The Fed has created golden opportunities October 23, 2012 MONETARY expansion has inadvertently given commodity prices a huge boost – but should traders focus on the spot commodity or gold mining equities? With the creation of QE Infinity – the open-ended quantitative easing programme unveiled last month by the US Federal Reserve – traditional monetary policy is now nothing but a speck on the [...]
Euro-dollar moving averages suggest a strengthening of the single currency October 23, 2012 ACCORDING to patterns of euro-dollar trend dynamics, the currency pair may be ripe for an upside breakout. For the third consecutive week, euro-dollar has pushed further above its 50-week moving average (WMA). Moving averages are used to define price direction by smoothing out price data with a slight lag. The longer the moving average, the [...]
Sterling trend may continue to be a friend October 23, 2012 IT HAS been difficult to accurately gauge the performance of the UK economy recently. The Olympics, Diamond Jubilee, and even the weather, have distorted the picture. In the last month, we have had positive government borrowing figures, excellent retail data, equally impressive employment data and have seen inflation fall to three year lows. However, construction, industrial [...]
Trading in yen risks losing a slice of profits October 23, 2012 THE Japanese yen has taken a smashing lately, falling by 3.5 per cent against the dollar since mid-September. Recent data shows Japan’s exports are down 10.3 per cent annually. While trade with China, its largest trading partner, is down 14.1 per cent on the back of political tensions over the Senkaku islands; trade to Western [...]
Failure to fix market uncertainty is making the retirement crisis worse October 23, 2012 VIRTUALLY every developed nation is suffering from the reluctance of investors and chief executives to invest in new businesses, jobs or ideas. They’ve adopted a wait-and-see attitude because markets are missing the two components essential for confidence: trust and certainty. Investors are angry and cynical. For five years, they have consumed a daily diet of [...]
Surprise collapse in Google’s share price offers a warning for all companies October 23, 2012 THE dramatic crash in Google’s share price and the temporary suspension of trading in its shares made headline news. The event was triggered by a 20 per cent year-on-year fall in profits in the third quarter of this year. As usual, there was no shortage of explanations for why this happened – after the event, [...]
We don’t need the EU to legislate for women on boards October 23, 2012 I N A closed meeting in Strasbourg yesterday, European commissioners heavily criticised a package of reforms proposed by the commissioner for justice Viviane Reding. Among the proposals she put forward, Reding argued for a compulsory 40 per cent quota for female non-executive directors across the EU by 2020, reporting requirements for medium-sized businesses, and fines [...]
Is the introduction of plea bargains in the UK a coherent way of tackling corporate crime? October 23, 2012 YES Barry Vitou US-style deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) – effectively plea bargains – should provide a powerful weapon in the fight against white collar crime. DPAs offer a better way for the authorities to deal with wrongdoing and for businesses to resolve their exposure to prosecution in appropriate circumstances. The present choice for the authorities, [...]
Rapid responses October 23, 2012 Silicon vs London [Re: Why investors should take a stake in high-growth UK tech companies, yesterday] Silicon Valley is a hotbed of innovation primarily because of its culture of failure – it is ok to start things up in your garage, to take risks and to fail completely. The Valley didn’t start as a gleaming [...]
Di Matteo demands Chelsea beat Shakhtar at home after defeat October 23, 2012 SHAKHTAR DONETSK 2 vs CHELSEA 1 CHELSEA manager Roberto Di Matteo believes his side have to win the return fixture at home to Shakhtar Donetsk as a consequence of last night’s convincing defeat in Ukraine. The return of captain John Terry to a side that had on Saturday impressively won 4-2 at Tottenham failed to [...]
