Boots tops reputation poll as banks languish April 28, 2010 Alliance Boots knocked Marks & Spencer off the top spot, in a survey of company reputation. The Reputation Institute’s UK Pulse Report 2010 ranked retail brands highly but the list of 140 firms made torrid reading for the finance industry. Royal Bank of Scotland languished at 138, with Lloyds at 136 and Barclays at 129. [...]
FTSE sees biggest fall in five months after S&P slashes rating on Greece April 27, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index dropped 2.6 per cent yesterday, the biggest fall in over five months as S&P downgrades for Greece and Portugal fuelled debt crisis contagion worries, smacking banks and commodity issues. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 150.33 points at 5,603.52, easily snapping an 88 point rally seen in the [...]
FED TO LEAVE RATES LOW THIS MONTH April 26, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT IT IS a relatively quiet week on the data front but the closely-watched preliminary US first-quarter GDP will be published on Friday. The forecast is for a rise of 3.4 per cent – a sharp moderation from last quarter’s 5.6 per cent. Meanwhile, today sees President Obama host the first [...]
Tesco beats volcano with record profits April 20, 2010 TESCO yesterday reported record pre-tax profits of £3.2bn – while escaping the impact of the volcanic ash crisis because so little of its produce is imported by plane. The company saw its net profit up 10.4 per cent up on the previous 12 months. The supermarket giant said the reason for the gains included an [...]
Tesco April 20, 2010 THE LATE Jack Cohen, who founded Tesco in 1924, was fond of telling staff “you can’t do business sitting on your arse”. It’s a slogan that clearly resonates with the current management team, who show no sign of losing their expansionary zeal. Tesco has grown much further and faster than domestic rivals like J Sainsbury [...]
MARKET RISE DERAILED BY GOLDMAN April 19, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT LAST week saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average recapture 11,000 while the S&P 500 broke back above 1,200. These are levels last seen back in September 2008. At the beginning of last week, the major US stock indices were heading higher and both the Dow and S&P were within [...]
Supermarket boom will continue April 19, 2010 WHILE retailers on the high-street have been struggling with adverse weather conditions and consumers cutting back on spending during a downturn, their supermarket counterparts have been going from strength to strength. Giant grocer Tesco has seen its share price rise 10 per cent over the past six months and today’s full-year results are expected to [...]
US EQUITIES NEED TO SEE RISING SALES April 12, 2010 DAVID MORRISON CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT IT IS US earnings season again. As soon as one quarter is over, investors have to begin assimilating the next set of numbers. Traders are already poring over Alcoa’s earnings – the world’s third biggest aluminium producer unofficially heralds each quarter’s reporting season, and it announced its results last [...]
M&S sales up as staff given £80m bonus April 8, 2010 STAFF at Marks & Spencer will be handed an £80m bonus pot after the retailer ended the year with better-than-expected same store sales of 5.1 per cent in the UK. The figures were fuelled by the unseasonally cold weather which saw a massive jump in the sake of woollens. M&S said that total like-for-like sales [...]
M&S staff to get £80m bonus pot after sales rise April 8, 2010 MARKS & SPENCER sales rose by 5.1 percent in the 13 weeks to 27. The hike was driven by sales of formalwear and knitwear and the figures outstripped analysts’ forecasts of a 1.7 per cent rise M&S said full-year pre-tax profit would be around £630m, in its trading statement. The first day of the Christmas [...]