THE TIPSTER December 14, 2010 EURO-US dollar formed a bullish engulfing candlestick yesterday and in the process made a breakout from its recent downward trend. A break of the $1.3280 level was crucial and led to further buying with the cross back above $1.3400. The strength could continue following this move and in the run up to the meeting of [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS December 14, 2010 FOREX STRATEGIST ILYA SPIVAK My pick: Stay long dollar-yen Expertise: Global macro Average time frame of trades: 1 week-6 months I entered long dollar-yen at ¥83.08 in mid-November expecting the pair to rise along with US Treasury yields in the aftermath of QE2 after the $600bn increase in asset purchases matched traders’ expectations and opened [...]
Auditors are not watchdogs, they are bloodhounds on a tight leash December 14, 2010 HEAD OF POLICY, ACCA THERE are two sides to every story. This particular story concerns audit and its value to society. Are you sitting comfortably? “Extraordinarily self-satisfied” is how the former chancellor Lord Lawson described the suggestion by top auditors that there hadn’t been a failure of audit prior to the financial crisis. “You were [...]
Boxy and practical but no beauty December 14, 2010 If the Škoda Roomster looks a little strange – as if the front half of the car was developed by a different team to the back of it – it’s not accidental, it’s by design. The concept underlying the Roomster set out to split the car into two “rooms”, a “driving room” up front and [...]
CAR TALK December 14, 2010 NEW SERIES M COUPE This is the new 340hp BMW 1 Series M Coupé that will debut at January’s Detroit motor show. The twin-turbocharged car will have a 0-62mph time of just 4.9 seconds which, amazingly, is just a fraction slower than the existing M3, despite the fact that the car will be a lot [...]
City warns over rights issue rip off December 13, 2010 INVESTMENT banks have been slammed by the City’s top institutional investors for charging unfairly high fees to companies raising capital through rights issues. An inquiry commissioned by the Institutional Investor Council, backed by the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds, lashes out at investment banks today for charging underwriting fees [...]
EU chief Barnier: London’s bankers are blackmailing us December 13, 2010 THE EU’S markets chief accused London banks of blackmailing the union with threats to move abroad in the face of bonus curbs yesterday. Michel Barnier, who made his first appearance in front of the Treasury select committee yesterday, said the EU’s new guidelines calling for bankers to get just 20 per cent of bonus payments [...]
Flurry of M&A provides Xmas cheer for traders December 13, 2010 BRITISH companies led a whirlwind of buyout deals yesterday, in a sign of emerging confidence in the M&A market ahead of the Christmas break. London-listed household goods group Reckitt Benckiser bagged privately-held personal care company Paras Pharmaceuticals for around $726m (£460m) yesterday, while oil services firm Wellstream finally agreed to be taken over by General [...]
Boxing Day travel chaos December 13, 2010 LONDON could grind to a halt on one of the busiest shopping days of the year after Tube drivers agreed to yet another strike if they are not paid an extra £50 for working on Boxing Day. Members of Tube drivers’ union Aslef voted 1,025 to 127 in favour of the 24 hour action. London [...]
Coalition is failing to control red tape December 13, 2010 THANKS to John Redwood, the Tory MP, we now know that the coalition’s supposed commitment to deregulation is a sham. Small business owners – which are most affected by red tape as they can’t afford vast HR departments – already knew this, of course, and all firms in the country, not just the finance sector, [...]
