Bernanke’s brakes on bonds good for stocks February 10, 2010 THE snow forced Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to submit a written testimony to Washington’s legislators yesterday rather than go to Capital Hill in person, but the message the Fed governor delivered was the same regardless of the weather: he plans to withdraw support from the financial markets at some point soon. Bernanke outlined a [...]
IT’S STILL TOO EARLY TO STOP THE STIMULUS February 8, 2010 WE ARE two-thirds of the way through the US fourth-quarter earnings season and 74 per cent of S&P 500 firms that have already reported have beaten analysts’ estimates. A further 9 per cent were in line while 17 per cent of companies fell short. The earnings season has not been good enough so far to [...]
Britain crash to Austrians February 4, 2010 TENNIS: Great Britain’s Fed Cup team saw their promotion hopes dented as Austria opened up an unassailable 2-0 lead in their Group D tie in Portugal. Anne Keothavong’s first match back after six months out with a knee injury ended in a 6-2, 6-2 defeat by Patricia Mayr, while Elena Baltacha lost 6-3, 6-3 to [...]
Lucky Leo can star at Donny February 4, 2010 LAST weekend’s meeting at Doncaster was frozen off, so let’s hope the weather doesn’t disrupt tomorrow’s action. KALAHARI KING, runner-up in last season’s Arkle Chase, carries top weight in the feature contest, the Blue Square Handicap Chase. Ferdy Murphy’s stable star heads the field of 15 in the £70,000 contest and will take some stopping [...]
A IS FOR… A TOUCH OF ACRIMONY AT ALCHEMY February 2, 2010 PROOF, if it were needed, that the old adage about time being the best healer does not always ring true. Private equity veteran Jon Moulton is in the preliminary throes of building his new business, Better Capital, after quitting his former firm Alchemy Partners last September amid a boardroom bust-up over strategy. (His resignation letter [...]
The Tipster February 2, 2010 CENTRAL BANK news is dominating the currency markets this week and foreign exchange traders should be digesting these decisions as they are announced. On Monday night, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) shocked the markets by keeping interest rates on hold at 3.75 per cent. The expectation had been for a 25 basis point hike [...]
RETHINK YOUR VIEW ON GOLD AND SILVER February 1, 2010 CFD Market Strategist, GFT After a strong start to the New Year, equities finished January on a very weak note. With China beginning to tighten policy, investors have become twitchy. The prospect of a drop in Chinese demand and a world with less liquidity has rattled financial markets. There was hope that the US earnings [...]
Markets likely to fall as uncertainty prevails January 31, 2010 European stock markets are headed for a major tumble this morning, as a sell-off on US markets gathered steam on Friday evening. GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open down a hefty 90 points from Friday’s close, around 5,212. The German DAX is expected to open down 105 points at 5,590 and the French CAC 40 [...]
Second term for Bernanke January 28, 2010 THE US SENATE yesterday approved Ben Bernanke’s nomination to a second four-year term running the world’s most powerful central bank despite deep misgivings over his perceived policy missteps. The Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Bernanke in his post again as chairman of the US Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. However, the Fed chief suffered the [...]
FTSE hits lowest level since November on valuation fears January 28, 2010 RENEWED worries about the global economy dragged Britain’s top share index to its lowest close in nearly three months yesterday, with commodity stocks falling sharply and drugmaker AstraZeneca dipping on weak results. The FTSE 100 ended down 1.4 per cent, or 71.73 points, at 5,145.74, its lowest close since 6 November, after the index finished [...]