Wall St inches higher despite Apple’s plunge January 24, 2013 THE smallest of gains gave the Standard & Poor’s 500 its seventh straight winning day yesterday, but the index failed to hold above the 1,500 line, restrained by Apple’s worst day in more than four years. Apple slid 12.4 per cent to $450.50 a day after it posted revenue that missed Wall Street’s forecast as [...]
BlackRock sees profits surge on equity demand January 17, 2013 FUND titan BlackRock soared to a three year share price high yesterday after posting a 24 per cent increase in profits, led by high demand for its exchange traded funds (ETFs). The New York based money manager, the world’s biggest with $3.8 trillion of assets under management, attracted $47bn of extra cash from investors in [...]
Goldman and JP Morgan help boost Wall St January 16, 2013 THE S&P 500 ended nearly flat yesterday as solid earnings from two major banks and a bounceback in Apple shares offset concerns about a lower forecast for global growth in 2013 (see UK report). Shares of Goldman Sachs hit their highest since May 2011 as earnings nearly tripled on increased revenue from dealmaking and lower [...]
Hedge funds lift debt levels in bid to cash in on equity rally January 14, 2013 HEDGE funds are loading up on record levels of debt to try and make money off the New Year rally in stock markets, according to industry figures leaked yesterday. Data from Morgan Stanley, seen by Bloomberg, shows gross leverage at US hedge funds – which measures money borrowed by funds versus money given to them [...]
Apple stocks take a bite out of US markets January 14, 2013 THE S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower yesterday as worries over demand for Apple products drove down its shares and as investors braced for earnings disappointments. But Dell’s stock jumped 13 per cent to about a five-month high at $12.29, offsetting some of the tech-sector weakness, after Bloomberg reported the number three personal computer maker [...]
AmEx to slash 5,400 jobs as income sinks January 10, 2013 CREDIT card company American Express yesterday announced plans to slash around 5,400 jobs, and take about $594m (£367m) in after-tax charges in the fourth quarter, which will halve its net income for the period. The New York based business said it would employ four to six per cent fewer people by the end of 2013, [...]
Strong earnings boost appetite of US investors January 9, 2013 US stocks rose yesterday, rebounding from two days of losses, as investors turned their focus to the first prominent results of the earnings season. Stocks had retreated at the start of the week from the S&P 500’s highest point in five years, hit last Friday, on worries about possible earnings weakness. Shares of Alcoa were [...]
Fiscal cliff deal sparks a new year rally in US January 2, 2013 US stocks kicked off the new year with their best day in over a year yesterday, sparked by relief over a last-minute deal in Washington to avert the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts that threatened to derail the economy’s growth. In 2013’s first trading session, the S&P 500 achieved its biggest one-day [...]
NYSE sold to upstart ICE in $8bn deal December 20, 2012 THE NEW York Stock Exchange is to end two centuries of independence after its parent company NYSE Euronext was yesterday sold to upstart IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) for $8.2bn (£5bn). The deal hands control of one of the most renowned names in global finance to little-known ICE, an Atlanta-based company best known for its electronic commodities trading platforms. [...]
London’s quality of Liffe at heart of NYSE purchase December 20, 2012 TAKING control of the London-based Liffe derivatives market is the main reason Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) paid $8bn (£4.9bn) for exchange operator NYSE Euronext, analysts declared yesterday. Although the NYSE Euronext group includes the venerable New York Stock Exchange and equity markets across Europe, it is the derivatives arm that offers growth opportunities as new regulations [...]