Copper looks red hot for next year November 15, 2009 COPPER’S status as a widely used industrial metal meant it was always going to do well in 2009. Restocking, East Asian growth and growing confidence in the global economic recovery saw the price of the red metal on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rise to as high as $6,700 a tonne earlier in the year. [...]
US and China are set in spending and saving habits November 15, 2009 Alistair Darling has played host to the world’s most important money men (and women) a few times already this year, most recently in his native Scotland, but he might be forgiven for feeling a bit envious as the world looks to where the really important decisions are being made this week: at the Singapore meeting [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 12, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES NATIONAL EXPRESS FACES EUROSTAR BILLNational Express could be saddled with a bill of up to £32m to cover losses made by Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail service. The indebted transport group, which gives up its lossmaking East Coast rail franchise tonight, is the leading shareholder in a consortium that manages the UK end of [...]
Reassurance on UK growth boosts the blue chip index November 11, 2009 BRITAIN’S top share index closed higher yesterday, as risk appetite received a boost after reassuring signals on the UK economy, and with miners the biggest gainers after a jump in Chinese factory growth. The FTSE 100 index ended 36.20 points higher, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,266.75, having touched a high of 5,301.14 earlier in [...]
China data pulls up Dow and S&P 500 November 11, 2009 THE Dow and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at 13-month highs last night as an upbeat forecast from a top homebuilder and data from China pointed to a strengthening global economy. The Dow’s advance was its sixth straight as comments from top Federal Reserve officials suggesting low interest rates will stay for some [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 10, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GM CHIEF PROMISES CASH FOR NEW-LOOK OPELGeneral Motors yesterday promised a more independent Opel and vowed to support its European unit with fresh money as the US carmaker tried to calm the fury sparked by last week’s decision to keep the unit. Fritz Henderson, head of GM, spoke after a series of meetings [...]
VW becomes world’s biggest carmaker November 9, 2009 CARMAKER Volkswagen-Porsche yesterday overtook rival Toyota as the world’s biggest car manufacturer, boosted by state-backed “cash-for-bangers” stimuli worldwide. VW, which makes family cars like the Golf and Polo, and luxury vehicles like the Boxster, has made 4.4m cars this year so far, pipping Toyota, which has made 4m, to the post as top manufacturer. VW [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 4, 2009 THE FINANCIAL TIMES OPEL U-TURN LEAVES GERMANY ANGRYGermany and Russia reacted furiously to General Motors’ surprise decision to keep Opel rather than sell it, throwing up fresh uncertainty about the future direction of one of Europe’s biggest carmakers. The news that GM’s board had abandoned the sale of Opel/Vauxhall to Canada’s Magna and Russia’s Sberbank [...]
Aussie to struggle in the short term November 3, 2009 IT was a surprise to nobody that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) yesterday took the well-publicised step of hiking the interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 per cent. What might have surprised currency traders, though, is the subsequent pullback in the Aussie dollar against the greenback. The Aussie dollar has been a [...]
The emerging economies are best bet for the long term November 2, 2009 ONCE plagued by fears of debt defaults, currency devaluations and political instability, emerging markets are now an indispensable part of every reward-seeking investor’s portfolio. That, at least, was the message from Marino Valensise, chief investment officer at Baring Asset Management yesterday. He said: “While we believe that the rally in equities is set for a [...]