A CHANGE OF FORTUNES FOR RISK ASSETS December 5, 2011 WHAT a turnaround last week. We saw an extraordinary rally in equity markets which saw them recoup the losses from the sell-off that had persisted through much of November. Personally, I believed that the major stock indices were on the point of a major break to the downside which would only be averted by a [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD December 4, 2011 COMPANY NEWS ● TUI Travel announces its preliminary results for the year today. The company is an international leisure travel agency that operates aircraft and retail outlets and services the European and North American markets. ● Northgate will announce its interim results tomorrow. A vehicle rental business, Northgate hopes the first half of its financial [...]
Mild autumn boosts profit at Kingfisher December 1, 2011 KINGFISHER posted better-than-expected third quarter profits yesterday, after the unseasonally mild autumn weather helped boost sales at the retailer’s stores in the UK and France. Europe’s biggest DIY company, which runs over 800 stores across the continent, posted a 13.9 per cent rise in operating profit to £273m in the the 13 weeks to 29 [...]
Norsk warns over demand in aluminium December 1, 2011 NORSK Hydro warned that it sees growth in global aluminium demand slowing next year as a result of economic turbulence that is creating a weak market and pushing many industry players into the red. Hydro, one of the world’s top aluminium producers, said it saw demand for primary aluminium outside China rising between three and [...]
Monti vows to cut as Eurozone jobs vanish November 30, 2011 ITALIAN Prime Minister and finance minister Mario Monti vowed to meet fiscal targets by setting out a fresh round of austerity measures even as data showed that Eurozone unemployment has hit a euro-era high. Monti, who was attending his first meeting as finance minister, also denied that Italy is seeking a rescue from the IMF, [...]
Trying to pour liquidity into a frozen market November 30, 2011 YESTERDAY’S coordinated central bank move flipped the FX markets onto their head, with increased dollar liquidity triggering a sell-off of the greenback, with the euro and the Aussie and Kiwi dollars coming out on top. The announcement came hot on the heals of the news that the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, [...]
China cuts capital requirements November 30, 2011 China’s central bank has cut the reserve requirement ratio for its commercial lenders for the first time in nearly three years to ease credit strains and shore up an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009. The move comes amid increasing concern among policymakers worldwide that the global economy is on a slippery slope [...]
Top London property set for Chinese takeaway in new Cordea Savills fund November 28, 2011 IN RECENT years it has been seen as the preserve of affluent Britons, Arab sheiks and Russian oligarchs. Now, however, more top London property could be snapped up by Far Eastern investors, including perhaps the Chinese Communist Party. Cordea Savills, the fund management arm of consultancy Savills, has launched a £150m fund that will buy [...]
THE TIPSTER November 28, 2011 EUROPEAN bond yields are rising at an astronomical pace, with Italian bonds tipping over the 7 per cent yield mark yesterday. With yields consistently moving higher, and their inverse relationship with price, many expect further short-term downward movement on European bonds. Capital CFDs quotes the December German bund at €133.92-€133.95. It’s all about pubs this [...]
Traders keeping a close eye on FTSE after drop to 5,100 November 27, 2011 GLOBAL equities continued to tumble last week with many indices crashing through technical support areas. At the start of the week, the FTSE gapped below its 50-day moving average around 5,350 and went on to trade below 5,100 briefly on Friday. This level is not only psychologically significant, but also important in technical terms. It [...]