Worries about Eastern Europe are overblown June 9, 2010 IN HIS office overlooking the river Danube, the new Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban might well be regretting throwing the fiscal state of his country into the limelight and drawing unwanted attention from the markets. In hindsight, comments from his spokesman outlining the gravity of Hungary’s economic situation and stating that a default on its [...]
Nomura hires RBS strategist June 9, 2010 NOMURA, Japan’s largest brokerage, has made its latest high-profile hire by poaching Benito Berber from state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland as an emerging markets forex strategist. Berber is on gardening leave and will start in the coming months, it is understood. He follows in the footsteps of ex-RBS colleagues Steve Ashley and Chris Fleming, who [...]
S&P will fight for trade if US adopts new regime June 9, 2010 STANDARD & Poor’s suggested yesterday his rating agency would not lose business if the US creates a board to match rating agencies with debt issuers. President Deven Sharma said: “We will have to go to investors and convince them that, ‘Look, you still want a rating from us.’ We’ll have to work harder to get [...]
Barrick Gold joins the FTSE 100 June 9, 2010 THE updated FTSE 100 list was announced last night, with African firm Barrick Gold and Indian oil and gas giant Essar Energy both muscling into the big time. The London Stock Exchange and embattled holiday group Thomas Cook both took the plunge into the FTSE 250. The additions to the list makes the FTSE 100 [...]
Benefit from the gold rush through miners June 9, 2010 AS THE Eurozone lurches from crisis to crisis, the price of gold hit an all-time high this week at $1,250 an ounce. With many analysts predicting a further surge to $1,300 or $1,400, investors are flooding into the gold market and physical gold-backed ETFs. In the rush, many have overlooked what could be an even [...]
CITY A.M. | SHADOW MPC June 9, 2010 ALLISTER HEATH | CITY A.M. “The money supply is growing at an accelerated rate and the economy is expanding at a decent, but still sluggish, pace. With inflation too high, it is time for a symbolic hike in rates, whatever happens at the Budget.” SIMON WARD | HENDERSON “Raise by 0.25 per cent. Negative real [...]
RUSSIA BECOMES LARGEST OIL PRODUCER June 9, 2010 RUSSIA overtook Saudi Arabia to become the world’s leading oil producer in 2009, while global oil consumption fell the most since 1982, BP has said. According to the oil giant’s latest Statistical Review of World Energy, Russia increased oil production by 1.5 per cent in 2009, claiming a 12.9 per cent market share.
Asos aims for £1bn as web sales thrive June 9, 2010 ONLINE fashion retailer Asos plans to invest £40m in its capacity after reporting a 44 per cent annual profit rise yesterday. The company is aiming to grow into a £1bn business within the next five years. It has signed a lease on a 1.2m sq ft warehouse in Barnsley as part of the strategy. Asos [...]
THE TIPSTER June 9, 2010 THE US dollar has performed strongly against the Swiss franc during the past month as investors worried about the impact of the European debt crisis on Swiss trade. Now US dollar-Swiss franc is approaching a five-year downtrend resistance level at SFr1.1750. The question now is whether the dollar has gone far enough against the franc. [...]
Zara owner sees profits surge after global revenues rise June 9, 2010 ZARA owner Inditex yesterday posted a 14 per cent rise in sales for the three months to the end of April. Europe’s biggest clothing retailer saw net profits jump 63 per cent to £248.4m Zara, which also owns Bershka, has opened 98 outlets in the period. Inditex bounced back after almost two years of recession [...]
