Fears over consumer climate send retailers and FTSE down November 3, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index closed lower yesterday, with retailers weak as Next posted falling sales, while banks gained ground after Lloyds Banking Group poached Santander UK’s head as its new CEO. Investors were reluctant to take big positions ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on further monetary policy easing later yesterday. Markets are pricing in [...]
Wall St ticks up as Fed provides relief November 3, 2010 US stocks ended a volatile session modestly higher yesterday after the Federal Reserve detailed a plan to breathe new life into the struggling economy. Both the Dow and Nasdaq closed at levels not seen since 2008 while the S&P ended at a six-month high. The gains were preceded by an erratic session in which equities [...]
Fed stakes all on $600bn QE2 November 3, 2010 THE Federal Reserve is to pump $600bn (£372.6bn) of fresh funds into the US economy in a last-ditch attempt to revive the slowing economy and hasten the pace of recovery in unemployment. In its second-round of quantitative easing, dubbed QE2, which comes just two years after the central bank first tried to kick-start the economy, [...]
Federal Reserve’s hubris will cost all of us dearly November 3, 2010 IT may have been slightly more than the markets were expecting – but nobody will have been shocked by the Federal Reserve’s decision to embark on another $600bn worth of quantitative easing (QE2). That doesn’t make the decision any less wrong or short-termist; the problem is that the Fed and the bulk of the US [...]
…as Fed steps in again November 3, 2010 Q.WHAT IS QE2? A. It is the Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing after its initial asset purchasing programme of $1.7 trillion started during 2009 and finished in March this year. This time, the Fed has announced a smaller programme: it plans to buy up $75bn’s worth of assets each month until June next [...]
ECONOMISTS’ REACTION: WAS RESTARTING QE THE RIGHT DECISION? November 3, 2010 MARTIN FELDSTEIN | HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Federal Reserve’s proposed policy of quantitative easing is a dangerous gamble with only a small potential upside benefit and substantial risks of creating asset bubbles that could destabilise the global economy. Although the US economy is weak and the outlook uncertain, quantitative easing (QE) is not the right remedy. [...]
Positive PMI boosts sterling November 3, 2010 STRONGER-than-expected figures on the UK service sector yesterday caused the pound to rise to its highest level against the dollar and the euro for nine months and reduced the chances that the Bank of England will opt to engage in a second round of quantitative easing to boost the economy. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), [...]
Algo traders hit by tough new Fed rules November 3, 2010 High-frequency traders will no longer be able to gain unfettered or “naked” access to public markets under a rule adopted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC voted unanimously yesterday to require brokerages to have rules in place to protect against potential mishaps from unlicensed traders when brokerages rent out their access to [...]
Stocks rally as market anticipates Fed decision on QE this evening November 2, 2010 US TREASURY yields were yesterday close to their lowest levels since January 2009 on the back of expectations that the Federal Reserve will today restart its quantitative easing (QE) programme. Ten-year treasury yields are at 2.6 per cent while five-year notes hit 1.2 per cent. Analysts expect the Fed to announce bond purchases of between [...]
FTSE lifted more than one per cent on the back of strong corporate earnings November 2, 2010 STRONG corporate earnings hoisted Britain’s top shares by more than one per cent on yesterday, led by energy stocks after BP and BG Group results and ahead of the outcome of the eagerly awaited US Federal Reserve policy meeting. At the two-day meet in Washington which started yesterday, the Fed will consider the prospect of [...]