ANTONIO HORTA-OSORIO: MY WIFE MADE ME TAKE UP LLOYDS BANNER December 12, 2010 CITY bankers were shocked last month when Santander UK boss Antonio Horta-Osorio jumped ship to be parachuted into the throne of Lloyds, replacing outgoing chief executive Eric Daniels. “How could he do it?” the City wanted to know. “What possessed him?” What, indeed? The high-flying Portuguese charmer had to throw in 17 years’ worth of [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK December 12, 2010 EVERYONE knows that life is too short to drink cheap wine, but not many are quite as true to that philosophy as a couple of City brokers anxious to impress a couple of clients recently at the Roux at the Landau restaurant. They forked out £1,020 for two bottles of Montrachet and a further £500 [...]
Equities to leap as Santa Claus rally comes to town December 12, 2010 European stocks are forecast to power on ahead on the open this morning, building on recent gains as positive economic data are for now seen out-weighing fears that the region’s debt crisis could spread. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open up 32 points from Friday’s close, at a level of 5,844. The [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD December 12, 2010 The December rally may be reaching its climax, with just two weeks to go before Santa Claus makes his midnight run. Dwindling volume, excess optimism, and history all point to a stock market that could be running out of steam. Investors appear to have grown complacent as the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX has fallen [...]
Take a punt on the Three Lions’ quest for Ashes victory December 12, 2010 IT IS hard to know what England fans are enjoying more. Their team’s dominance down under, or the pitiful showing by Australia so far. Going into the series, England were the better team on paper, but most observers expected more from the Aussies in their own back yard – a fact that was reflected in [...]
THE TIPSTER December 12, 2010 THE rail and bus company Go Ahead might be a reasonable long call. The company seems to be trying to focus more on core aspects of the business but the share price is continuing to struggle to make an impression. There’s clearly longer term exposure to the rail franchise renewal mechanisms and also government intervention [...]
SPREAD BET GURU December 12, 2010 MARKET STRATEGIST josh@cityindex.com Q. Dear Josh, why is it more risky trading in stocks with low market capitalisations than large caps? A. It’s all down to underlying liquidity and this means that one has the ability to get in, but more importantly, out of the market with ease and at a good price. The more [...]
Journey into the mighty history of Samarkand December 12, 2010 AROUND Tashkent airport, giant hoardings proclaimed in English: “Uzbekistan Airways Wish You Good Luck”. It might have been more unsettling to read that message driving into Heathrow before our departure. In fact, we’d had an incident-free flight on Uzbekistan Airways to Uzbekistan’s capital. Tashkent sounds endlessly exotic but isn’t really. Much was destroyed by a [...]
We are back: Ancelotti hails Chelsea revival December 12, 2010 TOTTENHAM (1) vs CHELSEA (1) CHELSEA manager Carlo Ancelotti warned his Premier League rivals that yesterday’s draw at Spurs signalled the end of the Blues’ blip. Roman Pavlyuchenko’s first-half strike looked likely to condemn the champions to a fourth league defeat in seven games, before substitute Didier Drogba benefited from a goalkeeping howler by Heurelho [...]
Wenger surprised at Arsenal leading a tougher top flight December 12, 2010 MANCHESTER UTD vs ARSENAL ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger leads his side into a match that will have a huge bearing on their title ambitions tonight in the firm belief that winning the Premier League is tougher than ever. The Gunners arrive at Old Trafford top of the table but battle-scarred from four defeats, three of [...]
