The Tipster | Safe as housebuilders February 25, 2013 WHILE revenues are likely to be flat, traders expect Barratt Developments to report improvements in its margins tomorrow, which should help to boost profit levels. But the property developer’s shares have surged by nearly 70 per cent over the last year, leading some to declare that most of the good news is already priced in. Capital [...]
View from the City – It’s a bad time to sell off RBS stake February 25, 2013 WHILE you are ruminating over the content of today’s City A.M., earnings results from RBS on Thursday and Lloyds Banking Group on Friday will be approaching the top of the financial agenda. Although the “Black Horse”, was first to admit to wholesale miss-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI), it seems that it will be easier [...]
Don’t sneer at big bank bonuses February 25, 2013 CNBC COMMENT IT’S confession time. I had a major “senior moment” last week when, not for the first time, I completely misunderstood a piece of eminent academic research. The piece in question was about banker pay. Brilliant, I thought, here’s a piece of hard research that confirms that bankers are still making and generating vast [...]
Analyst picks for 26 February 2013 February 25, 2013 DailyFX CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Short Aussie-dollar and sterling-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few days Even as the US budget sequester looms, I remain a dollar bull. If the sequester happens, global risk-aversion is likely, which will support the dollar. With Luigi Bersani [...]
Float through the traffic in the E300 February 25, 2013 Mercedes-Benz’s latest hybrid executive saloon is so smooth it is more magic carpet than automobile Traditionally, delivering high fuel economy hasn’t been a primary focus for large executive cars. But the times they are a-changin’. Car manufacturers know they need to provide cleaner and more efficient vehicles to appease European regulators and discourage buyers from [...]
Rival motors February 25, 2013 NOT CONVINCED BY THE E300? HERE ARE SOME ALTERNATIVES BMW ActiveHybrid 5, £47,095 If you fancy something a little sportier, BMW’s ActiveHybrid 5 combines a 3.0-litre twin turbo six-cylinder petrol engine with an electric drive system and eight-speed automatic gearbox. With a combined power output of 340hp, BMW’s executive hybrid can be driven on electric [...]
Prepare for the London Marathon February 25, 2013 Barry’s Bootcamp trainer Ricardo Vargas gives his top tops for getting through the London Marathon unscathed 1. Make sure you push yourself on the treadmill The best thing to do is a high intensity, varied workout, as opposed to just running at a constant speed. You want to regularly change the incline and alter the [...]
Recharge your batteries with a Polynesia massage at Kensington’s Baglioni spa February 25, 2013 “This massage will actually take you to Polynesia,” says my Baglioni Spa therapist. These are eight words you really want to hear on a cold, grey morning in London. To disappoint literalists, the massage won’t actually take you to Polynesia – that blissful archipelago nestled in the Pacific Ocean – but it will rub you [...]
Osborne faces Commons rating humiliation February 25, 2013 During an urgent question on the government's economic policy George Osborne was asked whether he agreed with himself that the UK downgrade is "humiliating". While he rightly pointed out that markets didn't react to the downgrade, that doesn't absolve him of responsibility for the economic conditions that led to it. Despite having set the AAA [...]
BBA gives green light to Libor handover February 25, 2013 THE British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has approved the handing over of running Libor rates to a new operator, after it was stripped of overseeing the benchmark last year. The City watchdog stripped the banking lobby group from governing the benchmark last September. An independent body will be selected by open tender, run by Sarah [...]
