Oil and mining shares weigh down on FTSE as third quarter rally fades July 9, 2012 COMMODITY stocks led Britain’s top share index lower yesterday as equities’ bright start to the third-quarter continued to fade against a backdrop of waning global growth and as investors geared themselves up for the earnings season. London’s blue chip index closed down 35.30 points, or 0.6 per cent at 5,627.33 and is now 1.8 per [...]
RATE CUTS AREN’T ENOUGH TO SOLVE ECONOMIC GLOOM July 9, 2012 FX360 LAST Thursday brought rate cuts from the European Central Bank (ECB), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and the Danish and Kenyan central banks. On top of this, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised its asset purchase facility by a further £50bn. Whether coordinated or not, these actions represented substantial monetary [...]
China’s thirst is beginning to quell July 9, 2012 CHINESE domestic demand isn’t keeping pace with its industrial production. According to figures released at the weekend, Chinese June consumer price index-based inflation figures (CPI) fell to 2.2 per cent year on year, down from 3 per cent in May. Chinese macro statistics are notoriously unreliable, with suspicions that the communist government smoothes figures by [...]
BRIC troubles scare markets July 8, 2012 INVESTORS have been pulling hundreds of millions of dollars out of stock funds that invest mainly in companies associated with the big four emerging market nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China. But it’s China that is causing most of the worry for investors, amid signs that the world’s second-largest economy is slowing more sharply [...]
WALL ST THE WEEK AHEAD July 8, 2012 WALL Street has been running in circles for the past two months, and the pattern may continue despite the upcoming start of the earnings season. Quarterly report cards from blue-chips Alcoa and JPMorgan this week could fade into the background as traders jockey for position before key data from China and more central bank headlines. [...]
Doing the UK supermarket sweep July 2, 2012 THE jubilant spending during the Queen’s diamond jubilee may have given the high streets a boost, and inflation is being slowly reined in, but UK supermarkets are still facing a difficult year ahead. According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee boosted retail sales in June, but shop sales were down [...]
Kada Technology unveils listing on Aim as China looks to London July 1, 2012 KADA Technology is this morning due to announce its intention to float on London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim), making it the second Chinese company in a week to unveil a UK listing. The eight-year-old business, which provides components and devices for consumer electronics and the IT industry, is heading for a market capitalisation of £100m. [...]
The City has much to gain from China’s development as a financial centre July 1, 2012 THE relationship between the UK and China came into sharp focus over the past week, as Hong Kong celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty. In this time, China’s economic transformation – underlined by its ascent to become the world’s second largest economy – has been nothing short of miraculous. That much [...]
Libor: the vital number for every banker June 27, 2012 Q What is Libor? A The London interbank offered rate (Libor) is set daily for 10 major currencies and for 15 borrowing periods, ranging from overnight loans to 12 months. It is set by the British Bankers’ Association, after speaking to 16 banks and studying their data on the cost and price of lending to [...]
Slow growth to haunt Eurozone for next 2 years June 27, 2012 THE EUROZONE is set for years of stagnation and slow growth, according to Ernst & Young research published this morning. Even the best case scenario is “mild recession in 2012, depicted by the Eurozone shrinking 0.6 per cent, with a weak recovery of 0.4 per cent in 2013,” according to the latest forecast from the [...]