FTSE rises as miners gain and euro hope pushes bank stock October 12, 2011 STRONG miners and banks boosted Britain’s top shares yesterday, keeping the index on an upward tilt, underpinned by progress in tackling the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and recent upbeat US data. The mood, already elevated by hopes European leaders will unveil new measures to solve the crisis by the month’s end, was further lifted when [...]
Celebrate Big Food: Our diet is cheaper, richer and more nutritious than ever before October 12, 2011 BIG Food is widely regarded as the polar opposite of good food. Big food companies, we are told by campaigners and celebrity chefs, produce poor quality, waistline-busting, environment-wrecking, small-farmer-bankrupting products. The supermarkets allegedly destroy communities to sell rubbish to zombified shoppers. Industrial agriculture gives us nutrient-lite, flavourless, chemical-soaked food produced in a shockingly wasteful manner. [...]
The sherry bar that’s rocking South London’s food scene October 12, 2011 TONIGHT, José Pizarro is a rock star in his own restaurant. He’s shaking everyone’s hand, or rather, everyone’s shaking his hand. Hardeep Singh Kohli, the Scottish Sikh presenter, and his chums are settling in round a pillar to order and are giving him the pats on the back. It could be because today the Bermondsey [...]
FTSE flat after Slovak vote blow October 12, 2011 The FTSE 100 was flat this morning after Slovak lawmakers rejected a plan to expand the Eurozone rescue fund and the US earnings season kicked off with disappointing results. Slovakia’s decision rattled world markets as the plan — which would see Greece saved from economic abyss through new loans — is central to hopes that [...]
A sound pound is nowhere to be found October 11, 2011 ALPARI JAMES HUGHES The pound has come back into focus at the start of the week after last week’s surprise announcement of further asset purchases by the Bank of England. Monday’s fall in sterling was in part due to MPC policymakers suggesting that the extra £75bn of QE announced last week could well be the [...]
Hot topics this week October 10, 2011 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT BAREFOOT running, toning shoes, green tea… there’s a lot that’s being debated at the moment. In this week’s column, I’m separating the truth from the false on some current hot topics. BAREFOOT RUNNING IS BETTER FOR YOU THAN RUNNING IN TRAINERS: FALSE This is probably the most hotly debated exercise topic [...]
Easy money October 6, 2011 • Bank stuns markets with £75bn more QE • ECB to boost liquidity with €40bn bond buy-up • Osborne poised to give credit to private firms SIR Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, stunned markets by turning Britain’s electronic printing presses back on yesterday, as he announced a second round of quantitative easing (QE) worth [...]
Another low for the FTSE as banks and miners take a hit October 4, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index hit a 15-month closing low yesterday, with banks and commodity stocks leading a broad-based sell-off, as growing doubts over Greece’s ability to stave off a debt default triggered fears of financial turmoil. The UK benchmark ended down 131.06 points, or 2.6 per cent, at 4,944.44, its lowest close since 5 July [...]
Wall St bounces despite volatility October 4, 2011 THE Standard & Poor’s 500 brushed up against a bear market yesterday, but investors rushed in to buy technology and other beaten-down sectors and the index posted its largest gain in more than a week. The broad US market index has fallen nearly 18 per cent in the past four months, hurt by sluggish economic [...]
Bernanke fails to rule out QE3 October 4, 2011 IN A testimony to the US Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke largely rehashed language used in recent speeches, such as his address at the Jackson Hole symposium in August and his speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota on 8 September. However, forex market reactions leaned more on what the Fed chairman didn’t [...]