Why you’d be “quite stupid” to stay out of the equity game in 2014 January 2, 2014 According to Saxo Bank's Head of Equity Strategy, Peter Garnry, 2014 is still a good year for equities. Despite worries that US Fed tapering will prompt a major correction, Garnry says there's still plenty of value to be had. Equities are drift assets… they rise because of nominal price increases… you would expect them to [...]
Why it’s not such bad news that gold was a terrible investment this year December 30, 2013 12 straight years of growth came to an end for gold this year. Today, the yellow metal fell one per cent in trading, and it's heading for its biggest annual loss in 32 years – a drop of almost 30 per cent. A growing appetite for risk, and the prospect of a global recovery and [...]
What you need to know before the open – 30/12 December 30, 2013 A more subdued day of trading is expected today, in the second-to-last session of 2013. Sedentary start to today's penultimate session for the year in Europe! – FTSE +4, DAX -10, CAC unchanged — David Buik (@truemagic68) December 30, 2013 European bourses have been seeing strong gains over the last two weeks, with [...]
The Federal Reserve’s favourite measure for the US economy just came in weak December 23, 2013 One key measure of US economic health just missed analyst expectations. Core personal consumption expenditure increased by 1.1 per cent in the year to November. Analysts had expected a rise of 1.2 per cent. John J. Hardy, head of FX Strategy at Saxo Bank, says "the inflation/disinflation debate has been the hottest theme going in [...]
What you need to know before the open – 23/12 December 23, 2013 The FTSE 100 is expected to open higher on the last full day of trading before Christmas. Volumes will however be thinner than usual with many investors enjoying the festive season and limited news releases to trade on. Last Friday saw the best week for European stocks in eight months. They're now expected to get [...]
A Merry Christmas and thanks for your support during 2013 December 19, 2013 AFTER months of speculation about how the markets would react to the gradual phasing out of monetary stimulus in the US, we got part of our answer over the last 36 hours. And, it has to be said, it’s so far so good. Some assumed that even a hint of a tightening of monetary policy [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 20 December 2013 December 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIME Taper pressures emerging markets Markets soured on the day after the US Federal Reserve’s dramatic tapering of its asset purchases from $85bn to $75bn per month as the dollar climbed and vulnerable emerging markets came under pressure. The taper heralded a new era of dollar strength, with the US currency up by 0.6 [...]
London Report: Pharma giants and Fed move lift FTSE to a two-week high December 19, 2013 BRITAIN’S main share index rose to a two-week high yesterday, helped by gains in pharmaceutical stocks and by a pledge from the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low. Some investors expect the blue-chip FTSE 100 index to rally into the end of 2013, forecasting gains of roughly 50-150 points between now and the [...]
How the US managed to avoid a Japanese style tapering crash December 19, 2013 Many thought that the Federal Reserve would never taper – or that when it did that markets would crash. But Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has managed to avoid a slump of the kind Japan witnessed in 2006. Then – as Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Michael Hartnett points out – stock values fell by [...]
The taper that wasn’t a taper is seeing European stocks rally. Here’s why December 19, 2013 It's a taper, but not as we know it. Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital, says that the decision has removed much of the volatility that we've been seeing in the final quarter of this year, and gears us up "for a delayed but eagerly anticipated “Santa Rally” to finish this year in a [...]