What you need to know before the US open – 12/02 February 12, 2014 Dovish comments from Janet Yellen and a 10.6 per cent increase in Chinese exports in January has buoyed European bourses, and will likely do the same to US counterparts. Over on this side of the pond, Mark Carney had a stab at wriggling out of employment-based guidance – something Yellen did a better job at [...]
What you need to know before the open – 12/02 February 12, 2014 Janet Yellen’s dovish comments yesterday left markets upbeat. Today, European markets await the Bank of England’s inflation report. ETX Capital #MorningCall FTSE +16, DAX +40, CAC +13, IBEX +52, SP +1, DOW -8 — ETX Capital (@ETXCapital) February 12, 2014 The crucial question is whether governor Mark Carney quietly does away with the [...]
China scuppers hopes for more Hollywood films in 2014 February 11, 2014 China has quashed hopes that it’d up access for US films this year, as state news agency Xinhua reports the country will maintain its exacting quota for the number of Hollywood films it imports. Last week, the Hollywood Reporter cited a source claiming China’s film bureau was chewing over increasing its yearly quota from 34 [...]
UBS suspends two bankers in hiring probe… February 10, 2014 SWISS bank UBS has put two bankers on leave as part of an internal investigation into the hiring of a close relative connected to a potential Chinese corporate client. The move comes after US federal officials launched a separate probe into employment practices at JP Morgan Chase, reviewing the circumstances behind the US bank’s hiring [...]
Globalisation lay behind the Eurozone crisis – but it has also rescued the euro February 10, 2014 THE ARCHITECTS of the European single currency apparently paid little heed to globalisation or the rise of China. The Delors Report in 1989, which set up economic and monetary union in Europe, didn’t mention either of them. Nor did the first official European proposal for monetary union, the Werner Plan in 1970. In retrospect this [...]
Diversity is great – but quotas for corporates are not the right answer February 10, 2014 THERE are only ten individuals from ethnic minority groups among the 289 top executives at FTSE 100 listed companies, a study by Green Park Diversity Analytics has found. Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, is accordingly threatening that Labour would introduce quotas to get more minority directors on boards. Given the campaign for more women [...]
Asian markets rise but Japanese confidence hits 14-month low February 10, 2014 Asian markets have so far made modest gains after Wall Street kept its cool in the wake of a poorer-than-expected jobs report. However, investors remained cautious owing to significant event risk in the near future. Confidence amongst Japanese households also fell for a second successive month in January, according to figures released by the Cabinet [...]
London Report: Vodafone helps FTSE eat further into 2014 losses February 6, 2014 BRITAIN’s top equity index rose for a second straight day yesterday, led by strong gains from heavyweight telecoms group which helped the market recover its poise after a recent five-day losing streak. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index, which had fallen for five straight days during the past two weeks, closed up 100.39 points, or 1.6 [...]
Glaxo insists its pipeline will be key to profit lift February 5, 2014 UK PHARMA giant GlaxoSmithKline brushed off worries over the Chinese bribery scandal yesterday, announcing sales growth for the end of last year and a bullish forecast for 2014. Revenues should climb by two per cent this year, Glaxo expects, driving earnings per share growth of between four and eight per cent. The company, Britain’s largest [...]
Bottom Line: Upbeat Witty sets his company a high bar February 5, 2014 FORGET the Chinese whispers surrounding GlaxoSmithKline’s problems in the Far East – chief executive Sir Andrew Witty is shouting from the rooftops. His bullish message yesterday could not have been clearer – Glaxo’s pipeline is thick and healthy; threats from generic competition are overstated anyway; the firm is in pole position to benefit from emerging [...]