French holiday faces disruption October 24, 2010 A strike at French oil refineries over pension reform disrupted school holidays and sporting events over the weekend, with a quarter of petrol stations short of fuel and popular resorts likely to be particularly hard hit. Raymond Soubie, a senior adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, told Europe 1 radio that the regions of Brittany, Loire-Atlantic [...]
Meet the CEO of the most important City firm you have never heard of October 24, 2010 As he saunters into his office in the City, Tim Howell, the chief executive of European settlement house Euroclear, looks cool and collected. He certainly doesn’t look like a man caught in the most classic of all business squeezes – with clients wanting him to improve his services while being adamant they should pay less [...]
No cure for cancer and no jetpacks: the twenty-first century is a bust October 24, 2010 BUSINESS FEATURES EDITOR PULLING a dollar from his wallet, Peter Thiel, the 43-year old co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook, flaps it to make his point: “Giving people freedom with money is really something deep and fundamental. Government may still have a monopoly on printing these notes, but so long as you [...]
WHY BERNANKE IS BEING DUBBED THE NEW RUDOLF VON HAVENSTEIN October 24, 2010 IT’S been a particularly rough week for Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke when it comes to comparisons. First, he had to endure a hapless US chief investment officer drawing obscure parallels between the Fed warning on the beginning of a global currency war and Hitler warning of the start of World War II (no, The [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK October 24, 2010 MONEY was clearly no object for this couple, dining at exclusive Chelsea Malaysian restaurant Awana last week. The pair tantalised their tastebuds with what seemed like every tapas-style dish on the menu, requesting additional plates when a few friends stopped by to say hello. Our diners munched through prawn, beef and chicken satay, duck, seabass [...]
Stocks set to edge higher after G20 finance pact October 24, 2010 The opening call this morning is for stock markets to trade higher following news at the weekend of an agreement being reached between the G20 finance ministers at their meeting in Seoul, to refrain from the “competitive devaluation” of their currencies. GFT is quoting the FTSE 100 index to open up 20 points from Friday’s [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD October 24, 2010 US stocks could see big swings to the downside this week on any remotely “bad” news since volatility indexes are at levels considered too low. Investors also will face a blizzard of earnings, which many analysts believe will continue to support the rally that began early this month. But any disappointments in either earnings or [...]
Don’t let a long sugar trade leave you with sweet nothing October 24, 2010 SUGAR prices have shot through the roof in the last week, with sugar number 11 – the main benchmark for raw sugar prices – rallying comfortably over 28 cents per pound, double its price in late 2008. Commodity traders might be licking their chops at the thought of a sharp correction – or even a [...]
Reduced real income will hit retail October 24, 2010 RETAIL sales fell in September for the second month in a row. Real incomes are suffering and consumer confidence is weak. Some are questioning whether Apple’s disappointing iPad sales figures last week are a sign of things to come. So should spread betters take the hint and shun the sector? Demand certainly looks like it [...]
THE TIPSTER October 24, 2010 FOR the last month and a half the euro has strengthened against the dollar, topping out at $1.4156. It might now be due to have a retracement before mounting another charge higher. WorldSpreads offer a zero spread for platinum holders on euro-dollar. The dollar has been dropping against the yen over the past few weeks. [...]
