Pearson rises as education arm thrives July 27, 2009 PEARSON helped the FTSE 100 book gains for the eleventh day in a row yesterday, after the owner of Penguin Books and The Financial Times said it would match last year’s profits. The world’s biggest publisher of text books said that half year pre-tax profits at the firm, which makes the majority of earnings in [...]
Upturn for corporate credit July 27, 2009 BRITISH corporate credit conditions improved in the second quarter of the year, partly as a result of asset purchases by the Bank of England (BoE), the central bank said yesterday. Market contacts reported improved liquidity and price transparency for corporate bonds, and short-dated commercial paper issuance declined because firms were able to find longer-term finance, [...]
CHINA LOOKS OVER-COOKED RIGHT NOW July 27, 2009 DAVID MORRISONSENIOR DERIVATIVES TRADER, GFT YESTERDAY saw the result of the first Chinese initial public offering (IPO) in over a year since Chinese regulators suspended IPOs in September 2008 after worries that too many companies were anxious to tap investors for funds. And what a success the debut was. On the first day of trading [...]
Canny traders should look to buy crude oil on the correction July 27, 2009 CRUDE’S inexorable rise over the past few weeks in line with rallying equity markets pushed September Brent through the $70 a barrel mark in intraday trading yesterday, touching a session high of $71.28. Signs of an improving world economy and resilient Chinese GDP growth as well as relatively upbeat second quarter earnings in the US [...]
Strong home sales cheer US investors July 27, 2009 US stocks rose slightly yesterday in a late rally as investors rotated into financial shares, which had lagged in the recent two-week run-up. Upbeat data on new home sales underpinned financial stocks, the session’s strongest sector, and prompted investors to snap up the shares of several regional banks, which had been among the worst hit [...]
UK stocks keep on rallying buoyed by energy climbers July 27, 2009 BUOYANT energy stocks and miners helped Britain’s top share index rise for a record-equalling 11th straight session, though gains were limited by falls on Wall Street after corporate earnings disappointed. The FTSE 100 was up 9.52 points, or 0.2 per cent at 4,586.13, hitting its highest closing level since 5 January. The index has risen [...]
Easing inflation worries improve German consumer confidence July 27, 2009 GERMAN consumer confidence rose to its highest level in more than a year as easing inflation encouraged shoppers, according to data from research group GfK yesterday. The GfK consumer sentiment indicator, rose to 3.5 going into August from an upwardly revised reading of 3.0 for July. “Inflation is fading and people have more money in [...]
US new home sales rocket July 27, 2009 SALES of new homes in the US surged to a seven-month high in June, while the inventory of homes for sale fell to its lowest level in more than 11 years, official data showed yesterday, boosting hopes that the US housing market may finally be starting to stabilise. Government figures indicated an 11 per cent [...]
America joins hedgie fight as UK looks for Swedish support July 27, 2009 THE US yesterday waded into the row over the European Commission’s (EC) plans to strictly regulate hedge funds that do business in the region Officials from the US authorities are quietly lobbying finance ministers in Europe in a bid to overturn a draft law that would impose a burdensome disclosure regime and leverage limits on [...]
SPOTIFY JOINS THE BIG APPLE July 27, 2009 Spotify, the music streaming website, yesterday said it will launch an application for Apple’s iPhone. Premium subscribers to Spotify will be able to search for new music and store over 3,000 songs, even when the device doesn’t have a signal, putting it in direct competition with Apple’s own music store, iTunes.
