Danone sours views despite sales jump October 21, 2010 FRENCH food group Danone warned yesterday the economic landscape would continue to hit sales in Europe, as it posted a 15 per cent growth in third-quarter revenue to €4.35bn (£3.86bn) after strong dairy sales in emerging markets. The world’s biggest yoghurt maker maintained its full-year targets after offsetting a 2.1 per cent like-for-like sales growth [...]
THE TIPSTER October 20, 2010 DESPITE missing out on much of the recent rally in stocks, demand for Smith and Nephew seems to be picking up. Recent research highlights it as a potential takeover target, but aggressive call option buying would indicate the stock could be in for a big move higher. ETX Capital is quoting 568.43p-570.07p. A month ago [...]
Falling dollar boosts commodity stocks October 20, 2010 Wall Street bounced back yesterday as a fall in the dollar spurred buying in industrial and commodity-linked shares, while another batch of strong corporate earnings added to gains. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 129.35 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 11,107.97. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 12.27 points, or 1.05 per cent, [...]
China surprises markets with interest rate hike October 20, 2010 China’s central bank surprised markets with its first increase of interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects concern about resurgent asset prices and could mark the start of a more aggressive phase of monetary tightening in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The People’s Bank of China said it was raising benchmark rates [...]
China and Brazil moved to action to control currencies October 19, 2010 CHINA sent financial markets into retreat yesterday as it announced a 25 basis point increase to its benchmark interest rate, taking one-year deposit rates to 2.5 per cent and one-year lending rates to 5.56 per cent. The increase, which takes effect from today, is the first in three years and was seen internally as a [...]
US and China set for trade talks October 19, 2010 The United States and China will hold annual high-level trade and economic talks the week of 13 December in Washington, a top US trade official said yesterday. US undersecretary of commerce Francisco Sanchez said he hoped for progress on resolving US concerns about Chinese barriers to its government procurement market and protection of US intellectual [...]
Unloved, unowned but undervalued: Emerging Europe shakes off its past October 19, 2010 SANDWICHED between the bright stars of emerging Asia and the fading light of the West lies Eastern Europe, an investment destination that is often forgotten and perennially unfashionable. This is partly because the region has struggled to shake off its Soviet legacy – at least in the minds of Western investors it is still tainted [...]
AIA to close IPO books early as investors jump to buy the shares October 18, 2010 THE PLANNED Hong Kong initial public offering of AIA, the Asian life insurance business of American International Group (AIG), is set to close two days earlier than anticipated after institutional investors rushed to pledge their interest in buying the shares, it emerged yesterday. AIA has indicated that it will price the IPO later this week [...]
QE2 IS LIKELY TO BE ABOVE $1 TRILLION October 18, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FEW analysts now doubt that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will announce another round of quantitative easing (QE) at its November meeting. In fact, speculation has turned to the harm that Fed inaction could cause to the markets. After all, equities have been a one-way bet ever since QE2 became [...]
When weaving a commodities basket, traders must be skilful October 18, 2010 GOLD bullion was down 0.7 per cent to $1,361 while the dollar gained ground against all major currencies except the yen yesterday. Talk of the inverse link between these safe havens is not new and the chart below shows it in action over the last four days. But this relationship is not only true of [...]