What you need to know before the open May 30, 2014 European markets are expected to head higher this morning, nearing multi-year highs. Investors remains intently focused on the European Central Bank’s next policy meeting next week, holding back slightly incase the expected stimulus plan next week isn’t as aggressive as the market is anticipating. German retail sales dropped unexpectedly in April, down 0.9 per cent [...]
The global economic recovery remains on track – for now at least May 29, 2014 WHAT is going on in America? The US economy collapsed in the first quarter – and true to form, Wall Street’s reaction was to send share prices surging. The reason was neither callousness nor even a short-termist, self-interested calculation that bad news means looser money – much more positively, it was that everybody can see [...]
Playing the long game: Using data to drive new sales May 28, 2014 Rob Symes, founder of The Outside View, talks to Liam Ward-Proud about how predictive analytics has helped his firm find new customers, but why it won’t solve all your organisation’s problems IT’S OFTEN difficult for businesses to know how best to use the sheer volume of data they generate. Information on interactions with customers, the [...]
An earthquake bigger than Ukip: Only radical EU reform will be enough May 27, 2014 MAKE no mistake, these European elections are an earthquake that should make political leaders across the EU sit up and take notice. While pundits will debate why Ukip topped the polls in the UK, more significant is that the public has made it clear that they want a big change in Britain’s relationship with the [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 27, 2014 US stock futures rose this morning, as investors bet on expectations of rate cuts from the European Central Bank. World shares have risen to a near all-time high, too, as the central lender continues to point towards continuing global liquidity. Meanwhile, durable goods rose unexpectedly, by 0.8 per cent, suggesting a stronger rebound than expected. [...]
What you need to know before the open May 27, 2014 After a day out of the loop yesterday, the FTSE will be playing catch up with European markets, which saw a strong session yesterday. The European and Ukraine elections don’t appear to have affected equities too much. Several bourses saw encouraging gains, with the Dax posting a record high. Eyes are still on European Central [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 23, 2014 A subdued start’s expected for US markets, ahead of home sales numbers, and after European counterparts headed lower on the back of a slip in German business confidence. Stock futures inched higher this morning. All eyes will be on the new house sales numbers, due out at 3pm. The numbers are of heightened importance, given [...]
What you need to know before the US open May 22, 2014 Investors will be taking time to digest the latest job numbers today, with stocks futures flat ahead of the weaker-than-expected numbers. Initial jobless claims for last week rose more than expected – to 326,000 from 298,000 the week before. Analysts had been expecting 310,000 people to sign on for the first time. Focus will shift [...]
What you need to know before the open May 22, 2014 With no surprises from the Fed’s open market committee meeting minutes last night, European markets are expected higher, although investors will be focusing on European PMI numbers out today. Again, the worry is that the numbers will reinforce concerns over growth for the second quarter, with powerhouse economy Germany even beginning to show signs of [...]
Fed board may push for further guidance on unwinding of QE May 21, 2014 A NUMBER of Federal Reserve rate-setters want a further form of forward guidance for the US quantitative easing (QE) policy, giving investors extra information on when the purchased assets might be unwound. Minutes released yesterday from the Fed’s latest policy meeting said some decision-makers thought it “would be useful to provide additional information” on how [...]