Gold is through the roof and silver set to follow July 18, 2011 GOLD is stealing all the headlines, having broken $1,600. This is on the back of justifiable fears of a grim economic outlook, particularly in the highly indebted Eurozone countries and US. But silver is on the up too and with the gold/silver ratio (graph right) suggesting that the latter is lagging behind the former, silver [...]
THE PRECIOUS METALS SHINE IN POLICY FOG July 18, 2011 LAST week was a difficult one for equity investors, thanks to a lack of clarity from policymakers and central bankers. On Tuesday, the minutes of the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting stated that it may “be appropriate to provide additional monetary policy accommodation” if economic growth remained too slow to reduce unemployment. This led [...]
Yates resigns over phone hacking scandal July 18, 2011 Assistant Commissioner of the Met police John Yates has resigned over the phone hacking scandal. The announcement came after his boss Sir Paul Stephenson stepped down.
FTSE dragged down by Eurozone and US debt worries July 18, 2011 Banking shares led the FTSE 100 down this morning as the eurozone crisis drained confidence from investors while fears over the US credit rating also cast a shadow. The Greek debt crisis deepened as Eurozone leaders continued to thrash out options to save the country’s economy. Officials proposed a range of schemes for Europe’s bailout [...]
News Corp shares hit two-year low July 18, 2011 News Corp’s Australian shares sank to a two-year low on Monday as the UK phone hacking scandal fallout worsened, raising concerns that a $2bn bid for an Australian pay-tv firm involving News Corp could be derailed by political intervention. Investors sent News Corp shares down as much as seven per cent in heavy volume after [...]
Man Group covers Lehman exposure July 18, 2011 Hedge fund firm Man Group said it will take on exposure to the estates of defunct US investment bank Lehman Brothers from funds managed by its subsidiary GLG Partners for a total cash consideration of $355m (£220m). Under terms of the deal, Europe’s largest hedge fund manager will benefit or bear the risk of any [...]
Our free press must not be censored July 18, 2011 ALL too predictably, some politicians and powerful individuals with an interest in a servile media are using the hacking crisis to cripple freedom of speech, to advance their own ideological agendas and to damage commercial journalism. First, let me reiterate that this newspaper, which is independent and not part of any media group, would never [...]
Moody’s calls for US to scrap debt ceiling to shore up bonds July 18, 2011 Ratings agency Moody’s has suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders. The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates “periodic uncertainty” over the government’s ability to meet its obligations, Moody’s said in a [...]
Philips records £1.1bn loss July 18, 2011 Philips has recorded 1.3bn euros (£1.13bn) quarterly net loss, and has said it will cut costs by 500m euros. It said the slower-than-expected economic recovery had taken its toll on the company. A year ago it made a net profit of 262m euros. Writedowns at its healthcare and lighting divisions came to 1.4bn euros. It [...]
Glencore buys Peru copper assets July 18, 2011 Commodities giant Glencore is buying a 70 per cent stake in copper businesses in Peru. Marcobre, which owns the Marcona Copper property and the Mina Justa exploration and development project, had a price tag of $475m (£295m). The the acquisition is expected to be completed in October. “Mina Justa would ideally complement Glencore’s existing polymetallic [...]
