US inflation pressures ease in August with Fed unlikely to postpone tapering September 17, 2013 The US consumer price index (CPI) has climbed just 0.1 per cent month-on-month following predictions to stay flat at 0.2 per cent. The year-on-year figure for August is 1.5 per cent, down from 1.6 per cent inflation in the year to July. A breakdown of components, month-on-month: Food: 0.1 per cent Housing: 0.1 per cent [...]
Before the open: FTSE down as markets wait for Fed stimulus meeting September 17, 2013 With a number of key events this week, the market looks to open with some caution today. The FTSE is expected down this morning, with calls of -15. Closing the Monday gaps from Friday closes, European markets look set for slightly lower opens this morning. The UK's latest inflation numbers are expected to show a [...]
Coalition launches Lloyds shares sale September 16, 2013 THE RE-PRIVATISATION of Lloyds began last night, a major milestone in the UK’s economic recovery and an important step in unwinding the bailouts of the financial crisis. The government is selling a six per cent stake in the state-backed bank, in a deal worth around £3.3bn. Bankers and lawyers worked overnight to get institutional investors [...]
Barack Obama should make Donald Kohn the next Fed chief September 16, 2013 IT WAS pretty sickening, to say the least, to see so many investors cheer the prospect of even easier US monetary policy yesterday. The news that Larry Summers was pulling out of the race to be the next Fed chairman led to a boomlet across a slew of asset classes, bolstering emerging markets in particular. [...]
Summers’ exit from Fed race helps stimulus-happy markets September 16, 2013 US MARKETS jumped yesterday on the hope of more easy money as Larry Summers dropped out of the race to become Federal Reserve governor. His exit leaves deputy chairman Janet Yellen as the bookies’ favourite for the role – a candidate investors see as more dovish, and so more likely to print money to support [...]
Bottom Line: A good deal for all but still far too much in state hands September 16, 2013 DID LARRY Summers and Vladimir Putin conspire to save the Lloyds reprivatisation? This unlikely pair have blown away the macro clouds that just ten days ago were threatening a delay. With neither Syrian escalation nor market turmoil from a tapering Fed looking so alarming, UKFI has seized the day. It was only a matter of [...]
Positive territory for US industry ahead of Fed decision on taper September 16, 2013 INDUSTRIAL production and a survey of factories announced yesterday saw some improvement in the US economy ahead of tomorrow’s decision on whether to trim the Fed’s QE programme. The New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index came in at 6.29, signalling slightly slower growth in September than in August. And industrial production across the US [...]
London Report: Summers’ exit from Fed race boosts the FTSE September 16, 2013 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a six-week high yesterday as Lawrence Summers quit the race to head the US Federal Reserve, boosting prospects of a more measured scale-back in economic stimulus measures. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended up by 0.6 per cent, or 39.06 points, at 6,622.86 points, marking its highest close since ending [...]
We should replace Fed monetary superheroes with rules-based policy September 16, 2013 LARRY Summers is out of the race to succeed Ben Bernanke as Fed chair. After months of debate, with politicians and media picking over Summers’s personality and background, the spotlight has returned to Janet Yellen, deputy Fed chairwoman. Is she now a certainty? Or is another monetary superhero about to emerge? All of this recalls [...]
Summers exit trumps fears of taper September 16, 2013 But uncertainty surrounding the nomination of the new Fed chair will mean volatility for stocks in the future LARRY Summers, former US Treasury secretary, is out of the race to replace Ben Bernanke as Fed chair. In reaction to the news, the MSCI All-Country World Index rose yesterday by 1.1 per cent to its highest [...]