groups. Firms including Homebase and McDonald’s pledged to offer placements to unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds. CBI director of employment policy Katja Hall backed the drive: “No experience is more valuable to a young person looking for a [...]
Dragons eating up a hoard of black gold January 24, 2011 THE Chinese dragon continues to eat up fuel. Chinese demand for oil hit another record high in December, climbing to 9.618m barrels a day – an annualised increase of 19.9 per cent. At least partly as a result, the price of crude oil has climbed up significantly over the last few months, with Brent crude [...]
THE FLOW OF HOT MONEY CONTINUES January 24, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT INFLATIONARY expectations are picking up across all major economies. Rising commodity prices are presenting difficulties everywhere, but are particularly problematic for developing countries. Brazil raised rates last week and warned that additional tightening was likely. Annual inflation there is just shy of 6 per cent and their latest 50 basis point [...]
Revolutionising investment advice January 24, 2011 A REVOLUTION is on the way. In the next 24 months you will hear about the biggest changes in the supply and delivery of financial advice there have probably ever been. It’s known as the Retail Distribution Review, or RDR. In a nutshell the three proposed changes on the way are: 1. Clearer differentiation between [...]
European shares lifted on the back of miners and drug firms January 24, 2011 EUROPEAN shares edged up yesterday, as heavyweight miners rose on strong metals prices and defensive drugmakers and tobacco firms gained on concerns over the impact of rising inflation on growth prospects. Gains, however, were kept in check by falls on the German DAX index, as sentiment was hit by data showing a drop in German [...]
Wall St rises led by commodities stocks January 24, 2011 WALL Street resumed its rally yesterday, led by natural resources and tech shares as investors saw stocks regaining momentum lost late last week. A share-buyback from Dow component Intel helped revive optimism, which has been reinforced by more strong profit reports. Three-quarters of the 84 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far in [...]
Russia’s Koks prices its IPO January 24, 2011 RUSSIAN coking coal and pig iron producer Koks will seek to raise around $520m (£325m) in its IPO, landing a windfall for its owners and kick-starting a stampede by Russian firms to the stock market. The Siberia-based company, which is planning to list existing shares in both London and Moscow, said the offering could make [...]
LOVERING POCKETS £350K IN SHARES January 24, 2011 MITCHELLS & Butlers chairman John Lovering is to step down after just a year and will walk away with £350,000 in shares. The former Debenhams chairman joined the board in January last year to steady the ship after a feud between shareholders. The company said yesterday that Lovering only intended to be in the position [...]
Davos hopes to turn risk into reward January 24, 2011 THIS year is meant to be one that takes the world “from risk to opportunity”, according to a pre-Davos briefing paper, but the 30 heads of state and their entourages meeting in the Swiss ski town from tomorrow are likely to be more preoccupied with the former than the latter. In a sign of the 2011 [...]
DAVOS: A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE NEW IDEAS January 24, 2011 GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE, AVIVA ATTENDING the annual World Economic Forum at Davos is a privilege. Why am I going, and what do I hope to get out of it? The great thing about Davos – but also a frustration – is that there just aren’t enough hours in the day to talk to all the [...]
