FTSE100 ends its best ever quarter with profit taking September 30, 2009 THE top share index closed lower yesterday with energy stocks, banks and miners among the biggest laggards on the last session of a record quarter. The FTSE 100 closed down 25.82 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,133.90 as investors locked in profits after the index put in its best quarterly performance since it was [...]
Gloomy data drags Wall Street down September 30, 2009 US stocks fell yesterday after a key index of business activity in the American Midwest region showed a surprising contraction, but buying of technology bellwethers like Cisco Systems at the end of a strong quarter limited losses. The top drags on the session were some of the quarter’s best performers including industrials, materials and banks. [...]
Clever traders use call warrants to profit from those M&A rumours September 30, 2009 WITH the exception of shot gun weddings in the banking sector, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity practically died a death during the financial crisis. But recently there has been a slew of rumoured buyout offers such as Kraft’s bid for UK confectionary giant Cadbury. Indeed, Credit Suisse analyst Richard Kersley believes that the Kraft bid [...]
USE COVERED WARRANTS AS A HEDGE September 30, 2009 WITH investors continuing to fear that the rally in stock markets could be over-extended and that a dip could be on the cards, covered warrant can be used as an efficient hedge tool of existing shares positions. Depending on what underlying they have and what precisely they fear might happen in the coming weeks and [...]
Create loyalty through trust to retain key staff September 30, 2009 A REPORT by financial services and banking recruitment firm Robert Half released last week which polled 3,000 workers found that 37 per cent are planning to leave their jobs as soon as the economy is more stable, and half would leave within six months of the recession being officially declared over. While people normally move [...]
Violence, misogyny and computer hacking in a dark Swedish thriller September 30, 2009 THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NESTBY STIEG LARSSONQuercus, £18.99****THE THIRD in the Millennium trilogy, this is perhaps the only one of best-selling Swedish thriller writer Stieg Larsson’s books that cannot be fully enjoyed on its own. The fascinating heroine and the plot – it opens with Lisbeth Salander being rushed into hospital with bullets [...]
Shuck and awe September 30, 2009 ROTUNDA90 York Way, N1 9AG, tel: 020 7014 2840As part of London’s Oyster Festival, there will be oyster masterclasses through October, plus a menu that includes oyster tempura and onuga caviar; oyster and scallop ravioli and Guinness and oyster pie, alongside a good range of natives. BENTLEY’S11-15 Swallow St, W1B 4DGT, tel: 020 7734 4756Go [...]
THE LONG LAUNCH… September 30, 2009 JEFF GALVINWE FOLLOW THE GALVIN BROTHERS AS THEY COUNT DOWN TO THE OPENING OF THEIR NEW CITY RESTAURANT ONE of the best things about opening this restaurant is its history. Last week I bumped into two very nice ladies who were admiring the site and reminiscing about the days when it was the girls’ school [...]
THE FTSE IS BACK September 30, 2009 THE FTSE 100 has recorded its highest ever quarterly rise over the past three months, adding over a fifth of its value on hopes that the economic recovery is firmly underway. The index of Britain’s largest firms opened the third quarter at 4,249 points and climbed 21 per cent to close at 5,134 by the [...]
TOP FIVE BANKS SIGN UP TO BONUS ACCORD September 30, 2009 THE UK’s “big five” banks have committed to rules on pay agreed at the recent G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the Treasury announced yesterday. State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, issued a joint statement saying that they would “work with the FSA (Financial Services Authority) [...]
