THE TIPSTER May 25, 2010 THE yen has been appreciating steadily against the greenback since the start of May. There have been some suggestions that the yen is seen as a safe haven but the fundamentals coming out of Japan still all too often make for difficult reading. For example, public debt is extremely high at 180 per cent of [...]
FORK IN THE ROAD FOR THE PRICE OF OIL May 24, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT GLOBAL equities have taken a hammering over the past month. A whole host of issues which had been simmering on the back-burner have begun to boil over. The European sovereign debt crisis, concerns over the effects of tighter financial regulation and the continuing withdrawal of liquidity by the Chinese [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PRINCE ANDREW’S TRADE ROLE DEFENDED Buckingham Palace defended Prince Andrew’s globetrotting role promoting British business on Sunday after a newspaper sting appeared to show his former wife selling access to him for £500,000, offered by a reporter posing as a tycoon. Both the royal household and the government said the Duke of York’s [...]
The heat is on for the steel price this year May 19, 2010 THE price of industrial metals has been hit during the recent bout of market turbulence. But against this backdrop pressures have been building that could drive the price of steel higher again. The industrial metal, widely used for the production of infrastructure, is being bolstered by several factors. The first is supply and demand. Supply [...]
Look to the stock markets for direction on the oil price May 17, 2010 THE sense of crisis stalking Eurozone economies has coincided with a steep drop in the oil price. It has fallen 17 per cent in the last fortnight and the benchmark Nymex oil price is currently trading at close to $71.85 per barrel. But, even after this drop in price, some oil analysts are standing by [...]
EUROPEAN TROUBLES HURT ASIA May 17, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT THE European bailout package stunned traders and investors alike. Initially, hopes were high that it would help shore-up confidence. But looking at the markets’ reaction to last weekend’s announcement, European leaders must be extremely concerned by the results so far. Over the course of the week, European stock indices managed to [...]
Pru gets the all-clear for its cash call May 16, 2010 PRUDENTIAL received clearance from the Financial Services Authority for its mammoth rights issue over the weekend and could launch the deal as early as this morning. The prospectus for the $21bn (£14bn) cash call, which was delayed after the regulator raised fears over Prudential’s capital position, is likely to price the rights at the lower end [...]
Battle for Wall St reaches final stage May 16, 2010 WAHT is being billed by proponents as the biggest shake-up of Wall Street since the great depression could go through the senate this week as politicians desperately haggle over the future of the US financial system. A series of new measures promise to reform many Wall Street practices. Proposals for the new bill include: • Setting [...]
How Herbert Smith’s new boss will take on the big boys of global law May 16, 2010 THIS WEEK Jonathan Scott takes up his five-year post as senior partner for venerable City law firm Herbert Smith, and many observers bet that somewhere on the desk of his fourth floor office at the practice’s Primrose Street headquarters there is an A4 sheet of paper with just two words on it – overseas expansion. [...]
Asian indices will not move at the same pace May 10, 2010 ASIAN indices have not been immune to the Greek crisis and the wave of risk aversion that has been sweeping across the world, despite traders’ relatively bullish attitude towards the region. Major stock indices have all suffered: the Chinese Hang Seng H-Shares index has dropped 10 per cent since the middle of April, while the [...]