Fed move to lift US stocks and dollar February 21, 2010 ALTHOUGH the Federal Reserve was keen to downplay its surprise move last Thursday, the markets initially reacted strongly to its announcement that it would hike the rate it charges banks for emergency loans. But while the currency market saw the biggest moves – the dollar strengthened to a nine-month high of $1.5345 against the pound [...]
SPREAD BET GURU February 21, 2010 Q.Dear Josh, does Barclays’ stellar results for 2009 mean that RBS and Lloyds will follow suit this week? A.My first thoughts are to be careful as this is not a straightforward trading strategy. While there is always some form of a correlation between companies that are in the same sector, stocks can become very volatile [...]
State-owned banks lag their peers February 21, 2010 BANKS were the star performers in the FTSE 100 last week, after Barclays reported its best ever profit of £11.6bn in 2009, an increase of 92 per cent in just 12 months. This week the focus shifts to RBS and Lloyds Banking Group, who will announce earnings on Thursday and Friday respectively. After the turmoil [...]
THE TIPSTER TIME TO GO DEFENSIVE IN YOUR PORTFOLIO February 21, 2010 VOLATILITY has been rising since the start of this year and all of these extreme moves can make investors dizzy. Now is a good time to switch to a more defensive stance on equities and invest in the likes of supermarkets and energy providers. These companies tend to perform strongly when risk aversion returns to [...]
OTHER LEADING CRUISES FOR ALL TASTES February 21, 2010 Silversea Seabourn’s only serious rival for luxury, it’s possible that Silversea even exceeds Seabourn when it comes to room design and service – the Silver Whisper ship, for example, has more space per passenger than any other ship in the world, while the staff to passenger ratio is an almost excessive 1.3 to 1. Its six [...]
New day, new port: a view of the world from a luxury cruise February 21, 2010 WHEN Oasis, the world’s biggest cruise ship, launched last year in Miami with all the fanfare of a royal spaceship, I recoiled. The idea of a floating carnival/town/funfair/shopping mall/beach resort holding 6,296 passengers, a good portion of whom may well end up sunburnt, drunk, disorderly and seasick, is about as far from my idea of [...]
TRAVEL NOTES February 21, 2010 Explore Tanzania African tour specialist Wild about Africa has added seven new itineraries in Tanzania, ranging from eight to 13 days. They focus on the quintessential quartet of Tanzania’s “northern circuit” – the Serengeti, Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks, and the Ngorongoro Crater. Camping is in comfortable dome tents, while walking safaris ensure you’ll [...]
Where to take the family for a splendid Easter February 21, 2010 Sunny escape in the south of France Les Jardins de Saint Benoit is a beautiful riverside estate in the Languedoc region of the South of France, with vineyards, olive groves and renovated medieval gardens. This Easter break children aged four to 16 can enjoy the daily Kids Club, with activities that get them closer to [...]
OUT OF OFFICE February 21, 2010 HENRY MOORE AT TATE BRITAIN Opening this week, the Tate’s new retrospective revisits the legacy of one of the giants of British art in the twentieth century, and arguably the country’s greatest-ever sculptor. In the age of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin, it’s easy to forget the dramatic experimentation and poetic power of Moore’s strange, [...]
Poulter beats Casey to win Match Play February 21, 2010 IAN POULTER clinched the biggest triumph of his career last night when he beat Paul Casey 4&2 in all-English final of the WGC Match Play in Arizona. Poulter, who becomes the first Englishman to have won any of the four individual World Golf Championship titles since their inception in 1999, scooped a cheque for $1.4m [...]
