The Tipster January 26, 2010 YESTERDAY’S fourth quarter GDP figure for the UK was uninspiring. The main casualty was sterling. In just two hours following the announcement sterling-US dollar had dropped by 100 points, extending a decline that has been in place for the past week. But sterling could have fallen too far. There are still plenty of events that [...]
DON’T FORGET THE IMPACT OF POLITICS January 25, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST week equities hit a brick wall. The US fourth quarter earnings season has been a disappointment so far. Companies are finding that a decent result on the bottom line just won’t cut it with investors if revenues haven’t improved. Also, the actions taken by the People’s Bank of [...]
Bearish US sentiment likely to buffet Europe too January 24, 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 [...]
The unstoppable rise of exchange-traded funds January 20, 2010 WHEN one of Europe’s largest hedge funds, Marshall Wace, announced earlier this week that it would be launching an exchange-traded fund (ETF) to track its flagship strategy, it was further confirmation that ETFs are entering the mainstream on this side of the Atlantic. In their standard form, ETFs passively track the performance of an underlying [...]
No2 Safina awaits seed-slayer Baltacha January 20, 2010 BRITISH women’s No1 Elena Baltacha is confident of causing another upset after setting up an Australian Open third-round clash with world No2 Dinara Safina. World No83 Baltacha equalled her best ever performance at a Grand Slam by pulling off a shock triumph over 30th seed Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round in Melbourne. The 26-year-old’s [...]
REVENUES ARE CRUCIAL TO US EARNINGS January 18, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST year finished on a high note for global equity markets and this euphoria carried through into the first week of 2010. But after having shot out of their starting blocks, equities have clipped the first hurdle as the fourth quarter earnings season kicked off in the US. Aluminium giant Alcoa [...]
Time to reform our monetary policy January 17, 2010 THERE have now been dozens of books and thousands of research papers on the causes of the crisis yet we are no nearer to a consensus. But there is one factor on which virtually all US analysts agree, regardless of ideological differences: the Fed kept interest far too low for too long. This triggered the [...]
Fab Gunners stay in chase January 17, 2010 ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has warned his title rivals that Cesc Fabregas is only getting better after the skipper’s return inspired a hard-fought but crucial victory. Fabregas crowned his return from a three-match injury lay-off with a goal and a hand in Fran Merida’s clincher as the Gunners stayed on the heels of the Premier [...]
Death toll from the devastating Haiti earthquake could reach half a million January 13, 2010 THE death toll of the devastating Haiti earthquake could reach well into six figures, the island’s Prime Minister said yesterday. Streets and buildings were filled with the dead as locals and rescue workers began to sift through the rubble last night. A team of 64 British firefighters arrived on the Caribbean island in the early [...]
Wall Street levy to raise $100bn January 12, 2010 THE Obama administration could net more than $100bn (£62bn) with its planned special levy on Wall Street’s giants, it emerged yesterday. Officials are mulling a levy on America’s top banks to tap into anti-Wall Street sentiment ahead of the earnings season. The scheme has yet to be officially confirmed but is being spun as a [...]