MPC vote split: What does that mean for future interest rate rises? August 20, 2014 Today it was revealed that the monetary policy committee's (MPC) vote on whether to raise interest rates last month was split for the first time in three years, with two dissenters in the ranks arguing a "rapid fall in unemployment alongside survey evidence of tightening in the labour market created a prospect that wage growth [...]
Inflation drop takes the pressure off Bank on rate hike August 19, 2014 INFLATION fell back again in July, according to official figures released yesterday, easing the pressure on the Bank of England’s policymakers to tighten their stance and weakening sterling The consumer price index (CPI) rose by just 1.6 per cent in the year to July, according to the Office for National Statistics. The figure dropped from [...]
Best of the Brokers for 19 August 2014 August 18, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ARM HOLDINGS Goldman Sachs has added ARM to its “conviction buy” list, with a target price of 1,400p. The broker thinks first half weakness is temporary rather than structural, and anticipates a better second half, with high end smartphone launches incorporating ARM designs [...]
London Report: FTSE rises as Ukraine-Russia fears subside August 18, 2014 THE FTSE 100 yesterday climbed on the back of investor relief that a feared escalation in the Ukraine crisis had failed to materialise. Tensions spiked on Friday when Ukraine said it had partially destroyed an armoured column that had crossed the border from Russia, triggering a sell-off in global shares. But Moscow made no threat [...]
Centamin announces first ever dividend as earnings decline August 14, 2014 EGYPT-FOCUSED gold miner Centamin yesterday announced its first dividend of 0.87 cents per share, as it unveiled weaker-than-expected second-quarter results. The FTSE 250 firm said earnings had halved to $32.6m (£19.5m) in the second quarter compared to the same period the previous year, as it mined lower grade ore at its flagship Sukari mine in [...]
Glencore share price slides after a mixed first-half output report August 13, 2014 Commodities powerhouse Glencore saw its share price slump over three per cent yesterday on a mixed half-year production report. The integrated miner trader said production of copper – the metal it makes almost half its profit from – rose 13 per cent to 741,000 tonnes. But the FTSE 100 company, which completed a $40bn (£23.9bn) merger [...]
Balfour Beatty rejects Carillion’s offer as profit dives August 11, 2014 Balfour Beatty yesterday posted a 53 per cent slump in underlying half-year profit to £22m, putting the infrastructure firm under pressure to prove that it can go it alone after rejecting a second takeover bid from rival Carillion. The flailing FTSE 250 company, which has issued four profit warnings in two years and is currently [...]
City Moves for 12 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs August 11, 2014 Lombard Odier Investment Managers Nancy Everett has been appointed as senior advisor for the company’s US-based business. The position is a newly-created one for the institutional asset management arm of the Lombard Odier Group. Everett was most recently with BlackRock, where she was managing director, head of US fiduciary management. Prior to that, she was [...]
Analyst Views: What should investors look for next from the Bank of England? August 8, 2014 ROBERT WOOD | BERENBERG We expect the Bank to respond to the increasingly resilient outlook by hiking rates by 25 basis points in November.If there was a split vote this month, with perhaps one of the MPC calling for a hike, that could tell us a little more about the committee’s thinking. VICTORIA CLARKE | [...]
Cocos go yo-yo after no-no for retail investors August 8, 2014 THE PRICE of contingent convertible (coco) bonds has yo-yoed since the City watchdog banned banks from advertising the securities to retail investors. Transaction data from Tradeweb shows prices fell almost one per cent on the day of the Financial Conduct Authority’s announcement. Analysts believe demand from individual investors, rather than institutions, could make up £1bn [...]