Popular Euro brands are a gateway to the emerging world August 23, 2010 THE consumer staples sector is usually considered fairly robust. The types of goods it produces – alcohol, food and household products –?tend to be immune to fluctuations in earnings and during periods of economic uncertainty should continue to perform relatively well. But that was not the case during the second quarter. While 71 per cent [...]
Blackcurrants are not the only fruit August 18, 2010 BANK of England governor Mervyn King may be warning of the dangers of destructive inflation but the minutes of the latest Bank meeting show that these concerns are tempered by a fear of slowing down what is now officially known as a choppy recovery. Destructive inflation, as far as I understand it, is when inflation [...]
ConAgra fined for inflating crude oil prices August 18, 2010 REGULATORS in America have fined a former division of food group ConAgra $12m (£7.7m) for artificially inflating the price of crude oil futures contracts above $100 a barrel, helping spark a rally that saw prices surge to a record $147. An oil trader working for ConAgra Trading Group (CTG) made a “vanity trade” in New [...]
BHP’s bid provokes poisonous reply August 17, 2010 JUST as the markets were drifting into the final few days of summer – traditionally one of the quietest times of the year for corporate news – up pops mining giant BHP Billiton with a near $40bn proposal to takeover the Canadian fertiliser and animal feed group Potash. Although all sorts of things are possible [...]
Surge in food prices keeps inflation high August 17, 2010 RISING food prices offset a drop in the cost of fuel in July but annual inflation remained stubbornly above 3 per cent in July. The strong inflation figures forced Bank of England governor Mervyn King to pen his second letter of explanation to chancellor George Osborne and to admit that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) [...]
BoE heads for row over UK stimulus August 16, 2010 BANK OF ENGLAND governor Mervyn King will be readying his pen this morning to write his second letter to chancellor George Osborne if annual inflation was, as expected, above three per cent last month. City economists expect headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation to ease to 3.1 per cent in July from 3.2 per cent [...]
Russian grain ban fuels fears of food price inflation August 15, 2010 CONCERNS over sharply rising food prices were stoked yesterday as Russia, the world’s third largest wheat seller, brought in an emergency ban on grain exports. Experts said the price of bread could shoot up by ten per cent after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the government had banned grain exports until 31 December. Putin said [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS August 11, 2010 ETFS BENEFIT FROM WHEAT SURGE The well-publicised jump in wheat prices in recent days has not escaped the notice of ETF investors. According to ETF Securities, its global agri-business fund rallied 7 per cent last week, topping its ETFX platform. Returns from its agriculture fund actually beat its gold fund, which returned 5 per cent [...]
Bank must restore its credibility August 10, 2010 OF all the people who regulated (or failed to regulate) the financial services industry throughout the banking crisis, Bank of England governor Mervyn King has emerged as the man whose authority has perhaps been most enhanced. Going into the crisis with an institution that sets monetary policy and general supervision, he will emerge, thanks to [...]
European stocks will rebound after US jobs shock August 8, 2010 THE closely-watched US non-farm payrolls figure was responsible for denting European stock markets on Friday, after the data pointed to a steeper than expected decline. Nevertheless, the Dow rallied some 130 points after European markets closed to recover much of its losses for the day, and that resilience is forecast to carry through and boost [...]