Wall St The Week Ahead: Investors await Fed’s minutes and jobs data January 5, 2014 INVESTORS in US stocks will be looking to Washington this week, awaiting key jobs data and minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting, when it decided to cut its unprecedented monetary stimulus. Minutes from the Fed’s 17-18 December meeting, when the central bank announced its plan to reduce monthly asset purchases by $10bn to [...]
Letters to the Editor – 06/01 – Gold speculation, Payday lending, Best of Twitter January 5, 2014 Gold speculation [Re: Here’s why Capital Economics thinks gold will bounce back this year, Thursday] Buying gold at current prices is speculation, and not just over the potential removal of Indian import restrictions. Its price tells you about fear in an economy at any given point – and there just isn’t that fear around that [...]
Monetary Policy: Why 2014 should be a turning point for western economies January 5, 2014 SINCE the 1970s, years ending with a 4 have seen turning points in the global economy and had a particular significance for central bankers. This year is the fortieth anniversary of 1974. This was the most turbulent post-war year for the major western economies before the global financial crisis. The first recession in the global [...]
Investment Trends: A year for stock-pickers: 2014 investment winners and losers January 5, 2014 AFTER a surprisingly strong 2013 in many equity markets, I am cautiously optimistic for 2014. One of the key reasons for my slight wariness is that most of the predictions I am reading at the moment are unambiguously positive. There is an unusual consensus around a generally bullish outlook for stock markets, in particular those [...]
Head to the glittering lights of Glasgow for culture and cuisine January 5, 2014 Helen Ochyra gets acquainted with the food, and cattle, of the city set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 IF YOU had asked me last month which UK city has the best shopping district (apart from London), I’d have gone for Brighton, with its bohemian boutiques, or Newcastle for its vast Metro Centre. I’d [...]
When will the Bank of England hike interest rates? January 3, 2014 Next Thursday is the first meeting of the year for the Bank of England's (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). And whilst January is known to be uneventful in monetary policy terms, and the Bank's made it clear that an interest rate hike from the current 0.5 per cent is not on the horizon, doubt is [...]
Why 2014 could be the year gold bounces back January 3, 2014 2013 was a dire year for gold prices, and today's two per cent gain does little to make the 28 per cent slump of last year look any better. But Capital Economics reckons that, with sentiment already so heavily negative, the risks for the coming year are firmly skewed to the upside. For starters, says [...]
What you need to know before the open – 03/01 January 3, 2014 A quiet and steady open is expected for European markets today, as significant data releases remain thin on the ground. US markets closed lower after their first day of trading in 2014, following data that suggested a slowdown in Chinese and US manufacturing expansion. From ETX Capital: At 0430 BST today, FTSE 100 futures are [...]
Here’s why Capital Economics thinks gold will bounce back this year January 2, 2014 2013 was a dire year for gold prices, and today's two per cent gain does little to make the 28 per cent slump of last year look any better. But Capital Economics reckons that, with sentiment already so heavily negative, the risks for the coming year are firmly skewed to the upside. For starters, [...]
This analyst thinks consensus is wrong when it comes to US bond yields in 2014 January 2, 2014 Consensus view for growth in the US economy is nothing to shout about, says Societe Generale's Kit Juckes: 2.6 per cent, with CPI inflation coming in at a modest 1.7 per cent. Whilst there's nothing alarming about this, the economics community is looking for a 0.84 per cent two-year Note yield – the highest [...]