New Year has positive start with surge on stocks January 10, 2010 Stocks have begun 2010 with a bullish surge, and even after Friday’s employment data from the US revealed a surprising drop for December, we should see a broad appetite for risk get us off to a positive start to this week. GFT is calling the UK’s FTSE 100 index to open up 11 points at [...]
Retail is a sell as customers desert the UK’s high streets January 10, 2010 THE BRITS lived up to their reputation as a nation of spenders and splashed their cash with abandon over the festive period. Major retailers swept up and some, like fashion chain Ted Baker, saw sales rise 20 per cent in the latter part of 2009. John Lewis, Next, Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury also [...]
THE TIPSTER January 10, 2010 THERE’S been no shortage of news regarding the increased demand for natural gas by UK consumers as the cold snap continues to grip the country. As a result, BG Group (formerly British Gas) has got the year off to a cracking start, outperforming the FTSE-100 by over 100 per cent. But the cold (hopefully) won’t [...]
UK cracks up in the big freeze January 7, 2010 ARCTIC conditions intensified yesterday as the UK faced its coldest night of the winter so far with the temperature dropping as low as –5C in central London as the worst cold snap to hit the country for thirty years continued. More travel chaos for commuters was predicted amid the freezing temperatures, with the Met Office [...]
No frillers win fight of skies January 7, 2010 RYANAIR blew away the competition over Christmas, flying nearly five million passengers in December – 12 per cent more than last year. And total passengers for 2009 reached the dizzy heights of 65m, jetting past the 58m recorded the previous year. The budget airline’s biggest rival EasyJet notched up a 9.3 per cent year-on-year rise [...]
Sainsbury’s in festive feast as sales rise January 7, 2010 J SAINSBURY was given a festive boost with sales rising by 3.8 per cent as shoppers snapped up food and drink for Christmas. The like-for-like sales figures at Britain’s third largest supermarket chain, revealed yesterday, beat the forecasts of City analysts who had predicted a 3.5 per cent gain. Sainsbury’s slashed prices on its beer, [...]
New Look hails strong Xmas January 7, 2010 BUDGET fashion chain New Look yesterday said it was undecided on a return to the stock market as it reported strong Christmas trading. Like-for-like sales in the UK grew 5.9 per cent in the 14 weeks to 2 January, while total turnover including overseas operations was up 14.4 per cent. The “disposable fashion” group, backed [...]
JD Sports on track as sales surge January 7, 2010 JD Sports Fashion said yesterday it was on track to beat the City’s profit expectations for the year after enjoying a festive boost. Like-for-like sales rose 6.6 per cent in the five weeks to 6 January, driven by the performance of its fashion-focused chains Bank and Scotts, where trading rose 9.7 per cent. The group [...]
Liverpool to begin their climb back up the table January 7, 2010 LIVERPOOL vs TOTTENHAM SUNDAY – 4.00PM SKY SPORTS LIVERPOOL put in another lacklustre display when they were outplayed by struggling Reading in the FA Cup last weekend and things are still not right at Anfield. However, they notched back-to-back Premier League successes for the first time since September when they won at Villa Park over [...]
13/2 Go Native and 16/1 Weapon’s Amnesty look likely Festival types January 7, 2010 OVER the next nine or so weeks between now and the start of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, we will continue to add to our ante-post portfolio that already contains Somersby for the Arkle at 20/1 (now as short as 13/2 with Boylesports). With heavy snow decimating this weekend’s racing action, I have picked out a [...]