Global turbulence to rock UK: Trouble in the Eurozone, Fed rate hikes and a Chinese slowdown could hit markets June 8, 2015 Yesterday, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) revised its UK economic growth forecasts to 2.4 per cent and 2.5 per cent for 2015 and 2016 respectively, down from 2.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent. It wasn’t troubles at home that concerned the business organisation. The CBI cited economic instability in Greece, a sluggish Eurozone, [...]
Top 100 firms double in value to $16.2 trillion: Apple heads list as HSBC named UK’s most valuable company June 1, 2015 The world’s biggest 100 firms now have a combined value of more than $16 trillion (£10.7 trillion), almost double their market capitalisation in 2009, a PwC study reveals today. Technology firms have driven the boom in valuations – just 12 firms in the sector have a combined valuation of $2.8 trillion. Six years ago, the [...]
Greek crisis complacency has big risks – CNBC Comment June 1, 2015 Would you believe that 14 weeks have already passed since the Greek bailout extension deal was agreed? That’s about 2,352 hours of twists and turns, reform talks, rumours and misinformation. No wonder most analysts and investors admit to being bored. But is that boredom breeding complacency, and can investors dare to hope that this week [...]
Chinese equities – a steady bull market? Despite risks, stocks will continue to rise in coming months June 1, 2015 Despite a six per cent sell-off on Thursday, the Chinese equity markets made fresh gains yesterday. Shanghai’s CSI 300 index rose 4.86 per cent to 5,076.18, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 4.72 per cent to 4,828.74, following a 136.9 per cent increase in the last 12 months. These gains came despite relatively weak market [...]
China opens up card market to US competition May 31, 2015 A CHINESE rule change will come into force today, allowing foreign payments firms such as Visa and Mastercard to apply for licences to process domestic bank card transactions. Following approval, the firms will be able to clear transactions that until now were monopolised by state-backed China Union Pay. The regulation change follows a 2012 ruling [...]
Stock market in China plunges by six per cent May 28, 2015 STOCKS in China plummeted yesterday, but remain at an elevated level having soared so far this year. The Shanghai composite index lost 6.5 per cent, but the collapse is barely a drop in the ocean compared to the index’s recent climb. Since early February the index has gained over 50 per cent, rising from a [...]
IMF tells China to let currency trade freely May 26, 2015 China’s government is being urged to liberalise more of its economy, and let markets operate more freely in its finance sectors. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday urged the authorities to let its currency, the renminbi, trade freely, and asked the government to target a free-floating exchange rate in the next two to three years. [...]
Bernanke: China faces risks as it aims for reserve status for yuan May 25, 2015 THE FORMER chairman of the Federal Reserve has warned that China needs to have deep and liquid financial markets if it wants to loosen rules on trading in its currency. “For a currency to be internationally traded, what you need most is liquid markets,” Ben Bernanke told an audience in Shanghai yesterday. “A deep market [...]
Goldin and Hanergy bosses under fire as billions wiped off top Hong Kong stocks May 21, 2015 Two of the Hong Kong firms that had an as-yet-unexplained collapse of their share prices had business links, it was revealed last night. Goldin, a conglomorate dealing in horse breeding, wine and finance had HK$16bn (£1.31bn) wiped off its value when shares sunk yesterday. Subsidiaries Goldin Financial closed 43 per cent down and Goldin Properties [...]
HP second quarter earnings: Share price rises in extended trading after a mixed bag of results May 21, 2015 Hewlett Packard (HP) announced disappointing earnings this afternoon, with revenues missing analysts expectations. Earnings came in at $25.5bn, but analysts had expected earnings of $25.64bn and earnings per share of $0.86. On the latter measure, HP beat the predictions by a penny. Shares rose as much as three per cent in extended trading. Why it’s [...]