US housing starts plunge despite upbeat housebuilder confidence July 17, 2013 US housing starts have dropped like a rock despite expectations of improvement in June. Housing starts fell from 0.928m (revised from 0.914m) to 0.836m despite forecasts of an increase to 0.960m. This conflicts somewhat with housebuilder confidence data seen yesterday, the NAHB Housing Market index hit a January 2006 high, with its index of prospective [...]
Bernanke says Fed may taper QE in 2013 but monetary policy is not on a preset course July 17, 2013 Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said in prepared testimony that the Fed may taper quantitative easing (QE) – reducing the rate of expansion of the Fed's balance sheet – in 2013, and halt QE altogether around mid-2014. Crucially, Bernanke said that monetary policy is not on a "preset course": I emphasize that, because our [...]
Eurozone construction sees big downwards revisions and enters contraction in May July 17, 2013 Construction output in the euro area has fallen by 0.3 per cent in May, from a 1.0 per cent rise last month (revised down from 2.0 per cent). In the year to May, Eurozone construction has fallen by 5.1 per cent. The euro saw little reaction to the bad news.
Pounds jump up a cent against the dollar as Carney unites the Bank of England against further QE July 17, 2013 None of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) wanted more quantitative easing at the last meeting, the Bank of England's minutes reveal. Of the nine MPC members zero voted for increased asset purchases. The pound has spiked up against the dollar on the news. Gilt yields have spiked up following the MPC minutes this morning pic.twitter.com/vtDWn2n1Pj [...]
Waiting for Bernanke: Analyst expectations July 17, 2013 Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist, ETX Capital: Fed chairman Bernanke’s testimony to US Congress turning out to be the key-risk event over the next two session, prompting both the bulls and bears to avoid building too much risk exposure. Stocks on Wall Street fell on Tuesday and Asian markets were mixed in overnight trade giving European [...]
Bernanke has considered negative interest rates February 27, 2013 During questioning at the House Financial Services Committee today, Democrat representative Gregory Meeks asked Fed chairman Ben Bernanke if he had considered zero or negative interest rates. Bernanke said that nominal negative interest rates as a policy was on the table and is an idea that is "discussed periodically" but that the stimulatory effects of [...]
Bernanke soothes US markets February 27, 2013 In the second day of testimonies, Fed chairman Bernanke's remarks are considered less important. However, they do appear to have had some impact on markets as the VIX (a measure of volatility in US markets) has moved downwards during this session before the House Committee. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) Former candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, [...]
Yahoo’s end to working from home may backfire February 27, 2013 Over at Slate, Matthew Yglesias suggests that Yahoo president Marissa Mayer may not be against working from home per se, but is attempting to cleanly lay off low productivity workers: You think you have some reason to believe that the full-time workers from home on the Yahoo staff are a disproportionately low-productivity cohort. Announcing this [...]
Standard Chartered looks to buy wealth management unit February 27, 2013 Standard Chartered is rumoured to be in talks to buy Morgan Stanley's Indian private wealth management unit according to Reuters sources. The unit manages approximately $1 billion including loans. It was not immediately clear what the price tag might be, but one of the sources said wealth management units in India get bids at 1.5 percent to [...]
WPP-owned Ogilvy & Mather acquires majority stake in Media February 27, 2013 Ogilvy & Mather, the global marketing communications group, has confirmed that it has acquired a majority stake in Strike Media Proprietary Limited in South Africa. Strike is a mobile marketing and technology agency delivering customised mobile strategy, campaigns,design and development services to clients across the financial, retail, consumer and telecommunications sectors. It posted revenues of [...]
