WHISTLER, CANADA October 25, 2009 In terms of sheer intensity and choice of skiing, Whistler Blackcomb rules north America and quite possibly the world. About 100km north of Vancouver, in British Columbia, the two valleys add up to 8,171 acres, with Whistler set to host most of the snow sports of the 2010 Winter Olympics. With elevations of 2,182 metres [...]
LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA October 25, 2009 Where rich Californians go to play, the Sierra Nevada range surrounding the crystal clear Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada is arguably the most beautiful ski area in the US. The lake itself is 12 miles wide, 22 miles long and 1,645 feet at its deepest. Surrounding it are numerous ski resorts, [...]
VAIL, COLORADO October 25, 2009 After Whistler and Blackcomb near Vancouver, Vail is the biggest ski resort in north America – seven miles wide, with 5,289 acres of “freeride” terrain. It’s been voted best resort in the US 14 times in the last 17 years for its combination of space, snow quality, diversity of trails and state-of-the-art lifts and gondolas. [...]
ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND October 25, 2009 St Moritz may be the grand old man of the European skiing scene, but it remains the most glamorous destination in the Alps, crowded with luxury boutiques, Michelin-starred restaurants and the film stars and royals flitting between them. It’s a good place to come if anyone in your family doesn’t ski, since there are numerous [...]
Ski season classics October 25, 2009 IT’S a favourite debate among snow nuts – which continent lays claim to the best skiing? When you’ve got the multi-valley likes of Val D’Isere and Verbier up against Rocky Mountain resorts such as Aspen, Steamboat and Vail; Whistler inCanada, Snowbird in Utah and Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada range, it comes down to [...]
THE TIPSTER WATCH OUT FOR ENERGY FIRMS’ EARNINGS October 25, 2009 PROFIT taking has been the order of the day in energy stocks and with crude oil prices looking toppy at the $80 a barrel mark, the upward trend for some oil and gas equities may be over. Oil giant BP reports its third quarter results numbers on Tuesday and the stock has so far struggled [...]
CHINA’S YUAN POLICY COMES UNDER FIRE October 25, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMBY ALMOST everybody else’s standards, an annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent in the third quarter would be an opportunity to break open the champagne and put on the party hats. But expectations for Chinese expansion had been higher and this “disappointing” figure was enough to see investors lose, at least [...]
Play the Bank’s QE decision with a punt on gilts October 25, 2009 THIS year we have witnessed the Bank of England take the unprecedented step of buying billions of pounds worth of assets – mostly government bonds – in order to loosen monetary policy further than can be achieved through interest rate cuts alone. It goes without saying that this policy of quantitative easing (QE) has had [...]
Supply trouble to keep cocoa futures on an upward trend October 25, 2009 WITH oil and gold constantly hitting the headlines, it’s all too easy for spread betters to take the (relatively) easy route and stick to trading the big commodity markets. But given how strongly some of the so-called soft commodities such as cocoa and sugar have performed over recent months, it is clear that extending your [...]
USGDP will be the major trader focus October 25, 2009 THIRD quarter earnings season is well and truly under way, and this week we are faced with a barrage of results from both sides of the pond. In the UK we have BP reporting tomorrow, BG Group and GlaxoSmithkline on Wednesday and AstraZeneca and Royal Dutch Shell out on Thursday. ExxonMobil, Procter and Gamble and [...]
