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 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 29, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES ASIAN SHIPPING LINES SUFFER FURTHER LOSSESTwo of Asia’s biggest shipping lines announced major losses for the June-September quarter in a further sign of the unprecedented severity of the crisis battering the industry. Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines said that it would lose money at least for the first half of 2010 as it announced [...]
Honda profits driven up by scrap scheme October 27, 2009 CAR giant Honda tripled its annual profit forecasts yesterday, as second-quarter earnings fell less than forecast on the back of scrappage schemes worldwide. Honda has weathered the industrial turmoil, which drove two US car giants into bankruptcy last year, better than its competitors as its profitable motorbike business cushioned the blow. The carmaker said yesterday [...]
Profit taking hits Wall St after rally October 27, 2009 THE S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell yesterday as investors booked profits following the stock market’s recent run-up, while a weaker-than-expected reading on a measure of consumer confidence raised doubts about spending. Technology and consumer discretionary shares fared worse than the broader market as investors sold recent winners. Baidu’s disappointing outlook added to the negative [...]
CHINA’S YUAN POLICY COMES UNDER FIRE October 25, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMBY ALMOST everybody else’s standards, an annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent in the third quarter would be an opportunity to break open the champagne and put on the party hats. But expectations for Chinese expansion had been higher and this “disappointing” figure was enough to see investors lose, at least [...]
ECB TALK HAS SLOWED FALL IN THE BUCK October 21, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM THANKS to a healing of risk appetite, a sharp deterioration in the American fiscal position and the perception that US monetary policy will stay loose potentially until the latter part of 2010, further losses could well be ahead for the US dollar. And with euro-dollar rising towards, and potentially through the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 15, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES BUYERS AWAIT DYSON’S FANSSir James Dyson, champion of British industrial design, has launched his latest invention aimed at catapulting the conventional electric desk fan into the 21st century. His “Air Multiplier” fan boasts reduced energy consumption and no external blades. But fans of Dyson inventions must wait several weeks for the fan to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 14, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES INVESTORS IN MADOFF SCHEME SUE SECTwo investors who lost more than $2.4m in the Bernard Madoff “Ponzi” scheme have filed suit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming that the government agency responsible for protecting investors was negligent in its oversight of Madoff’s operations. CHINA AND KENYA IN KEY INFRASTRUCTURE TALKSKenya’s government [...]
GEAR UP YOUR EXPOSURE TO RECOVERY October 14, 2009 ALEXANDRE HOUPERTHEAD OF LISTED PRODUCTS UK, SG CORPORATE & INVESTMENT BANKINGa LAST year there were hopes that emerging markets, particularly in East Asia, had decoupled from the crisis that was plaguing the most developed economies in the world. But they did not remain immune from the global downturn and stock markets saw sharp falls. But [...]