Cynical Labour has no claim to being a party of business February 10, 2013 CHUKA Umunna, the shadow business secretary, suggested in last week’s City A.M. that Labour is the natural party of entrepreneurship. This is little more than a cynical attempt at gesture politics. Like Umunna’s father, my parents came to Britain with very little and set up their own businesses. The small shops they owned created jobs [...]
FTSE breaches the 6,300 mark but loses steam January 28, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index breached the 6,300 level for the first time since May 2008 yesterday, driven by strength in banking and energy stocks, although that heady height failed to hold for the close. Global giant HSBC added the most points to the FTSE 100 index, with its 1.0 per cent advance alone, accounting for [...]
US data looms over stock markets January 28, 2013 But the end of recent rallies could be useful corrective for investors TOO good to be true? That’s the growing worry among US equity investors. Consider that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up roughly 6 per cent since 1 January, is off to its best start in more than two decades and now sits within [...]
European banks to repay ECB crisis cash early January 25, 2013 Banks that received loans to keep them afloat during the Eurozone crisis will repay more than €130bn (£111bn) of loans to the European Central Bank (ECB) next week in a sign that parts of the financial system are returning to health. The ECB made more than €1 trillion of cheap three-year loans to banks to [...]
FTSE 100 flat after hitting multi-year highs January 25, 2013 The leading share index was flat in this morning’s trading, after the FTSE 100 hit its highest level in almost five years yesterday, giving London its best start to the trading year since 1989. The blue chip index surged past the 6,200 level, closing up just over one per cent at 6,264.91 last night. But [...]
Incentive to work will be dampened by pension reform January 24, 2013 THE coalition received bad news this week, as figures revealed the UK added £15.4bn to its debt pile in December 2012 – up from £14.8bn in the same month in 2011. The chancellor will now be forced to ask ministers to prepare further cuts for 2014-15. But the problem is not just fiscal. It’s political. [...]
CFA charter has won converts beyond investment analysis January 23, 2013 THE Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter is widely considered to be the professional credential of choice for the investment industry. Its course is designed to provide the full breadth of knowledge necessary to understand all the major investment products, alongside instruction in financial reporting, corporate governance and economics. All this is underpinned by a grounding [...]
Sir Stuart Rose takes the hot seat at Ocado January 22, 2013 SIR STUART Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, is to become chairman of Ocado, in a major coup for the online retailer. The company said Sir Stuart is to replace Sir Michael Grade after its annual general meeting in May. Grade, best known for his roles at ITV and Channel Four, will be [...]
FTSE hits the brakes on 2013 rally as banks and miners lose ground January 22, 2013 BRITAIN’S leading share index eased a touch yesterday, stalling after a recent push up to its highest level in four-and-a-half years, weighed by falls in financials and mining stocks. Banks were the biggest sector fallers, knocking over four points off the FTSE 100, with traders citing profit-taking after recent gains, and caution over a report [...]
Bursting bond bubble will destroy wealth on a giant scale January 21, 2013 ONE of the greatest risks facing the world economy is a wholesale crash in government bonds markets. Yields on UK gilts, US Treasury bonds and others are still much too low – and that means that capital values are too high (the price of fixed income securities move inversely to their yield). Given the extraordinarily [...]