Key week for Burberry amid China worries October 9, 2011 INVESTORS will be eagerly awaiting first half figures from Burberry this Wednesday, as the luxury fashion house seeks to reassure that its expansion remains on track despite uncertainty in key Asian markets. Amid general market turmoil and fears over a slowdown in the Chinese economy, which accounts for 15 per cent of the company’s retail [...]
… but our writer disagrees. Algos mean no harm October 6, 2011 THE avarice and greed of traders leading themselves and others to ruin. The creation of powerful computer-driven algo systems that nobody understands. Another creation by grasping bankers trying to churn and burn viable publicly listed businesses as fast as they can. Whipping up uncontrollable market volatility. Exacerbating terrifying sounding “flash crashes.” All happening in the [...]
Wall Street gains again on tech talk October 5, 2011 US stocks rallied for a second day yesterday, as investors bid up materials and energy shares on rising commodity prices and poured into beaten-down tech names after days of selling. Stocks continued to recover from a decline that briefly took the S&P 500 into bear-market territory. That turned abruptly on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 [...]
Wall St bounces despite volatility October 4, 2011 THE Standard & Poor’s 500 brushed up against a bear market yesterday, but investors rushed in to buy technology and other beaten-down sectors and the index posted its largest gain in more than a week. The broad US market index has fallen nearly 18 per cent in the past four months, hurt by sluggish economic [...]
Wall Street closes up after rocky day September 29, 2011 US stocks mostly rose in a volatile session yesterday as stronger-than-expected economic data and German approval of a beefed-up Eurozone crisis fund relieved two of the worst fears hanging over the market. But the Nasdaq was knocked lower by a brutal sell-off in US-listed Chinese stocks on news of a probe into accounting practices and [...]
Prophets and loss: why forecasts fail September 26, 2011 “IN 1984, the Economist asked sixteen people to make ten-year forecasts of economic growth rates, exchange rates, oil prices, and other staples of economic prognostication. Four of the test subjects were former finance ministers, four were chairmen of multinational companies, four were economics students at Oxford University, and four were London dustmen. A decade later, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES US TAX AUTHORITIES TARGET BANK DEALS US tax authorities are targeting cross-border finance deals worth billions of dollars between leading US and UK banks as they step up efforts to clamp down on abusive tax avoidance, a joint investigation by the Financial Times and ProPublica has found. Four US banks – BB&T, Bank [...]
Dire day of selling sinks US equities September 22, 2011 US stocks plunged yesterday, extending a selloff to four days, as policymakers’ failure to arrest global economic stagnation sent markets spiraling downward. The heavy volume of last night’s plunge signaled investors are selling in anticipation of more losses. Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, the CBOE Volatility Index, jumped 12 per cent, giving the index its biggest [...]
Blackstone and US producer in Glaxo auction September 19, 2011 US PRIVATE equity house Blackstone has joined forces with a manufacturer to bid for a series of consumer products being sold by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Blackstone and Prestige Brands want to buy nearly 20 brands, such as sleep aid Nytol, nasal spray Beconase and Abtei vitamins, minerals and supplements, which the pharmaceuticals giant has decided are outside [...]
Fourth straight day of wins on Wall St September 16, 2011 INVESTORS pushed US stocks higher for a fourth day yesterday as coordinated central bank action encouraged optimism about dealing with the Eurozone debt crisis and its threat to the global recovery. Major stock indices rose more than one per cent. Shares of financial companies, which have been among the hardest hit by the debt worries, [...]