TRUST GOLD MORE THAN POLITICIANS September 20, 2010 The summer is behind us. While equity trading volumes have yet to pick up, we’ve seen more activity from policymakers and central banks. Last week’s intervention by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to halt the rise of the yen was a notable example. However, investors are likely to test the BoJ’s resolve. Germany is watching [...]
China is sowing the seeds of a bull market in wheat and corn September 19, 2010 SHARP rises in food prices over the summer raised the ugly spectre of riots and civil unrest across the developing world and rampant inflation in Western countries. In August a Russian ban on wheat exports caused the price to spike, prompting some countries like Egypt to aim for self-sufficiency. The surge was short-lived but the [...]
RBS close to deal with Guolian Securities September 17, 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland is close to forming a venture with Chinese group Guolian Securities as part of the lender’s expansion in the booming Asian economy, a Reuters source has said. “China is a core market for RBS in Asia,” the insider claimed. RBS, bailed out by the government at the height of the financial [...]
Row fuels fears of currency war September 16, 2010 THERE were growing fears of a global trade war last night after the world’s largest countries clashed over currency policies aimed at protecting their own faltering economic recoveries at the expense of others. In his strongest words yet on America’s long-running dispute with China over the value of its currency, US treasury secretary Tim Geithner [...]
Credit Suisse expands into UK ETF market September 15, 2010 COMPETITION in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market stepped up another notch yesterday when Swiss bank Credit Suisse launched 45 ETFs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), solidifying its European presence and paving the way for a global launch of its ETF product. For the past decade, new arrivals in the European ETF space have been [...]
Use forex products to gain as Japan wrestles the yen September 15, 2010 THE yen lurched downwards 2.4 per cent versus the dollar and 2.8 per cent against the euro yesterday as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) waded into the forex markets to weaken the currency. While many institutional investors are not permitted to bet directly on forex, a wide range of currency-tracking products enable them to benefit [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 14, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TESCO ADVANCES IN CARREFOUR ASIAN AUCTION Tesco is among the bidders through to the second round of the auction for Carrefour’s south-east Asian assets, which are for sale for up to $1bn (£642m). Tesco, the world’s third-biggest supermarket chain by sales after Walmart and Carrefour, was one of more than 10 first-round bidders [...]
Unloved European equities are cheap and attractive September 14, 2010 IT WAS not so long ago that European equities were underloved and underowned. A combination of the sovereign debt crisis and fears of a patchy economic recovery saw investors dumping European-listed stocks in favour of almost anything else. Global fund allocations to European equities languish at around 13 per cent, close to the lows of [...]
FX MARKETS ARE POWERED BY BEIJING September 14, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT As I prepare for my “all-things-forex” seminar with Allister Heath on 23 September between 8 and 10am at the Grange Hotel (register at gftuk.com/cityam), I can’t help but marvel at the idea that China is now the primary driver of trade in the FX market. Although its own currency is [...]
Rate rises and risk appetite to boost the krona September 14, 2010 A WESTERN central bank able to raise interest rates without sparking concerns of excess monetary tightening is still something of a rarity. But the Swedish Riksbank has been able to do just that. Earlier this month, it raised rates to 0.75 per cent and signalled that it intended to increase them to 1.75 per cent [...]