AN UNCERTAIN ENDGAME PUTS FOCUS ON FOMC April 26, 2011 WHAT’S good as gold these days? Absolutely nothing, except perhaps silver. As the holiday-shortened week opened for trade, gold continued to set new highs, climbing above the $1,500/oz. level while silver surged, coming to within a few points of breaking above the psychologically important $50/oz. barrier on the way to setting a new record high. [...]
THE TIPSTER April 26, 2011 THE pound is set to take centre stage today with first quarter GDP due out at 9:30am. A figure in excess of 0.7 per cent could well see further sterling-dollar gains towards $1.6800 on a break above the recent highs of $1.6600. A figure below 0.5 per cent could well see the pound slip back [...]
Gold rush April 26, 2011 ■ Gold touches a fresh high of $1,518.6 per troy ounce ■ Prices for silver and diamonds also near record highs THE PRICE of gold surged to yet another all-time high yesterday as growing fears over a weaker dollar sent investors scrambling for the safest asset class of all. Gold hit an unprecedented $1,518.6 per troy [...]
The dollar after S&P’s decision to downgrade April 19, 2011 YESTERDAY’S news of the downgrading of the sovereign debt outlook of the United States rocked markets on both sides of the Atlantic. The debt ratings agency Standard and Poor’s cut the long term outlook for the US from stable to negative for first time since the Pearl Harbor attack 70 years ago. S&P pointed to [...]
Price of mangoes shows how inflation is biting April 17, 2011 I finished work the other evening and was in the mood for a mango salad. So, full of anticipation, I stopped by my local grocers only to be met by a horrible sign. Mangoes: £2.40. Each. What? Since when? Since inflation started spiralling out of control, that is. Chinese price rises are the latest big [...]
Glass is both half full and half empty April 14, 2011 GLASSES can either be half full – or they can be half empty, depending on one’s temperament: optimist or pessimist. But when it comes to economic conditions, and prospects for investments, jobs, incomes and growth, there is enough material to make both sides happy. My own take is moderate medium-term optimism, combined with longer-term pessimism. [...]
Tech stocks push Wall Street higher April 13, 2011 US stocks finished mostly flat in a choppy session yesterday, as investors bet on strong technology earnings even as JPMorgan Chase’s numbers weighed on other market sectors. Network equipment maker Riverbed Technology boosted the industry and helped buoy the Nasdaq after its quarterly outlook. The stock surged 12.4 per cent to $34.74 (£21.32) on four [...]
Quantitative easing: the hot money problem April 12, 2011 DESPITE murmurings to the contrary by various members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), it seems that the US Federal Reserve’s $600bn (£368bn) scheme to purchase Treasury bonds will run its full course, up to June as initially planned. But an intervention the size of QE2 cannot just come to a sudden halt and [...]
RISING COSTS CAST SHADOW ON EARNINGS April 11, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT AFTER months of pressure, Portugal finally gave in last week and approached the European Commission for financial aid. This caused widespread relief, as the EU has been desperate to create a firewall between Greece, Ireland and Portugal and the rest of the Eurozone. The consensus is that this latest bailout will [...]
NO CASH FOR LIB DEM INTERNS AS CENTRAL OFFICE PASSES THE BUCK April 7, 2011 JUST days after Nick Clegg made an earnest pledge to improve expenses for the Liberal Democrats’ army of unpaid interns, The Capitalist was amused to see three job ads for internships at the party on the Work for an MP (w4mp) website offering barely a cup of tea. The “short volunteer opportunity” to work in [...]