AVB FUMES, DROGBA BLOOMS December 6, 2011 Victory provides ‘slap in the face’ for Chelsea’s critics CHELSEA 3 vs VALENCIA 0 CHELSEA manager Andre Villas-Boas launched a blistering attack on perceived media “persecution” after swerving a premature Champions League exit and emerging as surprise winners of Group E. Two goals and a vintage performance from Didier Drogba, plus a third from Ramires, [...]
THE MULTIPLE SCHEMES TO DEFEND EURO December 6, 2011 AS THE European leaders meet for their summit tomorrow, currency traders will have only one question on their mind – can the Eurozone move towards greater fiscal integration? The European sovereign debt markets have become nothing more than a game of chipping away at the weakest link. As soon as officials cobble together a bailout [...]
Central banks ride to rescue November 30, 2011 WORLD markets rallied yesterday, after the Fed said it was prepared to pump the global economy full of cheap dollars in a bid to stave off an impending credit crunch. Banks can already borrow the greenback from central bankers if they are short of cash – but yesterday Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke slashed the [...]
The bubble has burst: it is futile to resist reality November 30, 2011 THERE are two ways that one can react to change. The first is to embrace it; the second is to resist it. Contrary to what is often believed, the second option doesn’t always fail – there is no such thing as historical determinism. Wars can often be avoided, for example, or populist tides resisted. What [...]
THE FED’S LIQUIDITY COST CUT November 30, 2011 Q.WHAT IS THIS LIQUIDITY THAT’S BEING OFFERED? A.The Federal Reserve offers dollars to other central banks, in exchange for their currency, at a fixed exchange rate. Those central banks – including the Bank of England – then lend it out to banks that need cash but can’t get it from the market. Q.HAS IT BEEN [...]
More jobs in US as economy still outperforms EU November 30, 2011 BUSINESS activity shot up in the US in November, according to the Chicago purchasing managers’ index (PMI), while companies created the most jobs in nearly a year according to the ADP national employment report, both out yesterday. The PMI rose to 62.6 this month, up from 58.4 in October. Such a strong jump represents a [...]
Trying to pour liquidity into a frozen market November 30, 2011 YESTERDAY’S coordinated central bank move flipped the FX markets onto their head, with increased dollar liquidity triggering a sell-off of the greenback, with the euro and the Aussie and Kiwi dollars coming out on top. The announcement came hot on the heals of the news that the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, [...]
DOLLAR-YEN IS WAKING FROM ITS SLUMBER November 29, 2011 UNTIL recently, the single most boring job in the currency business was to be a dollar-yen dealer. With the exception of a few days when the Bank of Japan (BoJ) would intervene in the markets, spiking dollar-yen by a couple of hundred points in a matter of minutes, the pair would remain moribund, sometimes moving [...]
Consistency marks Donald out as the star of 2011 November 28, 2011 IT’S BEEN an unforgettable year for the sport of golf and one that will last long in the memory. With Europeans occupying the top four spots in the world rankings and two more enjoying success at the Majors, there is certainly plenty to be enthusiastic about heading into 2012 which is, of course, a Ryder [...]
LUKE JOHNSON ENDORSES LAUNCH FOR THE CITY’S BEST-CONNECTED November 28, 2011 ARE YOU fed up with receiving endless invitations to “connect” with people you have never met on digitally promiscuous social networking sites? Then Ndoorse, the new network for high-quality professionals founded by ex-Deloitte strategy consultant Jeremy Weil and JC Rathbone director Kristian Rathbone is perhaps for you. The only problem is that the City-meets-entrepreneurs network, [...]