The Malthusian bull market carries on February 10, 2011 IN 1980, two academics, Julian Simon and Paul Ehrlich, agreed a now famous wager. Ehrlich chose five commodity metals and bet that over the next 10 years, they would get more expensive. Ultimately, Simon won, and all five metals – copper, chromium, nickel, tin and tungsten – got progressively less expensive all the way up [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TPG LOSES ANOTHER SENIOR ASIA EXECUTIVE Mary Ma, a Chinese executive at TPG Capital, is leaving to start a fund, joining other mainland executives from western buy-out firms who will start out on their own. Ma, former chief financial officer of Lenovo, joined TPG’s Asia team as managing director and a partner in [...]
VAT shock yet to be passed to consumers February 8, 2011 INFLATION in UK shops rose to 2.5 per cent in January – from 2.1 per cent in December — despite retailers absorbing much of the hike in VAT, a comprehensive survey revealed today. Even more price pressure could spill through to consumers in the coming months, the British Retail Consortium warned. “Retailers generally took the [...]
The screws are tightening, but it’s not torture yet February 8, 2011 CHINESE interest rate rises are, it seems, rather like coffee. The effect gets smaller with each extra dose. When the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) first announced an interest rate increase in mid-October last year, the trade-weighted dollar strengthened 1.7 per cent. The second rate rise, announced on Christmas day, produced a smaller reaction, but [...]
The world lists in New York February 8, 2011 America is home to many of the world’s biggest companies. However, as mentioned above, NYSE Euronext has a truly global reach. Leading business from Asia, Latin America and Europe choose the exchange for their primary or secondary listings. And this includes many of the UK’s largest blue chip businesses. The top five UK companies listed [...]
Forget gold, here’s the copper rush February 6, 2011 CRACK open your piggy bank and empty your penny jar. Do it now and do it fast. Forget about the gold rush; it is all about the copper rush now. The price of the metal is going through the roof, hitting $10,000 a tonne. This sort of price action means the two pence piece in [...]
ETFs – what they are and how to use them February 3, 2011 THIS page usually deals with listed exchange-traded products (ETPs) in great depth. Last week, for example, we covered the ins and outs of leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – which offer all the exposure of an ordinary ETF, except doubled up. But while the UK market for ETFs has expanded dramatically over the last few years, [...]
Glaxo looks to repurchase up to £2bn shares February 3, 2011 GLAXOSMITHKLINE (GSK) posted a £476m loss for the final three months of 2010, after a $3.5bn (£2.2bn) legal charge over marketing practices. The results compared with a profit of £2.25bn in the final quarter of 2009, but chief executive Andrew Witty remained upbeat, announcing GSK’s intention to buy back up to £2bn in shares. The [...]
Another big year for China starts today February 2, 2011 TODAY is the first day of the Chinese year of the rabbit. And rather like rabbits, the world’s statesmen are caught in the glare of China’s ascent. Economists are falling over each other to predict when China’s nominal GDP will overtake America’s, while foreign policy wonks are weighing the implications. Goldman Sachs reckons it could [...]
Martin Wheatley wins top job at new City watchdog CPMA February 2, 2011 WHEN Martin Wheatley announced his departure from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) he received an ominous send-off. Locals, angered by his ultimate responsibility for regulating loss-making Lehman mini-bonds, gathered outside the watchdog’s offices to play traditional Chinese funeral music while they burned pictures of Wheatley. It appears their prediction of his demise [...]