Federal Reserve is “approaching” rate hike: Members say they need more evidence of wage growth first August 19, 2015 Minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting offered no indication that the central bank intends to raise interest rates in September. Read more: Hiking rates in September could be an error of historic proportions by the US Fed With uncertainty remaining over wage growth and inflation, the officials “generally agreed” that more information [...]
US consumer price index inches up for sixth consecutive month August 19, 2015 US consumer prices rose for the sixth month in a row in July, suggesting inflationary pressures are beginning to stabilise. Figures from Labour Department today showed the consumer price index nudged up 0.1 per cent last month. This just missed economists' expectations for a 0.2 per cent rise. At the same time, consumer prices rose 0.2 per [...]
China stocks recover after second day of falls as markets nervously await Fed minutes August 19, 2015 Stocks in China finished today's session up, despite falls in early trading. That followed big losses on Tuesday. The Shenzhen Composite finished 2.19 per cent higher, at 2,222.05 points, while the Shanghai Composite rose 1.23 per cent to 3,794.11 points – having dipped as low as 5.3 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively during the [...]
All eyes on Federal Reserve after shock Empire State index drop August 18, 2015 American traders will be poring over crunch sets of data this week after a key index plummeted to its lowest level since the depths of the recession in 2008-09. The Empire State index – one of several widely watched barometers of manufacturing in the US – collapsed to a score of minus 14.9 in August [...]
Plunging oil pushes back the all-important first Fed hike – etoro Tips & Picks August 17, 2015 OIL prices dipped further in the Asian session overnight yesterday, with US crude trading around $42 a barrel. A report from some investment banks has argued that we could well see oil trading lower still from these levels. A lot of technical traders point to the fact that we could be looking towards $35 per [...]
Fed minutes at centre of focus – New York Report August 16, 2015 INVESTORS will comb through Wednesday’s minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting for indications on how it will react to the recent yuan devaluation and the further decline in oil prices. The recent outperformance of bank shares and underperformance of utilities, both on expectations of higher Treasury yields, support current market bets that the [...]
Canary Wharf’s seal of approval August 14, 2015 LONDON’s finance sector now has a mascot infinitely better than the Investec Zebra. There’s a seal living in Canary Wharf! A seal! An actual seal! The fishmongers at Billingsgate Market, gawd bless ‘em, have known about the Wharf’s longest resident for about 10 years, as he commutes to the market every morning to get fed [...]
Energy shares drop but Cisco helps market – New York Report August 13, 2015 US STOCKS finished flat yesterday as a drop in energy shares offset a rebound in retail sales and stronger-than-expected Cisco results. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.74 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 17,408.25, the S&P 500 lost 2.66 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 2,083.39 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10.83 points, or [...]
Global markets feel aftershock of renminbi cut August 13, 2015 INVESTORS fled into safe haven assets yesterday after the impact of China’s devaluation of the yuan continued to weigh on markets. The decision by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to reduce the value of the currency sent Germany’s two-year yield on bonds to a new record low of minus 0.284 per cent as markets [...]
The Chinese love affair with life’s little luxuries August 13, 2015 The seemingly rampant early success of brands such as Louis Vuitton a decade ago was largely due to the novelty of designer goods in China. Angelica Cheung, Vogue China’s editor in chief, likened the first glut of luxury goods in China to food being given to the starving. The well-heeled are now extremely [...]