Rapid responses October 18, 2012 Greek reform [Re: Greece must stop hitting snooze and wake up to economic reform, yesterday] Although Matthew Melchiorre is right to criticise Greece’s politicians for failing to reform their state, he misses a bigger issue. Politicians aren’t operating in a vacuum. Much of the Greek public – quite unlike the Estonians or Irish – doesn’t accept [...]
Who ate all the pies in Mayfair at hedgie lunch October 16, 2012 TO the gilded rooms of Dartmouth House yesterday, where the wealth management industry flocked for the second annual Macmillan Pies and Prosecco luncheon – Mayfair’s equivalent to the traditional Gull’s Eggs luncheon held every year in the City. A highly indulgent menu choice for midday on a Tuesday, but all for a very worthwhile cause, [...]
Meet the investment banker who gave insurance a whirl October 14, 2012 AFTER the chaos of last year, 2012 has so far been something of a relief to the insurance industry. A perfect storm of floods in Australia and Thailand, the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster and the earthquake in New Zealand made 2011 the second most expensive on record for the Lloyd’s of London market, and [...]
FTSE 100 weighed down by engineering stocks October 12, 2012 The leading blue chip index opened modestly down this morning, as enthusiasm over positive US jobs data was pared back by weak UK construction data. Engineering companies felt the pressure on the FTSE All-Share this morning. Materials group Morgan Crucible dropped 12.51 per cent this morning. It warned on profits across its businesses, with Europe [...]
FTSE driven lower by collapse of BAE’s mega-merger with EADS October 10, 2012 GLOBAL growth worries prodded Britain’s top share index lower yesterday as a failed merger with a French peer hurt shares in defence and aviation firm BAE Systems. London’s blue chip index closed down 33.54 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,776.71 as volumes on the index remained light as whole, just 88 per cent of [...]
FTSE 100 lower on weak corporate news October 8, 2012 The blue chip index was firmly lower in early trade, as worries over the health of the global economy pulled stocks down. Weaker resources prices and concerns ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers to launch the latest bailout fund weighed on sentiment. Materials firm Cookson Group and recruiter Michael Page led the index [...]
FTSE 100 down on poor Chinese data October 3, 2012 The leading share index slipped back under the 5,800 mark this morning, as weak Chinese services sector data weighed on investor sentiment. Mining stocks were hit, as the poor outlook from Asia raised concerns about raw demand. Leading the fallers in early trade was Lamprell, down more than 32 per cent, as it issued its [...]
Rapid Responses October 1, 2012 GDP manipulation [Re: Time for MPs to summon statisticians over endless revisions, Friday] This article misses the point. The problem is not with statisticians, but with politicians and the media (and through them, the markets). They all give disproportionate attention to GDP figures which are, inevitably, far from a precise reflection of what is really [...]
FTSE 100 up on Spain’s austerity budget September 28, 2012 The leading share index opened up this morning. Headline mining shares rose as metal prices rallied. Spain’s austerity budget, unveiled yesterday, settled Eurozone nerves and dragged the FTSE 100 up, as the index went back above the 5,800 level in early trading. Aquarius Platinum topped the leaderboard this morning, up almost five per cent. Engineering [...]
Lloyd’s chief says premiums must increase September 26, 2012 LLOYD’S of London chief executive Richard Ward yesterday said that insurance premiums must rise, on the same day that the market announced profits of £1.53bn for the first six months of 2012. “Rates do need to go up broadly across the insurance sector,” he told City A.M.. “Outside catastrophe-exposed classes premiums have been moving sideways.” [...]