Wall St closes higher, dollar drops as remarkable year winds down December 30, 2020 By Stephen Culp NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street ended the session in positive territory and the dollar dipped to its lowest in more than two years on Wednesday, the penultimate trading day in a remarkable year of pandemic, recession and recovery. All three major U.S. stock indexes gained modestly, but short of all-time closing highs [...]
The tragedy of America’s foreign policy establishment December 25, 2020 Anthony Blinken was a cut above the rest personally. Well-educated, good-looking, quietly ironical (and quite funny), absorbed in the work at hand, and keenly intelligent, Tony seemed to be in it for the Republic, rather than himself — a rarity in a town built on often unearned self-promotion. Read more: Joe Biden could favour Ireland [...]
Sam Torrance: The golf year in review, from Superman Bryson DeChambeau to doyen of commentary Peter Alliss December 21, 2020 This has been a strange year and that has been true in golf as well. We all hope that normality can resume in every respect in 2021, and that tournaments will not have to be postponed or cancelled again. In the circumstances, the European Tour deserves great credit for putting measures in place to resume [...]
US lawmakers poised to vote on $900bn stimulus package December 20, 2020 US lawmakers could vote on a $900bn (£665bn) stimulus package as early as today after Republicans and Democrats reportedly reached a compromise on Federal Reserve lending programmes. If Congress fails to act, much of the support aimed at the unemployed so far will expire. Other stimulus programmes are due to come to an end before [...]
FTSE 100 slips but global markets hit fresh highs on vaccines and stimulus December 17, 2020 The FTSE 100 slipped, weighed down by a rising pound, as global markets hit a new all-time high amid optimism about vaccines and fiscal and monetary stimulus. Despite the rise in global stocks, the FTSE 100 lagged behind as the pound rose 0.8 per cent to $1.360, a 32-month high. A higher pound weighs on [...]
Pound hits 31-month high on Brexit hopes and dollar weakness December 17, 2020 The pound has shot up to its highest level since early 2018, with investors hoping the UK will soon sign a post-Brexit trade deal and the dollar falling sharply. Sterling was last up 0.6 per cent at $1.358, a 31-month high. It was 0.3 per cent higher against the euro at €1.111. The British government [...]
Fed ups 2021 growth forecast but warns of a tough winter December 17, 2020 Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell said late on Wednesday evening that there were reasons for optimism in 2021 but the coming months would be “particularly challenging.” In a statement issued by the Fed’s Open Market Committee, the body also indicated that debt buying would continue until “substantial further progress” is seen on both employment and [...]
Federal Reserve extends debt purchases to boost economy December 16, 2020 The Federal Reserve has announced plans to keep buying government debt in a bid to boost the faltering US economy. Since June the Fed has been buying $80bn in Treasury bonds and $40bn in mortgage bonds per month and today pledged to buy assets at least at that pace for the “coming months”. The new [...]
The Year in Review – The 2020 Crypto OTC Market December 15, 2020 Covid is on the blockchain. No it’s not. That was a crypto and Covid joke in one! A trader I spoke to today said that 2020 has been a great year for our personal accounts and awful for just about everything else. Covid has defined 2020 for so much of the world and in my [...]
The week ahead, 14-18 December: Shaftesbury, SSP, Petrofac, and interest rates December 13, 2020 All eyes will be fixed firmly on Brussels this week, as businesses across the country hold their breath to see if the UK can finally reach a deal with the EU. With markets on edge as they await the outcome of the talks, there’s little to distract traders, with only a handful of firms reporting [...]