Rethinking the safe haven: What’s fuelling gold’s rise March 17, 2014 Simple assumptions about the yellow metal could result in traders getting burnt. Treasury yields could be a better metric for gauging where it may go next To many, gold’s sharp rise in recent months, widely attributed to increasing geopolitical tension in Ukraine and fears of a Chinese economic slowdown, has underscored its role as the [...]
The five interview gaffes to avoid March 17, 2014 How you perform will determine whether you get your dream job. Here’s what not to do FROM asking to be paid “in cash” to hugging the prospective boss, eager applicants can make fatal errors in the interview process. Aside from the basic mistakes like failing to do their homework or not looking up the interviewer [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Crimean vote spooks market March 17, 2014 INVESTORS will start the week early as yesterday’s referendum to decide if Crimea becomes part of Russia or remains Ukrainian will likely reverberate in markets worldwide. US stocks closed Friday with their largest weekly drop in the last seven weeks as the strongest confrontation between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold [...]
Sentiment falls as US consumers lose confidence about the future March 14, 2014 Consumer confidence in the US dwindled in March, according to a preliminary estimate from Reuters and University of Michigan. The consumer sentiment reading dropped unexpectedly, coming in at 79.9 this month, below the estimated 82 and following February’s 81.6. Although consumers were upbeat about the current situation, outlook on the future was less positive, with [...]
What you need to know before the US open March 14, 2014 US futures had been moving higher today, pointing to a more optimistic open for markets after a difficult week. But bond yields have slipped after an unexpected fall in producer prices: The producer price index fell 0.1 per cent in February, with services decreasing 0.3 per cent. Goods, however, rose 0.4 per cent. Consumer confidence, [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 14 March 2014 March 13, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Zuckerberg attacks US surveillance Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, has strongly criticised the US government for dragging its heels on plans to reform its mass surveillance programme. In a post on the social network, Zuckerberg said he had called President Barack Obama to express his “frustration” over the damage the government [...]
How will the Bank tackle a crisis with lower “new normal” interest rates? March 13, 2014 Three monetary Policy Committee members, including governor Mark Carney, have voiced the view in recent weeks that rates may only rise to somewhere between two and three per cent, even after years of relatively solid recovery. The rough level was suggested in the February inflation report, and ever-proactive TUC senior economist Duncan Weldon blogged on [...]
Why the Bank of England must stop deleting its historical records March 11, 2014 THE DESTRUCTION of historical records by government bodies is a recurring motif of the unfree society. So the Bank of England’s hesitancy to publish transcripts from its meetings should be a serious cause for concern. Worse still, recordings of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meetings are not even preserved. They are routinely deleted – the [...]
Why the Bank of England must stop deleting its historical records March 11, 2014 THE DESTRUCTION of historical records by government bodies is a recurring motif of the unfree society. So the Bank of England’s hesitancy to publish transcripts from its meetings should be a serious cause for concern. Worse still, recordings of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meetings are not even preserved. They are routinely deleted – the [...]
Why the Bank of England needs to stop deleting historical records March 11, 2014 A policy of deleting historical records at the Bank of England has come under fire, as individuals voice concerns about the implication for transparency. The tapes of policy setting meetings are routinely deleted – the transcripts destroyed once minutes are agreed upon. Today, Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie has asked for the Bank of [...]