China and Us data fail to corrode Qe speculation August 20, 2012 FX360 THE Dow and S&P 500 are both within spitting distance of the highs achieved earlier this year. It will only take a small push for both indices to surmount these heights. After that hurdle, the bulls will have their sights on the pre-financial crisis levels of 2007 – around 14,200 and 1,575 for the [...]
Market awaits public finance and GDP news August 19, 2012 HIGHLIGHTS for the economic week ahead will be tomorrow’s release of UK’s public finance data, followed by the revision of the second quarter’s GDP figures on Friday. While analysts fear there will only be a small surplus for the July finances figure – or possibly a loss – market watchers believe there will be some [...]
Wall Street is waiting for technical signals as doubt remains over rally August 19, 2012 IN the absence of data or policy catalysts and with the S&P 500 near four-year highs, market participants are hoping technical indicators hold the clues on whether stocks will sell off into September following a slow-speed rally. The S&P 500 is a scant 0.06 per cent away from closing at highs last seen in the [...]
Fed and FSA pushing new regulator to play by rules August 16, 2012 STANDARD Chartered’s treatment at the hands of the New York state Department for Financial Services (DFS) has shocked the more established authorities, which are in frantic negotiations with the new regulator to ensure it doesn’t strike out alone again. Regulators in the UK, US and Hong Kong are understood to be furious that they were [...]
New York manufacturing hit as overall US production expands August 15, 2012 NEW YORK manufacturers came in for a walloping during July, in a month where consumer prices edged up, and industrial production as a whole crept up, according to a tranche of data released yesterday by various US official bodies. The headline index for manufacturing in the Empire State collapsed 13 percentage points to -5.9, diving [...]
Stan Chart pays £217m to settle Iran claims August 14, 2012 STANDARD Chartered was last night forced to take a $340m (£217m) hit to settle US regulators’ charges that it broke sanctions against Iran and attempted to hide the evidence. The emerging markets banking group will also have to bring in a monitor to evaluate money-laundering risk controls in its New York branch, reporting back to [...]
US stocks dip on Japanese growth data August 13, 2012 US stocks ended slightly lower yesterday as fatigue set in after a six-day rally and disappointing Japanese growth data provided a fresh reminder of the headwinds facing the global economy. The benchmark S&P 500 index had risen three per cent over the prior six sessions, its longest rally since December 2010. But gains had slowed, [...]
Equity Indices reliant on Central Bank Action August 13, 2012 LIKE a petulant schoolchild, it’s about this time in the summer holidays when the equity markets run out of steam and sit around lethargically complaining of boredom. Yesterday was a slow trading day, with all exchanges seeing their lowest volumes of 2012 so far. “With most of the FTSE 100 biggies having reported already, any [...]
American regulator denies claim that it has an anti-British stance August 8, 2012 THE US regulatory body at the centre of allegations against Standard Chartered yesterday came out fighting against criticism that it had acted without consulting its fellow watchdogs, and denied that the case was proof of an anti-UK bias. One of the New York’s state financial services department’s senior officials told City A.M. yesterday that the [...]
Most countries are responsible for the crisis – not just the UK August 7, 2012 REMEMBER sub-prime lending? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s absurd backing of mortgages for those who couldn’t afford to pay the money back? The US government’s decision to promote sub-prime lending? The Federal Reserve’s crazy decision to inflate endless bubbles via excessively loose monetary policy during the good times, and its destructive commitment to step in [...]