Bullish corporate results bolster FTSE January 18, 2011 THE FTSE rose healthily today and though it gave back some of the gains in the afternoon it closed in the black, up 1.18 per cent or 65.10 to 6,050.80. Banks boosted trading as conditions in the eurozone continued to stabilise, while Burberry was in demand after releasing excellent third-quarter results that showed revenues rose [...]
What the other papers say this morning January 17, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA’S LENDING HITS NEW HEIGHTS China has lent more money to other developing countries over the past two years than the World Bank, a stark indication of the scale of Beijing’s economic reach and its drive to secure natural resources. China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank signed loans of at least $110bn [...]
Richemont in sales boost led by China January 17, 2011 SWISS luxury goods group Richemont saw healthy sales growth in all business areas in its third quarter as wealthy Chinese customers continued to splash out on Cartier jewellery and timepieces. Overall sales for the three months to 31 December were up 33 per cent, beating analysts’ forecasts. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region rose 42 per [...]
INVESTORS GIVEN CAUSE TO CHEER January 17, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT EUROZONE investors had cause to cheer last week as bond auctions in Portugal, Spain and Italy went better than expected. As the auctions approached, their success looked pretty much guaranteed thanks to the efforts of the European Central Bank (ECB), along with promises of support from China and even chronically-indebted Japan. [...]
Floods to be Australia’s most expensive disaster January 17, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S devastating floods are likely to be the country’s most expensive disaster on record, the national treasurer said yesterday. Record rainfall, which has flooded an area three times the size of the UK, may leave Queensland state alone with a A$10bn (£6.2bn) damage bill, while Australian GDP is expected to fall by one per cent. [...]
Mid morning wrapup January 17, 2011 Oil giant BP saw its shares rise by two per cent this morning as its deal with Russian company Rosneft for arctic exploration boosted the stock. Analysts said the tie-up with state-controlled Rosneft opened up massive reserves in the arctic, a region they said was believed to contain one fifth of the world’s undiscovered oil. [...]
Starbucks hits back at McDonald’s with new cup January 16, 2011 STARBUCKS will soon introduce a new “Trenta” cup that will dwarf even its supersized Venti. The new offering will be available only for cold drinks such as iced coffee and iced tea and will cost around 30p more than Venti drinks. Seattle-based Starbucks tested the new size in several US markets last year, saying it [...]
London is still at forefront of business world January 16, 2011 THERE is no doubt in my mind that despite the uncertainty surrounding taxation and regulation and despite the continuing public anger, unfavourable media reports and a degree of political point-scoring, the City of London remains – in the eyes of the international business community at least – one of the most attractive financial centres in [...]
Chinese torture is holding back the commodities rally January 16, 2011 CHINA was once famous for, among other things, an obscure torture method: reputedly a way to drive suspects insane by slowly dripping water onto their foreheads. Nowadays, however, many commodities traders must feel rather like victims of the technique. The Chinese government has been slowly drip-feeding the commodities markets with hints about monetary tightening. On [...]
Intelligent luxury under a hot blue sky January 16, 2011 ABU Dhabi sounds like a heady jumble of car, construction and human. In the daytime, the air is thick with noise as it is thick with the pervading haze of dust blown in from the sandlands to the south and thrown up by the never-ending construction. It softens the otherwise relentless sunshine, rendering everything (including [...]