Iron condors help your profits soar August 19, 2009 CONDORS, tarantulas, butterflies. The world of options trading can sound more like the sort of thing that would attract David Attenborough than George Soros. Of all the animal-based tactics, one that is particularly popular in the current range-bound markets is the iron condor, which is a market neutral trade with limited risk. If you believe [...]
RELOADING ON RISK DURING THE AUTUMN August 19, 2009 BRIAN DOLANCHIEF CURRENCY STRATEGIST, FOREX.COM OVER the course of this summer my colleague Jane Foley and I have been consistently cautious on the extraordinary rebound in risk appetite and the accompanying rally in virtually every risky asset class (stocks, commodities and carry trades in forex). We argued that markets were overly optimistic about the prospects [...]
CENTRAL BANK POLICIES ARE DIVERGING August 19, 2009 GEORGE TCHETVERTAKOVHEAD OF MARKET RESEARCH, ALPARI UK LOOKING at macroeconomic events over the past few weeks, it is becoming increasingly clear that central banks around the world are considering different monetary policy frameworks going forward. Over the past 18 months, many central banks were forced to follow similar policies of cutting interest rates as quickly [...]
Picking the right moment is the key to forex trading August 19, 2009 SINCE Monday we have learnt that Japan exited recession in the second quarter, that German investors are more confident in August than they were last month, that UK inflation still stands at 1.8 per cent, and that three members of the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee considered extending quantitative easing in this country to £200bn. Today [...]
Gold still strong, but don’t expect any record highs August 19, 2009 YOU must have seen the adverts on the television. Since the recession started to bite, smiley men and women have appeared on our screens telling us that we ought to send in any spare gold in an envelope, and we will receive a lovely fat cheque in the post. While the extra cash will no [...]
Tightening spreads and QE make corporate bonds more attractive August 19, 2009 CORPORATE bond issuance so far this year smashed through the $1 trillion mark, the first time that this amount has been raised by non-financial corporates in a single year, figures from data provider Dealogic showed earlier this week. And while the European corporate bond market has typically been less developed than the American market, European [...]
Rok stuck in a hard place August 18, 2009 Shares in self-styled “local” builder Rok slumped yesterday after the company posted a 47 per cent drop in first-half pre-tax profits to £6m. Evolution analyst Philip Sparks – who cut his rating on the stock to “Add” from “Buy” – said he had hoped the results would herald the beginning of a re-rating for Rok. [...]
TfL seeks to smooth out traffic August 18, 2009 Transport for London (TfL) is set to smooth traffic flow by identifying traffic hotspots, it said yesterday. Intelligent traffic cameras that detect jams as they build up are set to revolutionise the way TfL tackles congestion in the Capital. Twenty cameras fitted with special image recognition technology have been put at traffic hot spots across London.
NAB snaps up Challenger unit August 18, 2009 National Australia Bank, the top lender in Australia, said yesterday it has agreed to buy Challenger Financial Services’ mortgage unit for A$385m (£192m) to up its market share. NAB said the deal would give it an additional A$4bn worth of residential mortgages. The acquisition follows its purchase of Aviva’s Australian businesses in June for A$825m, [...]
Veteran telecoms boss quits board of SpinVox August 18, 2009 TROUBLED voice-to-text messaging firm SpinVox has parted ways with director Patricia Russo, the former boss of telecoms equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent, just two months after her appointment to the board. Russo, whose extensive experience in the sector would have proved invaluable to SpinVox, had been advising the firm on its strategy since the beginning of the [...]
