Eurozone uncertainty keeps bunds climbing October 4, 2010 GERMAN bunds made gains across the curve yesterday as expectations of further US quantitative easing (QE) increased and the Eurozone producer price index (PPI) indicated a lack of inflationary pressure in the pipeline. Over the last few weeks the German bund price has gradually travelled upwards reaching a value of 13,182.5 yesterday at 7:45pm (see [...]
BHP Billiton takeover of Potash could cost Canada over £1bn in lost taxes October 4, 2010 BHP BILLITON’S $39bn (£24.6bn) hostile bid for Potash cleared a hurdle yesterday, as an independent report found that BHP is a more suitable owner than potential rival Sinochem. The report, commissioned by the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said that BHP’s takeover could cost the area at least C$2bn (£1.23bn)?in lost taxes, though the government could [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 3, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph EURO MAY NOT SURVIVE, CAUTIONS STIGLITZ One of the world’s leading economists has warned that the future of the euro is “looking bleak” and the fragile European economic recovery could be irreparably damaged by a “wave of austerity” sweeping the continent. Joseph Stiglitz, the former chief economist of the World [...]
Chinese head backs a stable euro currency October 3, 2010 CHINA pledged yesterday to support a stable euro and not reduce its holdings of European government bonds in an effort to deflect criticism of its foreign exchange policy ahead of an EU-China summit this week. China, at loggerheads with the US over the yuan and likely to face similar complaints during his tour of European [...]
Report mulls impact of BHP bid for Potash October 3, 2010 AN INDEPENDENT report on the impact of a takeover of Canada’s PotashCorp will today reignite the country’s debate over the implications of such a move, as expectations of a Chinese-led counterbid to BHP Billiton’s $39bn (£24.7bn) offer begin to dwindle. The report by the Conference Board of Canada will make no recommendations, though it will [...]
US defies China in currency row September 29, 2010 THE RISK of a global currency war escalated yesterday as the US passed a measure threatening trade with China in response to its efforts to keep the yuan undervalued. Politicians voted 348 to 79 in favour of a measure that would allow – but not require – the US Department of Commerce to assess levies [...]
ETFs: how to sort the wheat from the chaff September 29, 2010 INNOVATION is not always a good thing, or at least, that is what David Norman of TCF Investment says about the boom in exchange traded funds (ETFs): “There’s been a big rush to launch products: a lot of innovation, not all of it is good. Say you want exposure to a certain emerging market, for [...]
EURO-DOLLAR TRADE IS AN UGLY CONTEST September 28, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT LET’S just retrace Tuesday’s euro-dollar price movements. First, the pair rallied in early Asian trade when a Wall Street Journal article reported that the Fed is considering a quasi-permanent QE policy, raising fears that the central bank will eventually monetise more than a trillion worth of US debt. Then, before [...]
The African consumer will drive growth beyond mining September 28, 2010 THE time of Africa is coming,” says Renaissance Asset Managers’ Plamen Monovski. His firm has just launched two new equity funds that give access to African stocks (one pan-African, one sub-Saharan) and to say he is bullish on the continent would be an understatement. He argues that with stock so cheap and foreign direct investment [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS September 28, 2010 PICTET LAUNCHES LONG-SHORT ASIA FUND Pictet funds, the fund distribution arm of private Swiss bank Pictet & Cie, has launched a long-short UCITS III-compliant Asia fund. It will be managed be Lan Wang Simond and seeks to capture Chinese growth while minimising losses during periods of high volatility and reducing correlation to the broader market. [...]