Honeywell International chief to join Obama panel February 22, 2010 The White House is considering naming the chief executive of Honeywell International, a former vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve to a new panel on tackling budget deficits. Confirmation by the Obama administration comes after a Republican and two Democrats emerged as leading candidates to be among Obama’s six appointments to the panel. Republican David [...]
ECONOMIC DIARY February 21, 2010 AFTER a week packed with economic data releases, the next five days promise to be a bit quieter. Last Thursday, the US Federal Reserve hiked the rate it charged banks to hold reserves in a surprise move that signalled a return towards more normal monetary policy. On Wednesday Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will be giving [...]
Fed move to lift US stocks and dollar February 21, 2010 ALTHOUGH the Federal Reserve was keen to downplay its surprise move last Thursday, the markets initially reacted strongly to its announcement that it would hike the rate it charges banks for emergency loans. But while the currency market saw the biggest moves – the dollar strengthened to a nine-month high of $1.5345 against the pound [...]
SPREAD BET GURU February 21, 2010 Q.Dear Josh, does Barclays’ stellar results for 2009 mean that RBS and Lloyds will follow suit this week? A.My first thoughts are to be careful as this is not a straightforward trading strategy. While there is always some form of a correlation between companies that are in the same sector, stocks can become very volatile [...]
Fed takes steps towards higher rates February 18, 2010 THE US Federal Reserve last night took a major step towards a more normal monetary policy when it hiked the rate it charges banks for emergency loans. In a surprise move announced after the stock market closed, America’s central bank increased the discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.75 per cent in response [...]
Wall St boosted by strong output data February 18, 2010 US stocks rose for a third straight day yesterday as investors viewed company results and manufacturing data as evidence the economic rebound will continue. Investors accentuated the positive news, focusing on improved mid-Atlantic manufacturing data and setting aside a lackluster outlook from Wal-Mart and a surprising increase in weekly jobless claims. “News on the economy [...]
Fed cautious over growth February 17, 2010 THE Federal Reserve is slightly more bullish about the state of the US economy, upgrading its prediction for growth for the year from three to 3.2 per cent. The minutes of its January policy meeting, released yesterday, also reveal unemployment is expected to drop in the last quarter of 2010 but only from 9.7 to [...]
US shares gain as data boosts mood February 17, 2010 Stronger-than-expected corporate results and upbeat economic data drove US stocks higher yesterday as they fed expectations the recovery will bolster corporate profits. Deere & Co, the world’s largest farm equipment maker, led markets after its results beat expectations and it raised its outlook for the year ahead. Shares gained five per cent to $56.48. The [...]
Investors go back to fundamentals as they lose their taste for carry February 16, 2010 IN THE second half of 2009, the dollar-funded carry trade was the primary strategy used to play the foreign exchange markets. The low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve combined with the weakening of the greenback meant that traders were happy to sell low-yielding dollars in search of higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian [...]
Britain’s eurozone liabilities revealed February 11, 2010 THE exposure of Britain to the eurozone’s weakest members was laid bare last night as French and German officials scrambled to agree a rescue package for Greece. Based on Bank for International Settlement numbers, in total the UK’s financial sector has just under £250bn in exposure to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (Piigs). The data [...]