Black Caps end England’s purple patch September 29, 2009 ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss shrugged off his side’s emphatic defeat to New Zealand, insisting it would have no bearing on their Champions Trophy chances. The Black Caps’ four-wicket victory in Johannesburg ensured they reached the semi-finals by winning Group B and consigned England to their first loss of the tournament. Already assured of a last-four [...]
RAPPER WARREN G SWAGGERS HIS WAY OUT OF THE ECONOMIC MESS September 28, 2009 OH, THE joy of listening to celebrities wax lyrical about how they’ve attuned their jet-set lifestyle to the rigours of the global recession. This week, it’s rap superstar Warren G, rapper on the 1994 track “Regulate”, who has given a no-holds-barred interview to Vanity Fair magazine about how he’s managed to emerge unscathed from the [...]
Profit-taking sends US indices lower August 10, 2009 US STOCKS fell yesterday as investors booked profits following a four-week rally that took the broad S&P 500 index to a 10-month high on Friday. The drop comes ahead of an abundance of economic data due this week, including the Federal Reserve’s statement on interest rates and the economy, as well as government figures for [...]
SANTANDER CHIEF BREAKING CITY HEARTS WITH HIS EXOTIC CHARM August 3, 2009 WHILE all the big British bank bosses are pitted against each other this week in terms of first-half profits, Spanish bank Santander’s UK boss António Horta-Osório has been enjoying the glory of a rather more frivolous accolade. Horta-Osório became chief executive of Abbey in August 2006, after long stints at the helm of the bank’s [...]
Banks gear up to report on the first half of a tough year August 2, 2009 The market’s attention is likely to be dominated this week by the banks, which will be reporting their first-half results during the five days. But there will be plenty more for investors to sink their teeth into, with insurers, bookmakers and industrials all on the radar too. Barclays and HSBC kick the week off this [...]
NO SIGN OF A TRUCE IN BATTLE OF BROKERS July 21, 2009 THE long-standing tustle between inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon and BGC Partners looks set to rumble on well into the autumn. Tullett is currently leading a High Court battle to stop its rival pinching any more of its staff. The pair have been at loggerheads since last year, when former Tullett chief operating officer Tony Verrier [...]
PWC BOYS SWAP THEIR DESKS FOR A DASHBOARD AND HIT THE STANS July 19, 2009 AS YOU reluctantly get your engine running on this Monday morning, spare a though for Tom Henry and Simon Todd of Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ London Assurance team who are in the early stages of a long and gruelling 10,000km drive from London to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Because yesterday the PwC team swapped their desks for the dashboard [...]
Japan offers the contrarian trader a wealth of opportunity July 13, 2009 GIVEN how badly export-oriented Japan has suffered from the financial crisis and the subsequent drop off in global demand, you might think that investing in Japanese equities would be one of the least successful trading strategies around right now. But in fact, a number of analysts have started turning bullish on the Japanese stock index [...]
It’s time to start re-thinking your attitude to trading the oil market July 12, 2009 WHAT a difference a year makes. With crude oil sinking below $60 a barrel on Friday for the first time since mid-May, it seems incredible that it was only 12 months ago that oil hit a record high of $147 a barrel, fuelling speculation among industry players that it could reach $250. Oil prices had [...]
Hot weather to prove thirsty work and give pubs a boost July 12, 2009 The City has good reason to focus on the pub this week, with numbers from JD Wetherspoon, Enterprise Inns and Mitchells & Butlers all likely to be high on the agenda. The recent hot weather should have provided some welcome business for the hard-hit pubcos. But investors will also look for firms to further defend [...]